The Eastern Iowa Wine Club met on April 19, 2008 at the home of Pat and Mary MacCusker in Walker, Iowa. There were 15 people in attendance.
1. Welcomes
2. Chilean Grape Order Status: grapes are scheduled to arrive here around May 8th (they were a week late last year). Randy is planning on having a Crush Party soon thereafter. This will serve as our May meeting. More information will be provided and a date will be determined as soon as a firm date of the grape arrival is known. Emails and phone calls will be made to disseminate this information.
3. Pruning Demonstration at Tabor Home Vineyard Summary: Four members of EIWC took part in the pruning workshop/practice at Tabors. Paul Tabor provided a demonstration and our small group practiced for a few hours.
4. Benton County Fair Wine Competition Update: Nothing new to report. Judges are being lined up.
5. Planning for trip to winery - Iowa Wine Trail Details and Final Sign Up. Marty talked about possible travel options for the trip on April 26th through Iowa Wine Tours Inc. Cost is $59/per person (including the passport and food). The passport itself is $20/person for one day. Refreshments included. Pickup point in Cedar Rapids will be determined when Marty speaks with Dennis from Iowa Wine Tours early next week. Please sign up at the meeting or email/call Marty ASAP with your reservation.
6. Presentation -Mead Making - Pat McCusker gave a presentation on mead making. He described some of the differences between wine and mead making. He also talked about the differences in the honeys used in mead making and the different styles of mead. We tasted a processed tupelo honey that you might find in a store and a tupelo honey from the same producer that was unrefined. The taste difference was remarkable. We also tasted a buckwheat honey.
7. Other Business - No new business
8. Wine Sharing/Potluck
Cheers!
