Tassel Ridge Winery

Had a great afternoon out with some girlfriends. They have plenty of offerings and a knowledgeable staff. David helped us and he was fabulous! Very clean and spacious!

I have been to tassel ridge winery several times. I have attended a murder mystery, a cooking demo and just out for wine tasting. I have never been disappointed. The employees are gracious, helpful and very entertaining. It is a great way to spend an afternoon and they have a great gift shop. They are now expanding and have a brick pizza oven on a glass enclosed patio I cant wait for it to be up and running.

Ms T and I continue to be amazed at the explosion in the numbers of wineries almost everywhere we go. We enjoy stopping in and seeing what they have, even if they are not Château Petrus or Domaine Romanee-​Conti. So while on our way to visit the T parents, we saw the signs and stopped in at Tassel Ridge. The stars are for the place and the nice experience. You can judge the wines for yourself.
Now I have been accused of being a wine snob, which I flatly deny. I know what to expect from Midwestern wineries and let’s face it, you are not going to find fine Bordeaux or Hermitage or Napa Valley or even Columbia Valley quality wines here. That goes for the wines made in the Midwest from grapes sourced from Napa or Washington, but it is still fun to stop and taste and look around.
Tassel Ridge is one of the nicer places we have been and including some well-​established places in the Augusta and Hermann AVA’s. There is a lot of fairly undrinkable stuff made. I think any strength of these regions lies with off-​dry white wines. I found Tassel Ridge’s classification of dry, off-​dry, semi-​sweet and sweet to be pretty accurate. In Missouri I find that off-​dry tends to be pretty sweet. Our excellent hostess told us that they were trying to use established industry guidelines for residual sugar levels in making these categorical designations.
They have a really large spectrum of wines including some from California sourced grapes. We tasted the whites from dry to sweet and bought a few to the dryer end of the scale. The people were super friendly and we were able to have an extended conversation with them regarding their wines, their local grapes and their plans for expansion.
The facility is very nice with a roomy and very nice gift shop and tasting area. They will give a short tour explaining the process from a balcony overlooking the processing area. Harvest was in full swing when we were there and the place was full of the sweet odor of fermenting grapes. This is a very nice place, just off of Highway 163, northwest of Oskaloosa. If you are too snooty to taste local wines, don’t stop. If you just enjoy getting out and seeing what creative people are doing, it is a great place for a Fall outing.