Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Yakima Valley Pinot Gris

Cellar Craft Showcase Yakima Valley Pinot Gris provides notes of green apples and lemons against a floral and honey background. The flavor reserve package provided with each kit creates a rich mouth-feel with tangy fruit acid balanced by a hint of sweetness.

The wine's character become most apparent after several months of bottle aging and this wine should show well for up to 18 months.

A great choice to accompany dishes rich in butter and oil, garlic and spices. Serve just slightly chilled.

BlueStem Winery features wine ingredient kits from both Cellar Craft and WinExpert. A fairly complete line of WinExpert wine ingredient kits features wines from their Vintners Reserve, Selection Premium (sometimes called Selection Original), Selection International, Selection Estate, Selection Speciale, World Vineyard, Island Mist and Selection Limited Edition series. We have just begun marketing the Cellar Craft ingredient kits and feature wines from their Showcase Collection, the Cellar Craft Classics premium 6-week line and from the Specialty Dessert Wine kits. More of the Cellar Craft ingredient kits will be added in the future for your home wine making enjoyment. WinExpert ingredient kits and Cellar Craft kits are among the industry leaders for superior quality wine ingredient kits for the home wine making enthusiast.

In addition to wine making supplies and winemaking ingredients, BlueStem Winery also offers a complete line of homebrewing supplies, homebrew ingredients and homebrew equipment. Our brewing ingredients include an ingredient kit line called BlueStems Best which are ingredient kits which are complete right down to the bottle caps.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Gewurztraminer-Riesling

One of our store favorites!! Peach and melon from the Riesling blend beautifully together with the spice, mango, and grapefruit of the Gewurztraminer in Cellar Craft Showcase Gewurztraminer-Riesling. Elegant with a hint of sweetness! Enjoy this wine young and fresh or cellar it for a more harmonious profile. Extremely food friendly!! Enjoy this one just slightly chilled.

BlueStem Winery is your retail source for both Cellar Craft kits and for WinExpert kits! BlueStem stocks a complete line of winemaking supplies and winemaking equipment and for our beer making clients we stock a complete line of homebrew supplies and brewing equipment, too.

Even though we are a licensed and bonded winery, home brew supplies and homebrew ingredients are stocked at the same inventory levels as our wine making equipment. Our beer making ingredient kits are our own BlueStems Best kits with over 20 different ingredient kits to choose from and more to come.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Cabernet-Merlot

Bare Ridge Vineyard in Walla Walla, Washington is the grape source for Cellar Craft Showcase Walla Walla Cabernet-Merlot. Walla Walla reds were what first put Washington on the world wine map. Washington reds are now grouped with world standard reds from Bordeaux, Napa and Sonoma. Walla Walla Cabernets and Merlots are consistently in the top ten of the finest wines from America.

This wine is a classic Bordeaux blend of Cabernet and Merlot but it also typifies the unique Walla Walla profile of intense fruit and spice flavors and aromatics. Subtle currant, cherry and plum notes are backed by hints of black pepper, anise and coffee. The wine is oaked in a two-stage process using French and Hungarian oaks which very nicely mellows the tannins and adds jut a hint of toastiness.

BlueStem Winery features both Cellar Craft kits and WinExpert kits in their wine making product inventory. We also feature a complete line of winemaking supplies and brewing equipment in our Parkersburg, Iowa store.

Beer brewing supplies and winemaking equipment are available Wednesday through Saturday from 11-5 or Sunday Noon-4 at the storefront location or on BlueStem Winery's website 24/7.

Just got to have some homebrewing supplies or homebrew equipment and its Monday or Tuesday? Give us a call! We are usually in the store working with our wine or packaging internet sales. If we are in the store we are open for business!

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel

Direct from Ferrero Vineyards in Lodi, California comes wonderful Cellar Craft Showcase Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel wine bursting with concentrated and complex flavors. Sandy, clay loam soil, hot days and cool nights combined with 35 year old vines produce this unique grape wine.

It starts up-front with aromas of blackberries and cherries. Blueberries, raspberries, cranberries and dried plums follow. Beneath this are hints of chocolate, almond and exotic spices. This all finishes with an unmistakable sensation of black pepper.

You can enjoy the first bottle of this wine when it is only two to three months old. The fruit flavors will dominate at this point in its life. Cellar some for months (or years) more to experience a more refined balance and complexity.

BlueStem Winery is your home for Cellar Craft ingredient kits. We feature this kit and many others with more to be added approximately May 1, 2008. Pre-order now to purchase this year's line-up of Cellar Craft Limited Editions. WinExpert Limited Edition kits are also posted on our website for pre-orders. BlueStem Winery features Cellar Craft kits and WinExpert ingredient kits for our wine making clients and BlueStem's Best ingredient kits for our home brewing customers. Our website features a complete line of home brew equipment, home brewing supplies, winemaking equipment and winemaking supplies. Our web store is open 24/7 and we promise prompt, friendly and knowledgeable service.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Viognier

Me either! The first time I saw this wine I had not a clue how to pronounce Viognier! The correct pronunciation is vee-yon yay. Now you know!

This is one of the Cellar Craft ingredient kits and is part of their Showcase collection. The grapes used for this wonderful white are from the Yakima Ridge Vineyard in the Yakima Valley of Washington.

Full-bodied and aromatic with a creamy mouth-feel, the unbelievable aromas and flavors of apricot, mango, pineapple, guava, kiwi, tangerine, orange blossoms and spiced pear dazzle your senses. The provided flavor reserve pack balances the grape's edge and creates a full, off-dry lingering finish.

If you drink it on its own, one glass will almost exhaust your palate. Pair it with spicy Asian foods and it is magic! Drink this one while it is young and don't over-chill it!

BlueStem Winery is your full-service source for both Cellar Craft kits and for WinExpert kits. Located in northeast Iowa, we are centrally located for shipment anywhere in the lower 48. We also ship homebrew equipment and winemaking supplies to Canada and to other international destinations. Winemaking ingredients and home brew supplies are our specialty! We are large enough to stock the items you need while small enough to take the time to help you.

Making wine is also part of who BlueStem is! We are a licensed and bonded winery with our own "Once in a Blue Moon" (a Riesling dessert wine) on the wine rack already and two more scheduled for very early 2008 ("Red Crescent" is a Cabernet Franc dessert wine and "Dark Side" is a dry Chilean Montepulciano). We will also be releasing Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Gruner Veltliner wines and a Gewurztraminer dessert wine in mid-2008 and a Zweigelt in early 2009 as these wines mature.

Wine making is a great hobby as is beer brewing! We have the Cellar Craft ingredient kits (or the WinExpert wine ingredient kits) you need and we also have a full line of homebrew supplies.

Don't know how? Not a problem! We will take the time to nurture you through the process (phone calls and e-mails are never a problem!). Cheers!

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Yakima Valley Syrah

Cellar Craft Wine Ingredient Kit Showcase Yakima Valley Syrah is bold and lively and easily in a league with wines from the northern Rhone and southern Australia. Richly perfumed with a kiss of elegance.

Experience a blast of red and black fruits, chocolate, coffee and licorice followed by the black pepper spiciness of this Washington State Syrah. Two-stage oaking keeps the fruit in check and adds great structure.

A deep-purple wine which shows well after only three months, this Syrah benefits from extended aging. One or two years in the cellar will allow this wine to reach its full potential.

Homebrew supplies and homebrew equipment along with wine making equipment and winemaking supplies are specialties at BlueStem Winery. We feature both WinExpert wine ingredient kits and Cellar Craft kits for home winemaking and our own BlueStem's Best beer brewing ingredients kits including our very special Morrison Hill Pale Ale (a Sierra Nevada clone). At your service 24/7 on the web or stop by our store at 305 Third Street in Parkersburg, Iowa for all your home brew supplies, winemaking ingredients or even to purchase a bottle of BlueStem label wine. We feature knowledgeable and friendly service with prompt shipping of your website order.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Yakima Valley Merlot

Elegant and bold, this Yakima Valley Merlot from Cellar Craft is big and full of up-front waves of raspberry, blackberry and plum. Subtle notes of cedar and mocha follow the fruit and over time, the flavors harmonize while the oak contributes a tempering vanilla note.

Dark, rich, intense! This wine is worthy of aging and will continue to improve for a least two years in the bottle.

BlueStem Winery is a full-service distributor of Cellar Craft Ingredient Kits and is also a full-service distributor of WinExpert Wine Ingredient Kits. A complete inventory of winemaking equipment, supplies and ingredients is available along with our line of home brew equipment, supplies and ingredients. We also feature our own BlueStem's Best beer ingredient kits. Drop by our store Wednesday through Saturday from 11-5 (Central) or on Sunday from Noon-4 or visit our always open web store at www.bluestemwine.com!!

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Chateau Du Pays

Cellar Craft Showcase Chateau du Pays builds its complex character from Syrah, Carignan and Grenache grapes and is fermented with a two liter crushed grape pack of Syrah and Grenache grapes.

Rich flavors in the style of the fine wines of the southern Rhone Valley suggest cherry, raspberry, blackberry and plum combined with notes of pepper and chocolate.

The finish is subtly herbaceous with suggestions of cedar and violets.

This wine can be enjoyed after as little as three months but is its harmonious best if you cellar it for nine months or longer.

BlueStem Winery is a full service winemaking supplies retail outlet (we also carry winemaking equipment and ingredients) located at 305 Third Street in Parkersburg, Iowa. BlueStem also stocks a complete line of home brew supplies and equipment. Home winemaking classes (or home brewing classes) can be scheduled at your convenience. We are on the web 24/7 and we specialize in prompt friendly service.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Cabernet - Shiraz

From the White Sands and Rattlesnake Valley Vineyards located in Washington's Yakima Valley comes Cellar Craft Showcase Cabernet-Shiraz. Yakima Valley Cabernet and Syrah (Shiraz) are many times compared to the great wines from down under, but they also have their own, perhaps more sophisticated, charm.

Cabernet-Shiraz starts with a rush of blackberries, plums, cherries and candied orange fragrances. These bouquets are followed by the flavors of currants, figs, cedar and spice entwined with a balance of toasted oak with a rich, elegant finish.

After two to three months of aging the powerful fruit flavors start to come together. After six to twelve months the tannins soften and the elegant charm of this wine starts to reveal itself. This wine can be cellared for more than two years.

BlueStem Winery features home brew equipment, supplies and ingredients in addition to our complete line of wine making equipment, supplies and ingredients. Open from Wednesday through Saturday 11 to 5 (Central) and on Sunday from Noon to 4, our on-line store is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We specialize in knowing our customers and prompt, friendly service. Check out our 2008 line of Cellar Craft Limited Edition winemaking ingredient kits and our 2008 line of WinExpert Limited Edition winemaking kits.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Rosso Fortissimo

Cellar Craft Rosso Fortissimo is their original crushed grape pack wine. Rosso Fortissimo is a super-Tuscan style wine vinted from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and other Italian varietal grapes.

Cellar Craft's Rosso Fortissimo is fermented on a 2-liter package of Yakima Valley crushed Merlot grapes.

Big, full-bodied with solid structure and combined with plum and cherry notes balance the bold tannins. French and American oaks add toasty vanilla flavors and greater depth to this intense red wine.

Like all of Cellar Craft's wines made with crushed grape packs a minimum of six months aging is necessary to let this wine begin to develop. A year is better and two years will yield a very special wine indeed.

BlueStem Winery specializes in homebrew equipment, ingredients and supplies along with stocking a full line of wine making equipment, ingredients, supplies and both Cellar Craft and WinExpert ingredient kits. We are centrally located in northeast Iowa for quick shipment to any location in the lower 48. We ship internationally with clients in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malta, Greece, Pakistan, Canada, Peru, Great Britain and others. We are large enough to carry the inventory you need yet small enough to take the time to cater to your individual needs and concerns.

Featured Wine Ingredient Kit -- Cellar Craft Showcase Amarone

This is the first in a series of blog entries featuring the wine ingredient kits marketed by BlueStem Winery. Our first featured kit is also one of our favorites!

Cellar Craft Showcase Amarone originates from the Valpolicella area of Italy. It is a bold, assertive wine with a distinct and unique character that derives from the addition of dried grapes during fermentation. The result is a wine with the depth of a Port or Late Harvest wine but without the sweetness.

Showcase Amarone from Cellar Craft has its foundation in Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes from Veneto. The must is fermented on crushed grapes from over ten pounds of fruit plus four pounds of whole grapes which have been sun-dried to perfection. A double dose of untoasted oak balances the wine and with aging tames the natural tannins present in this wine.

This wine is very full-bodied, dry and is a deep garnet color. Hints of plums, sour cherries, raspberries and vanilla blend with into the anise, bitter chocolate, coffee, tobacco, leather and fig flavors which develop with aging. This wine features a long, lingering finish and an alcohol content which should exceed 15%. This wine is best if aged for at least a year.

BlueStem Winery is located in beautiful, downtown Parkersburg, Iowa in America's heartland. We are centrally located for quick delivery to anywhere in the lower 48. Our website features pricing which includes delivery expense so you have no question about what our products are going to cost delivered to your door. We feature a complete line of winemaking equipment, homebrewing supplies, winemaking ingredients, home brewing equipment, wine making supplies, beer making ingredient kits (we feature our very own BlueStem's Best line), winemaking ingredient kits including Cellar Craft and WinExpert plus all of the winemaking ingredients (a complete line of yeast, additives, wine labels, corkers, fruit wine bases and corks) and beer brewing ingredients (a complete line of malted grain, dry malt extracts, liquid malt extracts, yeast, adjunct grains, and additives). Visit our store or shop with us on the web. You will always find prompt, knowledgeable and friendly service. Advice is free and freely given.

Enjoying Wine 101

So you want to get started enjoying wine but don't have a clue about what makes a good wine or where to find out what makes a good wine.

Not a problem! No one can really tell you what kind of wine (white, red, blush, fruit, dry, sweet, or in between) you will like most. Everyone's taste for wine is different. We do tastings in our winery and long ago I gave up on trying to tell people what they should or should not enjoy. Everyone is different and everyone's taste for wine is different, too!

Start your wine testing by enjoying wine by the glass rather than by purchasing an entire bottle of something you may not enjoy. By keeping a diary of which wines you like or don't like you will soon see a pattern develop and this will help you with future wine purchases.

We have many people who purchase wine for health reasons and it is true that wine does have certain benefits to the circulatory system. Red? White? Both are beneficial in this regard. Instead of debating the benefits of either, choose a wine which you enjoy.

In addition to marketing our own label of wines (BlueStem Winery), we also operate a wine and home brewing supplies store. We market winemaking ingredient kits for both WinExpert and Cellar Craft and currently have in stock approximately 100 different types of wine kits. We can definitely help you with the equipment you need and also assist you in choosing a wine to make that you will enjoy. Beer brewers, we have what you need, too! Our own line of BlueStem's Best homebrew ingredient kits plus malt extracts, malted grains, hops and yeast are always available. Our website features pricing with all shipping included in the item cost. No guessing on what it will cost to ship direct to your door.