John Ernest Vineyard & Winery

It was a few months later when I made it to the next winery. August 27, 2011, a friend and I were looking for something to do to fill our Saturday night. She had heard that John Ernest Winery regularly had a band on Saturday nights. We checked their website and found their event calendar. Sure enough they had a band that night so we hopped in the car and headed for Tama, IA. When we pulled off of the highway, it was only a short drive up the gravel road where we came upon a sea of cars. We were surprised at how many people were there. We thought this must be the local hot spot on warm summer nights when they have a band to rock the night away. We walked into the tasting room and the bar was packed. We explored the building and patiently waited for a spot to open up at the bar. After a short wait, we were in. We made our move and went in to get a tasting. The gentleman who helped up was the brother-in-law of the owner. He was very helpful even though he was no wine connoisseur, not that we were. I sampled four of their sweets, one of their semi-sweets, and a couple of their dry wines. As I stated in my first post, this is where I discovered that I prefer sweeter wines. I was grateful though that they let me try the dry wines. Can't knock it until you try it, or at least that's what they tell me. Some of my favorite flavors were River Bottom Red, Timber Ridge, and Dusty Road. Once we finished sampling, we headed out to the patio where the band was jamming and where we were served with a winerita. This was another tasty treat that I was being introduced to for the first time. We sat in the grass next to the grapevines listening to the sweet sounds of the band, sipping a frozen drink, and had intense conversation about love and life. I turned to my friend and said, "I really enjoy doing this. I'm going to look for other wineries in Iowa and start going to them more often." It was not long after that day that I did the research and started my mission.