Garden Winery, Old Town Winery & Santa Maria Winery

On June 2nd, 2012, a couple of girlfriends and I decided we needed another road trip to visit some more wineries. We headed out early one Saturday morning to travel to Fort Dodge, IA. When we got to town, we had a little trouble finding the place. We let our GPS try to get us to the building but we couldn't seem to find it. We drove round and round trying to get there. We ended up heading back to the same area where the GPS originally took us. As we came down the steep hill and over the railroad tracks, there was only one small section of buildings before it became a deserted area of town. We had seen this all before only fifteen minutes earlier but we were looking more closely. There it was...right around the corner and we had almost missed it again. The sign was small but we found it this time. There was a young guy loading up a truck with some boxes. We pulled in and asked if they were still open for a tasting. He said that he was leaving soon for a wine tasting at another location. He invited us in and we got right to it. He was the owners son and he was a great help and knew a lot about their wine. He let us sample their Edelweiss, Sunset, Brianna, Morning Mist, Sweet William, Cranberry, and their newest wine, Moonlight Arbor. They were all very delicious and it was difficult for us to choose which ones to buy. My favorites were the Edelweiss, Brianna, Sweet William, and Moonlight Arbor. The Edelweiss was similar to many of I've had before but it was still very good. Their Brianna was another good sweeter white with excellent fruit tones and is similar to a Moscato. Their Sweet William is their version of a Concord wine. It was a good interpretation and not too sweet which a lot of them are. I think my favorite of all that they had to offer was the Moonlight Arbor. It is similar to Zinfandel and has a great rose color and excellent mild tones that makes it easy to drink more than you probably should. But after sampling several wines, we knew it was time to go. We each bought a couple of bottles and surprisingly enough the owner's son and we were heading to the same place. We were off to a small town that was hosting a multiple vendor wine tasting called Sip and Sample in Lakeview, IA. We said our thanks and headed on our way.
We headed to Lakeview and as we pulled into the beautiful town, we drove around awhile and found where they were having the event but it wasn't going to start for a couple more hours. We found a small place that was serving quick burgers and ice cream treats. We each order something for lunch and headed to a park right next to the big lake that the town surrounded. We had a great little picnic even though it was windier than heck. We finished our lunch and drove around the small town to kill the time. Eventually, the event started, we paid the small fee to enter, got our wine glass and sample tickets, and made our way around to each of the vendors. They weren't all wine vendors. Some were food, purses, arts and crafts, and much more. They even had a live band. We stayed there for a couple hours wandering around and collecting as many free samples as we could. We visited the Garden Winery table and they were offering their wine made into sangria. That was our favorite treat from all the vendors. We used up our tickets and decided to head out. This day was far from over so we headed to our next destination.
We arrived a short time later to Ida Grove, IA to Old Town Vineyard and Winery. We didn't have to travel too far into town before we had to take a quick right and head up a steep hill. We were heading into an area that was obviously for people with a lot of money. We found the acreage by the sign at the front of the drive. We pulled in and found their tasting room. We walked in and there were a couple of other people tasting wine and chatting. Their tasting room was beautiful. They had decorated it very beautifully and they had put a lot of money into making it look very nice. After wandering around a bit, we went up to the bar and met the owners. They were very nice and gave a quick history on how they got started. They were a retired couple and decided to spend their later years making and selling wine. We examined their wine list and were surprise to find they only had a few different flavors. They told us that most of their wines were on the dry side but we decided to try them anyway. We tried all five flavors that they had available. Most were too dry for our liking but not terrible. After sampling what they had, we decided to buy a bottle and sit out on the patio and enjoy the amazing view. We bought a bottle of their LaCrescent and sat out on the patio on this warm summer afternoon chatting about all that was currently going in our lives, past memories, and all the things we had planned for the rest of the summer. We finished the bottle and I bought another for home. Although the wines were too dry for us, they were still good and this place had an amazing facility. We had one more place to go before the day was done so we started driving once again.
We pulled into Carroll, IA and the GPS led us to our destination. This winery was another one that was in the middle of downtown. We found a parking spot on a side street and walked into Santa Maria Winery. The place was very busy and while we searched for an open table, we gazed at all the different bottles of wine they had as well as the other items they had for sale.  We found a table by the front window and sat down and waited for the waitress. Eventually a nice lady came over and asked if we were here just for wine or food as well. It had been several hours since our lunch in the park so we decided we needed both. We order some bruschetta to start us off while we looked over the wine list. She said that we could have four samples so I tried the Sweet Willey, Ringneck Red, Berazzled, and the My Blackberry. The Sweet Willey was a very sweet white and had good flavor. Next was the Ringneck Red which was similar to a Concord and quite good. The Berazzled was very good as well and not too sweet. Last was from their fruit section and My Blackberry was very very sweet but again, had that good berry flavor. After finishing our samples, we ate our supper and then scoped out the building. The main entrance is filled with tables and are obviously for serving food and wine tasting. They had a back area where you could see the wine vats. As I walked toward the back, there was a lot of commotion and I discovered that there was a wedding going on. They must also have a large back room that can be reserved for parties. After making our way around the place, we grabbed a few bottles to take with us. By this time, it was getting dark and we knew we had a long drive home. It had been a long day by the time we finally made it home, it was past midnight. We had a great time exploring these small Iowa towns and getting to sample many different wines. Even though we were exhausted by the end of the day, we had good food, even better wine, and best of all, each stop made us closer as friends.