VICTORIAN HOUSE EVENTS CALENDAR

We have added a new page to our website which is devoted only to events at Jim and Marilyn Brosdahl's Victorian House here in Parkersburg.

 

CLICK HERE for menus and all other events being held at the Victorian House!

 

WINEMAKING CLASSES

We have had a positive response to our one-on-one wine making classes.  Saturday mornings have seen us with couples coming in prior to our store opening so that a class on making wine can be finished before the store opens.  It is a great way to start off a Saturday morning and many couples are busy making wine by the end of the day.

 

We like to have time to show the contents of our winemaking equipment kits and explain how each piece of equipment is used.  Most of the equipment is pretty straight-forward but there are always a few how-tos that we like to go through.

 

Time is then spent talking about the various WinExpert and Cellar Craft wine ingredient kits that we have for sale.  We encourage our new winemakers to start off with one of these superb kits so that their first wine making experience is a good wone.  The use of one of our Cellar Craft or WinExpert wine kits virtually guarantees that our new wine making hobbyists will get a super wine to enjoy with their first attempt.

 

After selecting one of the Cellar Craft or WinExpert kits to purchase, we then open the box and go through the instructions so that the new winemakers can ask questions and have a thorough understanding of the process of making wine.

 

If their preference is to make wine from fruit or their own grapes, BlueStem Winery stocks a complete line of winemaking ingredients, wine making equipment and winemaking supplies to meet their needs.

 

Have a group of people who want to learn to make wine?  We can get together and have an evening session and walk through the entire process at your convenience.  Call us at (319) 346-1046 or e-mail the winery at bluestemwine@mchsi.com or at info@bluestemwine.com.

     BLUESTEM'S BLOG

An article about wine making or beer brewing is published approximately 15 times per month on the BlueStem Winery blog.  We also publish about 3 or 4 articles per month on our perspectives on life or on events which have shaped our lives.

 

These articles are intended to be informative, insightful or just interesting.

second wine offering available NOW!

Red Crescent (our second BlueStem Winery label wine) is on the shelves as of late March 2008. Red Crescent is a wonderfully sweet dessert wine and will be a nice accompaniment to our first wine (a Riesling dessert wine) Once in a Blue Moon.

 

Our third wine is bottled and the label has been designed, approved and ordered.  This wine will be called Dark Side (yes, all of our wines so far have a moon theme in their names) and is called this because the wine is so dark it appears to be black.  Dark Side is a Montepulciano wine made from concentrated juice from the Chilean Andes.

 

Following along in rapid succession will be our 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th wines which should all be available sometime in the summer to early autumn of 2007.  These wines will include a Riesling, a Gewurztraminer, a Gruner Veltliner (an Austrian white) and a Gewurztraminer dessert wine.

 

We are about ready to start our 8th wine which will be a Zweigelt (an Austrian red).  Our 9th wine will be started in April 2008 and will be a Late Harvest Riesling.

 

We are pumped!  It has taken a long time to get to the point where we were able to put several kinds of our own wines out for sale but that time is rapidly approaching.

 

Stop by for a sample.  Check below for our winery hours.  If we are open, we are tasting!

 

BREWING CLASSES

 

Although we have never claimed to be as knowledgeable about brewing beer as maybe we are at wine making, we do offer instruction for the neophyte brewer on the basic beer brewing equipment required and have this equipment available in three different equipment kits.

 

Our brewing instructor extraordinaire, Cliff Ozmun, has left our area for the warmer climes of Texas and is no longer available to teach our beginning and intermediate level brewing classes.  We continue our search for someone who might take Cliff's place as our resident home brew guru.  Volunteers are being solicited!

 

For the beginner or advanced brewer, BlueStem Winery stocks a very diverse line of homebrew ingredients, home brewing supplies and brewing equipment and is expanding this lineup of goodies often.  Whether you are a new brewer getting started with extract kits or an intermediate brewer doing partial mash kits such as our own BlueStems Best kits or an advanced zymergy enthusiast doing whole grain brewing, we are equipped to supply your needs.

 

Interested in learning home brew basics?  Read about our wine making classes (in the left hand column).  We offer the same type arrangement for learning to brew beer as we do for learning about making wine.

 

Store Hours

Wednesday-Saturday 11:00-5:00
Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00
Mondays and Tuesdays by chance or appointment

 

Need something on a Monday or Tuesday?  Although we are closed you have about a 90% chance that Vern will be in the store working with our wine or packaging web shipments.  Knock on the fornt door or call him at (319) 346-1046 and he'll come to the front door and let you in.  You are welcome to call prior to driving out to Parkersburg to verify that he is in the store.

 

We are closed on New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, July 4th, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.  If we will be closed at other dates we will post those dates here.

 

Our summer vacation plans have been set and we will be leaving for our annual Wisconsin fishing trip on Saturday, June 7.  The store will be open (minimum staffing) on the 7th and 8th and also from June 11th through the 14th.  I will be back in the store on Sunday, June 15th.  Web orders will, of course, be available during this week but shipping will be delayed until the week of June 16th.

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