BLUESTEM TO SPONSOR WINE CONTEST

June is only a couple of months away and the entry forms have been going out the door for the inaugural Butler County (Iowa) Fair wine contest.

Additional information is available on our Events Page and contest rules and entry forms can be obtained at BlueStem Winery.

If you are into wine making at home we want you! Your wine can be made from backyard fruits and vegetables, white grapes, red grapes and even from WinExpert and Cellar Craft wine kits you can purchase at BlueStem Winery.

It may be too late to get involved for 2009 (unless you have wines already in the bottle or ready for bottling) but we will be having the contest again in 2010. Get started now! BlueStem Winery has all the wine making equipment and winemaking supplies you need for your new hobby!

A bluestem biography

Never would I have thought that my wife and I would wind up at some point in our lives owning a retail home brewing supply store!

A chance event (actually a series of improbable events) led us back into winemaking and this led us to the thoughts of a winery and this led us to actually purchasing a large amount of home brewing supplies and wine making kits. For the rest of the story . . . READ ON . . .

BLUESTEM WINES AVAILABLE OFF-SITE

As of Monday, February 16, 2009 BlueStem Winery wines are now being sold at locations other than at the winery in Parkersburg.

Our first off-site retail location is Iowa's Wine Cellar located at 2010 Philadelphia Street in Ames, Iowa. BlueStem Winery hopes to add additional off-site locations for the purchase of our wines in the near future. Check out a complete listing of retail locations for the purchase of BlueStem wines on our About Us page.

WINE VARIETAL DESCRIPTIONS

Confused by all the different names for wine and by the many different types of grapes? The links below will lead you to pages on our website which briefly describe the various types of grapes and the wines that are made from them.

RED GRAPE VARIETALS

WHITE GRAPE VARIETALS

RENEWAL WITH REMEMBRANCE 5/25/08

BlueStem Winery will be participating in the first Renewal with Remembrance celebration marking the first anniversary of the deadly Parkersburg tornado of May 25, 2008.

The 2009 Renewal celebration will take place on Saturday, May 23, Sunday May 24 and on the actual anniversary of the tornado, Monday, May 25.

BlueStem Winery will be open for business on both Saturday and Sunday offering our usual line of BlueStem wines, home brewing supplies, supplies for wine making at home and our large line of Cellar Craft and WinExpert wine kits. READ ON . . .

BlueStem Wines

In addition to wine making supplies BlueStem also markets their own label wines!

READ MORE about the six (soon to be seven) BlueStem Winery wines!

THE PARKERSBURG TORNADO OF 2008

Our home brewing and wine making supply store was spared but the photo above shows what was left of my son's 2002 Ford Lightning pickup after the deadly tornado of Memorial Day (May 25), 2008 in Parkersburg. As many of you know, our town here in northeast Iowa was ripped apart by one of the largest tornados ever to ever hit the United States. Winds from this tornado are known to have exceeded 205 miles per hour (what is known as an EF-5 tornado) and are believed to have been as high as 250 miles per hour . . . READ MORE

SO . . . JUST WHAT IS BLUESTEM ANYWAY?

One thing that I learned about Iowa that I did not know prior to beginning our winery, wine making equipment, and home brewing supply business was that a hundred years ago Iowa was the sixth leading producer of grapes in the United States. So what happened? Several things . . . READ MORE!

SHIPPING INFORMATION

BlueSaver is BlueStem Winery's flat rate shipping policy to all locations in the lower 48 United States. If we are shipping your beer brewing ingredients, winemaking equipment, beer making supplies or winemaking supplies to an international address or to Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico please read our the shipping information on our policies page.

If you live in the lower 48 United States, BlueSaver shipping means your pay only $8.95 for shipping, no matter how large your order! READ MORE

Store Hours

BlueStem Winery hours for the sale of our BlueStem label wines, BlueStems Best beer brewing kits, brewing equipment, plus our selection of WinExpert and Cellar Craft wine kits along with a list of the holidays we observe and other dates that we are closed are available by going to our POLICIES page . . .