A local winery recently had one of their wines named Best of Show. Marsha and Norm Phillips are co-owners of the Rustic River Winery and Vineyard that sits between Lake View and Sac City on County Road M54. Marsha says the Iowa Wine Growers Association recently held a stand-alone commercial competition to take the place of the postponed 2020 Iowa State Fair event.
To receive a Best in Show designation, the wines must first receive a gold medal.
From those golds, four were chosen as Best of Show for white, red, fruit or other. Their signature blush wine, Coyote Call, was selected as the winner in the other category. They had a total of nine wines entered into the competition.
Since that time, Phillips says they have received a lot of congratulatory messages from other wineries. She says they couldn’t have done this without the help from many other people, such as their mentors from Soldier Creek and Train Wreck wineries as well as from Wines of Iowa and the Wine House. Their four children and 15 grandchildren along with numerous friends and other relatives all help out. They also relied on the expertise of Jennie Savits from Iowa State University and Mike White a retired viticulture specialist. Norm is still a full-time corn and soybean farmer and Marsha is a retired school teacher, but this is now her full-time venture. They are experimenting with a new wine right now and are currently in research and development with an anticipated release date in the late summer. The first grapes at their vineyard were planted in 2009 and the winery opened in May of 2017. They are planning a fourth anniversary celebration on May 30, opening the winery at 2 p.m. with live entertainment from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. They also host a corn maze in the fall from around the middle of August to the end of October. The winery hours of operation and a link to their website can be found below.
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Address: 3132 Rolf Ave., Lake View
Website: https://rusticriverwinery.com/wines/
Hours of operation: Friday 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
(Hours are subject to change if the winery is booked for a private event.)
