Uncorked #3: Prairie Berry Winery

Uncorked #3: Prairie Berry Winery

Welcome to Uncorked! Where I feature a new wine that we tried and let you know my thoughts on it. There is a little disclaimer: I am by far no wine expert –I am just going to tell my thoughts on a wine. Some wine snobs out there might turn their nose up at my opinion and that’s fine with me! Wine is meant to be savored and enjoyed!

I might throw out some wine terms here and there and if I do, I will make sure that I give you the definition and try to explain them to the best of my abilities. My goal is to share some tasty wine picks with the world and hopefully encourage some of you out there to try a new wine. No bottle shall be discriminated against, price is no matter (with in reason), and this is just going to be all about exploring the world of wine.

This last weekend was quite a treat! My husband’s parents live in the Black Hills of South Dakota and I was lucky enough to spend some time with them while my husband attended a conference in a nearby town. We explored all over the Black Hills and stopped by Prairie Berry Winery, a nice local winery in Hill City. When you walk in you are greeted with a large open room, crates of wines, a roaring fire, and of course a little counter serving wine tastings and some delicious hor’dourves.
Prairie Berry Winery has been creating wines for five generations. They have a large selection of wines all developed from South Dakota grown grapes, fruits, and honey wines.

The winery was closing for the day when we arrived, so we weren’t able to try all of the different wines, which was quite a disappointment. Lucky for us, they had a nice art exhibit put on by their own employees called the Prairie Berry Homegrown Art Show. We were surprised to see all the creative artists that work at the winery. They were eager to give us a glass of their award winning Three Red Necks wine and encouraged us to look around at all the art exhibits. I met one great artist in particular, Sarah, who had a nice film exhibit of super 8mm footage taken of her Grandfather. Everyone we met there was very friendly and like I say wine is meant to be savored and enjoyed and there is no better enjoyment then a nice glass of wine with some new friendly faces.

This week’s wine is:
Prairie Berry Winery’s 3 Red Necks


Description: The bottle doesn’t have a description on it and neither did the website but I did find another review that summed it up as “A dry, maroon wine with noticeable legs and intriguing aroma.”
Price: $16.00 per bottle
Region: South Dakota, USA

This wine was delicious and very different then what we expected. The wine is considered a Cabernet Sauvignon but it tasted much lighter and sweeter then a normal Cabernet. It seemed more like a Pinot Noir to us. There was a hint of some fruit, maybe some raspberries or cherries, but really no particular type of fruit stood out in the flavor. I thought I could taste a hint of some spice, maybe some cinnamon or cloves. For a person who has never enjoyed a Cabernet, maybe due to the dryness and full bodied quality, this would be a good starter wine as an introduction to the Cabernet family.

Would I buy it again? Yes, we really enjoyed this wine. Most Cabernets are very full bodied and much of the time the flavor is better with a side of cheese or a dark chocolate. This wine, because it was a lighter than normal, made for a great sipping wine. Also, I just love the fact that the wine is made from local South Dakota grapes and fruits. I love supporting locally grown food. I think it just gives the produce an exceptional taste and freshness, plus it’s a great way to strengthen your local economy and support endangered small family farms.

~Beth