Blog

 Gave our label artist the privilege of naming this one, “Endless Summer.”My 2nd attempt at watermelon wine and it really isn’t a sweet red wine. It’s a sweet white. After carving 4,200 pounds of melons from melons of  various sizes and colors in my first vintage attempt. Tasting the different varieties of melon meat, then blending […]

Starting new grape plants this time of year is something I do. Annie, our media person was walking through the winery and saw those 2024 grape cuttings and said, “you should blog about what you’re doing here, people would like to know.”  So here is to hoping you want to know? Starting new plant starts […]

Wine-osaurs Last week some friends/customers (Bryants) from Lincoln shared a new term with me “wine-osaurs”. That’s what their friend group at the Roca winery call themselves. Their words were, “We’re old and we like wine, thus we call ourselves wine-osaurs”. 😊 Wine-osaurs could be considered Boomers and Late Boomers. I guess that includes me. Hey! […]

by Mick McDowell, Miletta Vista Winery, St Paul, Nebraska “Wine is only as complicated as you make it.  Wine is fun and meant to be enjoyed, plain and simple. At the end of the day, all you need to enjoy wine is a wine opener and a glass”[1].   I would say that is a mostly […]

The Wild Horse Cocktail Warm days, and warmer than bone chilling nights, on top of 10” of snow has given us some very foggy nights to drive in and still at 10 a.m. this morning we have perhaps ½ mile visibility here atop of Mount Miletta.  I drove through that same soup on my return […]

Hot-Hot-Hot, Hot Chocolate! As I was searching the music animation sequence list for our new animated Christmas lights on the patio (my latest idea I call Dinner & a Show), I came across a song Tom Hanks sang in the movie, “Polar Express” entitled “Hot Chocolate.” Now, I can’t recall that I’ve watched the entire […]

If you’re a member of Miletta Vista’s Book Club, (aka wine Club, because we all know “Going to Book Club” is code for getting together to drink wine) you’ve probably wondered how we could go a year without even mentioning a book, (if you’re not a book club member we can help make you one). […]

Learning about wine is a never-ending process for consumer and winemaker alike. Just when you think you know what to expect, BAM a drought or heavy rains or a fire, changes things.  None the less, as winemaker you must combine the necessary skill-set with the unexpected event to achieve yet another preferred vintage for the […]

On March 21, 2023, Loretta’s cousin wrote, “Yesterday, winter handed the baton to spring; and spring promptly turned and sprinted back toward winter”!  That’s how it spring felt, as we finish the last days for March and first 10 days of April.  Winter just wants to hang on, and that’s alright with the grape vines, […]

Last evening, I was able to virtually uncork some Bourbon Barrel Petite Pearl and some Workhorse wine with the SERPA-ACO medical group.  This little GoToMeeting presentation just about exhausted my total knowledge of wine(s) [tongue in-cheek].  This was a rather fun way to breakup some medical in-service chatter and impart the one or two wee […]

The dry summer of 2022 was not a complete unknown to any long-term Great Plains residents, but 2022 was definitely a dry and windy one.  In fact, I remember one of my Real Estate clients years ago asked, “so what’s going on in Nebraska?” Too which I replied, “it’s hot and dry.”  Jim chuckled and […]

What we are hearing from West Coast vineyards and wineries is that many will not have grapes of suitable quality for wine making due to the heavy smoke. A condition referred to as smoke taint, which produces of flavors, sometimes immediately, sometimes months or years later.  Thus, most will not have a 2020 crop. An […]

A COVID-19 EASTER, DOES NOT NEGATE THE- FACT- HE HAS RISEN! Easter’s Eve was another beautiful day.  On the precipice of spring, today was a wonderful day throughout much of the mid-west, and 4 miles north of St. Paul, Nebraska, on mount Miletta was no exception.  Temperatures were in the 70’s and even though social […]

By Mick McDowell, a Nebraska a winemaker A brief numbers focus today Week 4 – Sandhill Crane Counts 2020 – as reported by Andrew Caven, Director of Conservation Research.   “Sandhill Cranes leaped into Nebraska this the leap day” as we counted a bias adjusted 196,400+/- 47,570 Sandhill Cranes, well up from last week’s count of […]

Nebraska Wine. . Amidst Cows and Corn By Mick McDowell, a Nebraska a winemaker Today it’s supposed to be 65°F and nearly 70°F in another week.   We’re already seeing plenty of Canadian and Snow geese in the area, which means that the Great Migration of the Sandhill Cranes isn’t far behind. Yet, if you’re a […]

Wine . . Amidst Cows and Corn – A Nebraska winemakers Blog By Mick McDowell, Miletta Vista Winery Surrounded by bovines (cows), maze (corn) and Big Red Football fans, Nebraska winemakers, continue winning in HUGE ways!  Some people say awards are old news, but I’m talking awards that are more than participation ribbons. Theses kind […]