We have always had a good experience with Royal Rides, our most recent experience was my daughter…read more6th birthday party over the weekend. My daughter had a blast, they filled the limo with balloons at our request and the driver played hip songs for them! Would definitely recommend them and can't wait for Christmas to go on their Jolly Holiday light tour with them!

From the owner: Royalrides specializes in chauffeured services in Des Moines and the surrounding areas. We are…read moreexperts in airport transfers and corporate transfers. Royalrides will make that final touch on your wedding,prom,bachelor/bachelorette party, or friends night out to ensure you have the perfect experience. During the summer, Royalrides enjoys providing cooled accomodations for winery and brewery tours or heated rides for Christmas light tours during the winter. No matter the reason, no matter the cause, Royalrides will get you there in style. It doesn't matter where you are going, it's how you get there.

Great Wine! Good Food! Amazing friendly service! I try to stop passing thru Iowa every chance I get.read more

A beautiful setting with nice trees for lovely days outside. Plenty of friendly faces to help while…read moreyou're there. It would be good if they had more organization to help speed the process of sampling and ordering. There are many wine choices especially if you prefer sweeter varieties. Hopefully they get more dry and less sweet varieties.

If you are looking for a unique experience/activity to do with friends this might be just for…read moreyou... If you ever wanted to know the history of wine or you wanted to understand how to make wine. Eric the owner gave us a background on three wines and then we were able to sample each. After the sampling we chose as a group the wine we were going to make that night. This is a two day process. Which means you have the opportunity to spend time with the same people twice. When you come back 2 months later it is to bottle the wine. This place is a real gem and it was a really fun experience. I recommend this too all the wine drinkers out there. The only downside is that after you bottle the wine you have to wait 2 years to drink it...it has to age! The owner does have wine that was made onsite that you can purchase to tie you over.

Mr Rick was an excellent guide through the history of wine!…read more We spent a wonderful evening learning about wines and Making our own wine! From understanding the grapes, the process and even how to bottle it we now have a better understanding of what goes into making wine and it even helped us to open our minds to new tastes and adventures. We look forward to getting our wine and sharing it with friends! We booked our next adventure with Rick while we were there. Great atmosphere...great experience..great teaching and host.

We had a great time visiting this beautiful winery while in Iowa. It's right down the road from my…read moresons house and what a treasure it is. We brought our own chairs, glasses, etc. and sat outside for hours in the spacious yard. We listened to a 60s-70s band while watching the sunset. They had wine by the bottle for sale and a variety of beers so for the 4 of us each one of us was covered for drinks. They had facilities to use and strict guidelines were followed... we felt very safe. We will definitely come back again.

Penoach is a pretty good winery. Came here on a Saturday afternoon. They have a free tasting for…read more5 samples. Really enjoyed their Picket Fence White, wasn't sweet like a lot of Iowa wines. They also have an apple wine that tastes like apple pie. You have to buy a bottle of wine to have a glass here. They have a nice area outside to enjoy it. The people working here were very nice.

I attended the Jasper Winery wine and Cider fest because I had a number of friends that were going…read moreto be there. I had a great time but I am giving this a 3 star sole because the value for my money was not there. With the Event Brite fees it was $55. Sure, we could have unlimited samples of wine and cider over the course of three hours, but all those samples wear to entice people to make additional purchases. Music, tours, cheese samples and tasting glass were included in the price. Anyway, I had a lovely time with friends I just can't get past spending so much to attend.

Summer Concert Series is a must if you're in the Des Moines area!! Pricing for wine, beer, and…read moreciders are similar to most other places but the atmosphere is pretty special! Once you're nestled behind their grape vines you forget that you're so close to downtown Des Moines. As for the concert, it was AMAZING! So much fun, so much space for people to spread out and enjoy the music, drinks, and food! You can also bring your own food if you'd like but the food options they have amongst the food trucks and vendors was really well balanced. Jasper staff was friendly and they had a nice selection of wines. Well done Jasper Winery! We'll be back for sure!

Beautiful spot for a little wine tasting! We sat outside and enjoyed a wine flight. As first time…read morecustomers, a little more guidance would have been helpful. We didn't really know where to go or how everything worked. We didn't know or see a sign saying they sold charcuterie/snacks, until we found out after the fact. We did enjoy some of our wines & definately will come back & try more!

This is really a 3.5 star review. came here yesterday afternoon with some of my sorority sisters…read moreafter our spring alum chapter meeting. It seemed like the thing do after our meeting and lunch. It took a bit to get out there because it is on the north side of campus and Ames. I had actually never been here because it didn't exist when I was in college. Though there has really been a winery boom in the last couple of years. The winery baristas were able to explain the 10 different wines to us. It would have been amazing if they had all of the white wines because one was sold out. The deal of trying 8 1 oz glasses for 8 dollars is great. We ordered two of their cheese and charcuterie plates (later we found out this was all that they had made). The seating was not ideal and we stayed at the wine bar instead of trying other locations. There was not a tasting card given to you when you got your flight of wines so you had to really pay attention so you knew which ones you wanted to buy. The Iowa grape wines were for the most part great. However, the chardonnay grape that was purchased from California was not good. It either wasn't store correctly in the barrels or not a high quality. Chardonnay is one of the wines I have grown up drinking because my Grandma loves a good chardonnay and I believe I have 4 different bottles of chardonnay at home. Overall not bad place, just I've been to better wineries.

Today my son's fraternity hosted an event for moms and part of our day included going to this…read morefabulous winery! The weather was beautiful, there was plenty of outdoor seating to have great conversations over delicious glasses of wine. We sampled several ( no charge!), and I chose a semi sweet white called Summer something or other lol; now I don't remember the name! But I did purchase a bottle as a gift. They also had wine slushy's that a lot of the moms were drinking and I tried one and would definitely have it next time! The service was very cordial and the proprietor was extremely knowledgeable. It was just a delightful experience all around!

Backyard is a perfect name for this place because it's literally in their backyard! It's a…read morebeautiful facility with the building materials sourced directly from the farm it sits on! Great view of the vines, pines and oaks on the property! The wine is a terrific offering of what Missouri home grown grapes have to offer! The owners/operators work together like family (because they are) to be super friendly and hospitable! Very open to all my silly wine making questions! In my opinion this place is a model for what Missouri wine and wine producers are all about!!

I was able to attend a small event recently at Speckled Hen Farm encompassing Speckled Hen and a…read morecouple of businesses they closely partner with including Covered Bridges Winery. Kevin from Covered Bridges Winery was an excellent host and let us know about their business in the same way as our hosts from Speckled Hen Farm and Lone Oaks Farms did. Where they started, where they are now, and what they have coming up. He offered tasting of 8-10 different wines from sweet to dry of his different blends. I tried the St. Croix (dry red), Frontenac Gris (dry red), LaCrescent (dry white), Marquette (dry white), Petite Rose (dry rose), and Rattlesnake Red (semi-sweet red). I'm not a huge wine drinker...some over the years...and I know my taste leans to dry and not overly sweet. I enjoyed all the samples I tried; both red and white! Ask Kevin about how the name rattlesnake red came to be...! Since we were on the Speckled Hen property we didn't get the full winery experience, but Kevin had the same enthusiasm as Kris (our host from Speckled Hen Farm) and Luann (our host from Lone Oaks Farms). You can tell why they all partner together so well! Winterset is just a 30ish min drive from where I live in Clive. A trip to the Northern part of Ankeny or to the South side can take me just as long...so it's really not far away at all and it's a nice drive. If you're like me and you enjoy a little bit of a day trip to find new things... It's worth the short drive from the metro! Check out upcoming events at Covered Bridges Winery on their Facebook page and site (as well as those for Speckled hen Farm and Lone Oaks Farms on their respective pages). https://coveredbridgeswinery.com/ https://www.facebook.com/CoveredBridgesWinery

Good wine, great service and nice location…read more I stopped here with Harvest Hosts for an overnight stay. It was packed when i got there with live music and a packed house. One of the owners saw me trying to find a place to park and pointed me to the best area to park, said after the band was over people would think out and I could park anywhere i wanted on the grounds. After getting setup i came in and grabbed a bottle of red wine and a charcuterie plate. The owners and staff were wonderful, the wine was great and the music was fantastic!! I had a great time staying with them and if i lived in the area i know i wold be there often.