Looking For Something To Do This Weekend?

The 61 Mile Yard Sale is this Friday and Saturday. 61 miles on Hwy 61 filled with the most unique yard sale in the area. While you're at it, stop by the winery, less than a mile from Hwy 61 and sample some of our award winning wines! We're open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The flowers at the winery are in full bloom, and they are really eye catching. Petunias on the bottom, roses in the middle and grape hyacinth climbing up the pillars.

This is Quincy who likes to hang out in my office. I'm not in my office much now that the grapes are coming in, so he usually just follows me around. I like to think he likes my company, but I think he just likes the air conditioning. Today he is chasing bees and horseflies out of my office; taking good care of me. He just caught a hornet. I think that deserves a treat. ;)

Here on the farm sometimes animals are your only companions. This is Alberta (John named her after Albert Pujols) guarding the pallets of empty bottles.

Grandpa (a.k.a. my dad) giving the kids a ride.

This is my niece enjoying the sweet unmistakeable taste of Concord grapes. They come down every year around this time and get their Concord fix. Who can blame them? Even the thick, humid, Missouri air swirls with eau du Concord. After picking all the Concord grapes yesterday, my skin was naturally perfumed, and I will have to say I loved it.

This is Dad picking Concord grapes that are misplaced in the Vignoles. They came from the nursery that way, and they are a real nuisance, but we can't machine harvest these rows of Vignoles until we pick these few Concord grapes.

Harvest officially began on Friday.

Today is the last day of pressing the plums.

long rows of Concord

I think we'll be harvesting the Vignoles next week.

Jour de Fete

Every year on the second weekend in August, our town of Ste. Genevieve hosts one of the largest craft fairs in the state called Jour de Fete, which means "day of festivities" in French. This year is no exception. Our streets will be lined with over 500 crafters, a classic car show, colonial crafts, live music, a quilt auction, and lots of great food (my favorites are the deep fried oreos and the pork burgers.) There is a downloadable schedule at the Ste. Gen Herald website, it's in red on the left. When you open it, it is easier to read if you print it.

Come by and visit us at the winery. We're a great air conditioned relief from the heat, and the wine is always affordable and refreshing.

These are our Muscat Canelli grapes growing in our vineyard. They are hard to grow; they don't really prefer our Missouri climate, but, what can I say, we've got skills. ;) They are ripening nicely; should be ready a couple weeks a head of schedule this year because of the heat.

Interview

On Friday morning I was interviewed on the Martha Stewart Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. I talked to Lauren Pressley on the Morning Living Program. I talked about how to make wine out of fresh blackberries that are ripe now. I also plugged the website , talked about Jour de Fete, Fresno State, all sorts of goodies. They are sending me a copy of the interview, so maybe I'll post it here.

There is also a nice mention of us in an article in Sauce Magazine talking about fruit wines.

fermenting fresh Ste. Genevieve County blackberries