This is a picture of the truck coming in from the fields full of cranberries. He is opening the back of the truck to dump the berries into water to rinse them before they go into our bins.

Rinsing the cranberries

This is a picture of the cranberries going from the hopper, after they are rinsed, to our bins.

The Stone Cottage

From the Bog to the Bottle

Every year my dad and I take a trip to Cranmoor, Wisconsin to buy cranberries. We have made great friends with Mary Brazeau Brown, and her family farm of cranberries. Her father was one of the cranberry poineers in Wisconsin. Cranberries are one of the few native berries to America, first found in Wisconsin. Her business, Glacial Lake Cranberries keeps her and her husband, Phil, busy. They sell fresh cranberries there, give tours of the bogs, and have a refuge for wild animals on their property. We stay in the Stone Cottage which is decked out in cranberries and birds. The Stone Cottage has space heaters, that every year I turn up too high, and every year Dad opens his window in his room in the middle of the night. There are many birds on their property who like the marsh and bogs and water. It's really beautiful up there, the fall colors always seem more vivid, more reds and bright yellows, and the weather is always colder, which is strangely nice. The bogs are steamy and foggy in the morning, and occassionally we wake up to frost and the sprinklers going trying to keep the berries protected. This year we met Mary and Phil's son, fresh back from college, and I loved observing the similar dynamic of a family owned and run business. Mary and Phil treat us like long lost friends, and every year we come home completely excited about cranberries, and already looking forward to our trip next year. If ever you are looking for a beautiful, serene, secluded get away, I would suggest of visit of your own to Glacial Lake Cranberries and the Stone Cottage.

While I am talking about Cranberries, our Cranberry wine (made from 2005 berries) is ready for you to purchase. It is a little sweet, a little tart, and goes perfect with turkey. I like to say it makes your family bearable on Thanksgiving. ;)

Autumn Daze Festival This Weekend in Ste. Genevieve

There are all sorts of great happenings in Ste. Genevieve this weekend. First of all, we are having a great band at the winery on Saturday from 1-4 p.m. They are called Vintage, and they are very entertaining. Then there is the Plein Air Artist Competition. Anybody can enter, and you paint a picture of Ste. Genevieve this week, and on Sunday you submit it, and they choose a winner. Last year my good friend, Chuck Drost, won the oil competition. If ever you're going to click on one of my links, Chuck's is the one to view. He is a very very talented artist, and he painted our Christmas Plum label, and we are currently working on other labels that I will unveil in due time. I'm pretty sure one of his first posts is of the painting that won last year. So, anyway, artists will be sitting, working, painting with their easle and canvas all over town, kind of like Paris or New Orleans in that respect. After the competition, the art is for sale is the artist chooses to sell it. There are many great artists in the Artists Guild, and they will all be showing and selling artwork all weekend.

Along with all that hand painted art, there will also be the Spirit Reunion in the Cemetary which I mentioned here. There is also an artisan craft show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

Where to Buy Our Wine

Way back when I made a list on this blog of where to buy our wine at Walmart. Now I have a list of where to buy our wine statewide. I will start today with St. Louis and surrounding area. So, if you live in the greater St. Louis area, this list will help you purchase our wine without going to our tasting room. We would still love to see you in our tasting room, where samples of all our wines are free, and we have music and outdoor seating. Did I mention this weekend is our Autumn Daze Festival? Maybe tomorrow I'll write more about that.

Express Mart West Barnhart
J's Package Liquor St. Louis (Riverview Drive)
Lukas Liquor Ellisville
Queen's Bi-Rite Barnhart

Schnucks
Ballwin
Bridgeton
Creve Coeur
Cross Keys
Des Peres
Eureka
Gravois
Ladue
Loughborough
O'Fallon
Overland
Arnold
Clayton
Lindell
Oakville
Westfall
Zumbehl

Starr's St. Louis (Big Bend)

Terminology

I'm intrigued by words (this writing thing does come pretty easy.)

Today I was on the phone with a reporter from a BBC radio program, and I didn't even catch his name, but he is traveling America and doing live interviews on the radio. I guess he was in this area, and was surprised to find there is a wine industry in Missouri, and so he asked me a few questions about the winery, and then was on his way. Towards the end of the conversation he used the word, "smashing" and I held in a little giggle. I wondered for a moment if I was on the phone with Austin Powers. I think I'm going to try to use that word more often, "this late harvest Vidal blanc wine is smashing."

While looking at the website that helps me track where people come from who look at the winery website and this blog, I came across a referring site that calls itself epodunk as in e - po - dunk, as in a website all about places in the middle of nowhere. If that doesn't make you smile, go take your prozac and refresh.

Success

Success means different things to different people, and surely I have my own definitions of success, but I had a couple things happen over the weekend which made me do a little victory lap in my head.

While at the Missouri Botanical Gardens for the Best of Missouri Market, I sold a bottle of Blackberry to a guy with an Oregon Pinot Noir shirt on. That always feels good. Then, late on Sunday afternoon, an employee from another winery came to drink our Concord wine because she doesn't like the Concord wine that her employer makes. Yippee! Score one for me.

This is me last year at the Missouri Botanical Gardens Best of Missouri Market.

Looking For Something to do This Weekend?

This weekend is the Best of Missouri Market at the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. We will be surrounded by many talented artisans, and we will all be selling our craft. Come check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Deer tracks in the vineyard.... The wildlife thinks we are their grocery store. =(

Bird netting for a late harvest Vidal