Route du Vin in Full Swing!

The Wineries of Ste. Genevieve
Present
“Jour de la Terre” Weekend on Ste. Genevieve’s Route du Vin
April 19th & 20th, 2008
11am - 5pm
Celebrate Earth Day this Spring on Ste. Genevieve’s wine trail!

Each winery offers seasonal cuisine prepared with fresh Spring herbs paired with their wines.
Take home a complimentary herb seedling from each winery to start your own herb garden!
Visit 5 wineries on Ste. Genevieve’s Route du Vin, as each winery will offer complimentary wine samples
and special food pairings made with Spring herbs for each ticket holder. If your passport is stamped
at all 5 wineries your name will be entered in a drawing for “Jour de la Terre” giveaways!
A little more than an hour’s drive from St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, journey through the rolling hills,
big skies and beautiful views of 5 unique wineries on the Route du Vin:
Sainte Genevieve Winery Cave Winery Chaumette Winery
Twin Oaks Winery Charleville Winery

Cost: $20/person until April 4th; $25/person after April 4th
(includes complimentary wine glass, and 10% off wine purchases made that day)
Please call for advance reservations Sainte Genevieve winery (800) 398-1298

Wine & Food Pairing Menu:
Sainte Genevieve Winery (Chives)
Serving Spring Green Salad with Fresh Chives, paired with their Vignoles
Charleville Winery (Cilantro)
Serving Fresh Spicy Cilantro Gazpacho, paired with their Genevieve Rivard
Chaumette Winery (Dill)
Serving Dill-Seeded Spiced Pork Loin with Whipped Dill Brie on Toast Points, paired with their Estate Chardonel
Twin Oaks Winery (Oregano)
Serving Crusty Buttered Garlic Bread Bruschetta with Tomato, Pepper & Oregano, paired with their Traminette Dry
Cave Winery (Basil)
Caprese Salad Skewers with Sweet Italian Basil & Fresh Mozzarella, paired with their Chardonel Off-Dry

Join us on the Route du Vin year round for these seasonal events!
June 2008: Progressive Wine Dinner
November 2008: Wine Diva Weekend
February 2009: Jour d’Amour Weekend

In The News...in Texas

I'm very happy to show you this link to an article in the Forth Worth Business Press for a couple reasons. First of all, I have judged wine with Sterling Steves many times, and haven't seen him in a year or two, so I'm anxious to be back in contact with him and hear how things are in his life. Also, his wife, Renie, came to the winery a year or two ago on the press tour, and it's so nice of her to write about her trip to 18 Missouri wineries and to mention us. Lastly, there is another winery in Texas with a name similar to ours, and occassionally I get an email from a confused customer, so now maybe that winery in Texas will get a few calls about us. =)

Close up of Vignoles from a distance, plus a few Norton right in front

Motivational Weather

This is the type of weather Missourians live for; 70 degrees in March. Especially after such a harsh winter. I have bet with my assisstant that it will snow again before Easter. She says it will, I say it won't.

This is my Dad today on a John Deere with his "shirt sleeves" on. We are borrowing this tractor and hedger from another Missouri winery to see if we want to buy it, or one like it. It goes through the vineyard and trims off the tops and sides of the canes, then we go through and hand prune off dead wood, or left over racchi, or buds we don't want to keep. The more we can mechanize, the less we spend on labor, the better our bottom line.

Baby At Work

One of the best parts of this job lately is the fact that I bring my baby to work with me. She's so good, and she sleeps so much, that right now it works out great. She eats every 3 hours and is awake for 1 hour then back to sleep for two. I can get a lot done if I stay focused while she's asleep.

Today she wanted to eat right before we bottled the Elderberry wine (which is excellent, BTW), so I fed her, then propped her up on the boppy on a stack of Concord 1/2 gallons while we bottled. I didn't think she'd allow it for very long, but she just sat there and tried to put her fist in her mouth, and talked to us a little (no one can get a word in edgewise with my assistant around), fussed a tiny bit, I stuck the pacifier in her mouth, and the next thing I knew she was asleep.

This is what family businesses are all about right?