Apple Lees

We racked the apple wine yesterday and this is a picture of the thick settlings at the bottom of the tank, called lees, draining out of the bottom valve. I love this color, and after looking at it, I have realized this is the color we painted the walls of our dining room. John, my husband, calls it "old gold" from the colors of the University of Missouri- Columbia, where we met.

As you can see, they are beautiful.

Occassionally there are good deals to be had when it comes to fresh produce, and Dad happened upon one yesterday. Blueberries on sale. Rare but true. We haven't made blueberry wine for a couple years because the price of blueberries has skyrocketed lately.

This is a picture of Glenn pouring the blueberries into the crusher.

Buy Local.

So, we're swimming in Christmas Plum over here. I was kind enough to not talk about it until after Thanksgiving, but there is no escape now. I am happy to say that our Christmas Plum seems to be everywhere in the southeast part of Missouri. It is made from 100% fresh plums, and is sweet with a hint of spice that is not added. IMO, this is the perfect gift. I have a guy friend who buys at least a case every year so he doesn't have to muddle through the mall. He gives one to everyone on his list, and I think this is a mighy fine idea. I plan to give one to everyone, my mail person, my UPS man, my hairdresser, my priest. It's a no brainer. Most everyone likes wine, most everyone likes a regional product, and most everyone likes to spend a small amount of money. ;)

Our Christmas Plum label. This scene was painted by one of the most talented artists around, Chuck Drost and is a picture of my dad's farm house in the snow. Chuck drew the plums too. They make me hungry for plums.

Christmas Plum at the Sam's Club in Cape Girardeau

The Christmas Plum on the end of an aisle in the Festus Walmart

The Christmas Plum among pies at the front of the Farmington Walmart

This our Cranberry label. This is what you are looking for in the stores. It has a really great Cranberry flavor, sweet, but a little tart, just like a real cranberry. It goes great with turkey, and it makes your family more bearable.

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. ;)

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)

Today is the last day of pressing the plums.

fermenting fresh Ste. Genevieve County blackberries

Last Friday we received over 15 tons of plums, and we crushed them all on Saturday. They are all fermenting beautifully; should be a great year for Christmas Plum.

The wines come in all different bottle shapes and sizes and styles at the County Fair. This was my favorite bottle. I think it's a barbeque bottle, or Karo syrup.

I am the head judge for the Amateur Wine Competition for the Ste. Genevieve County Fair. Vernon Iseman and his wife, and Art and Donna Flieg help me judge every year, along with John, but he was busy this year. We had 66 entries, and the majority were really good.

Dad got back yesterday from Paw Paw, Michigan with a load of cherries. We use a blend of cherries to make our not-too-sweet-award-winning-Cherry wine.

We are in the process of redesigning our labels and although each label will look different, here is the new style.

A very good point was made in that you don't know what our labels look like so you can buy them at your local store that will now be carrying our product. Here is what most of our labels look like.

State Wide!

As a result of having our wine in all those Wal-Marts I talked about earlier, Dad and I have found a distributer to take our wine not only to Wal-Mart, but state wide. Mostly I am excited, but as we get closer, a tiny part of me is starting to get nervous. This is kind of make or break. We have a salesman now, more of a friend of the family than an employee, and he takes good care of all those little shops along the way from here to there. We are comfortable with the trickle of money coming in once a week. The distributer has placed a healthy order, so that is promising, just as long as they keep reordering. Will their sales force keep us in mind at every store across this big state? I sure hope so.

If you live in Missouri, do us a favor and buy a bottle of our wine at your local store when you see it. ;)

I hope this is just the beginning of realizing our full potential.