As I mentioned, I'm teaching a Fundamentals of Enology class at the local junior college. Saturday we took a class trip to two wineries; Mt. Pleasant and Sugar Creek wineries, both in the Augusta area. At Mt. Pleasant, I set up a tour with Mark Baehman, the winemaker, and Pat Cummings, the director of sales. The tour and tastings were brilliant, and we had a wonderful guided tour through the tanks and barrels and underground caves. Then we headed to Sugar Creek winery, were we came unannounced, but luckily, Becky Miller, one of the owners, was there and gave us a tour of their winemaking facility. The last stop on the trip was to Lukas Liquor, which is a huge liquor store in West County. This was the students idea, since there really aren't that many great places to purchase wine in our area. Even I came away with a couple great bottles of wine.

I think we got an excellent view of both small and large wineries in Missouri. Large wineries, where they make sparkling wines and port and have dinner parties and small wineries where the owner is there on a Saturday and personally shows you around.

This is a picture of my students at the tasting bar at Mt. Pleasant. Think they are enjoying the class?

Regional Cuisines

There are 6 counties including and surrounding Ste. Genevieve County in Missouri that are part of a pilot project started by Beth Barham, a professor at the University of Missouri. The project is called the Regional Cuisines project, and the idea is that rural parts of America can be tourist destinations if they were marketed as such, similar to Europe. If you visit France or Germany or Italy, you visit cities, but you also visit the countryside, and drink local wines and eat local cheeses. America has yet to adopt this idea, but Beth is hoping to change that, with our help. We are just in the beginning stages, but the possibilities are endless. Check out these websites for more information on the project and our 6 county area now deemed the "Mississippi River Hills."

In the News!

Here is a link to a nice article in the Wines and Vines magazine about Ste. Genevieve being the new wine region in Missouri.

My favorite quote from the article states, "The biggest draw is Ste. Genevieve, a town founded by French settlers in 1699. The historic town contains homes and other buildings dating to the French colonial period as well as Spanish and early American times after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. With numerous inns, restaurants, historical sites and the inevitable antique stores, Ste. Genevieve is a popular weekend getaway, and its wineries take advantage of that mood." Ste. Genevieve is (in my humble opinion) one of the cutest towns around, and it's nice to hear someone else recognize that too. A have a feeling a few people visit the wineries in the countryside and miss the beautiful, historic, one of a kind town, and I think that is a shame.

I have heard my "mug" accompanies the article in the magazine, but since I only have this link, I haven't seen the picture.

This is a picture taken by the guys at Missouri Wine Country of my dad pouring wine at the Westport wine tasting held two weekends ago. If you live in the Springfield, MO area, you can taste our wines, and meet dad at the Best of 417 wine tasting this Sunday.

Hazy Shade of Winter

This is our old Concord plot, covered in ice and snow.

Brrr!

Another ice and snow storm hit our area yesterday. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

The Wineries of Ste. Genevieve Present
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” Weekend on Ste Genevieve’s Route du Vin
February 10th & 11th, 2007
11am - 5pm

Spend a chilly Valentine's weekend keeping warm with the one you love on the Route du Vin!
Visit all 5 wineries on Ste. Genevieve’s Route du Vin, as each winery will offer complimentary wine samples and special “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” treats for each ticket holder. If your passport is stamped at all 5 wineries your name will be entered in a drawing for a “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” giveaway! 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 the 5 unique wineries on the Route du Vin:

Sainte Genevieve Winery Cave Winery Chaumette Winery
Crown Valley Winery Charleville Winery
Cost: $15/person until February 3rd ; $20/person after February 3rd
(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
Serving Beef & Barley Soup with fresh baked bread, paired with their Genevieve Red

Cave Winery
Serving wine brownies with a warm chocolate wine sauce, paired with their Chambourcin

Chaumette Winery
Serving Norton Wine & Cheddar Gratin with Artisan Breads, paired with their Assemblage

Crown Valley Winery
Bittersweet Chocolate Pot de Crème Tartlets w/ Port Soaked Cherries, paired with their Port

Charleville Winery
Serving Hot Chili paired with the Genevieve Rivard--Sweet Chardonel

Giveaways
Sainte Genevieve Winery - $50 gift certificate,
Cave Winery - private group tasting for 10 to include select food& wine pairings,
Crown Winery - tour and tasting for four at Crown’s Champagne House opening February 18th, 2007
Chaumette Winery - mixed case of white wine, Charleville Winery - a snack basket with cheeses and sausage

For more info, hours and directions, visit:
www.cavevineyard.com, www.chaumette.com,
www.crownvalleywinery.com, www.saintegenevievewinery.com
www.charlevillevineyard.com

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.

"Whiskey For My Men,

Wine For My Horses." Is that how that song goes? ;) This is my horse, Shadow. I got him for my 15th birthday. He's a Quarter Horse. During the winter he goes in the barn, but on some nice winter days he roams the barnyard, as shown here. Do you have a horse nibbling grass outside your office window?

Lovely B&B guests from Illinois

On the Front Steps of the Tasting Room

Sunshine Almost Always Makes Me Smile.

Education Available

At the beginning of February there is the Midwest Grape and Wine Conference at Tantara Lodge in the Lake of the Ozarks. If you are interested in growing grapes or making wine in Missouri or any part of the Midwest, this is the conference to attend. There are many great speakers lined up, plus a great tradeshow too. It's a great place to learn, mingle, drink wine, and really understand the wine industry in this part of the world. Click on the link for more information and registration.

At the end of January I will be teaching a Fundamentals of Enology class at Mineral Area Junior College in Park Hills, Missouri. I will be honest and tell you that I have never taught such an in depth class before, but I am looking forward to it. It is 15 weeks long, on Monday evenings and starts on January 22nd. It's not too late to sign up! We'll cover everything to the history of winemaking, how to make red, white, sparkling wine, along with lab analysis. We will also be tasting some wines, and visiting Missouri wineries. Now who doesn't want to take a class like that?

La Guignolee

Pronounced "la-ghee-o-lay"

Ste. Genevieve is a French town, founded by the French in 1735. The French were attracted to Ste. Genevieve by good soil, lead deposits, salt springs, the Catholic religion and the French language. Ste. Genevieve has the largest concentration of French Colonial architecture in the world. One of the French traditions that is still upheld today is the La Guignolee. This is a troupe of traveling singers, that go from door to door, ringing in the new year. The practice was primarily a chance to visit with relatives and friends, and it was more less, a traveling feast.

This year is no different. This 200 year old tradition will once again happen upon our little town. The singers, and musicians, dressed in colonial garb, will start at the American Legion Hall at 6 p.m., and make their way to all the restaurants, bars, nursing homes, high school gyms, and end at midnight at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

If you are looking for something unusual, festive, and traditional all at the same time, come to Ste. Genevieve for New Year's Eve. The Winery will be open until 5 p.m., so grab some wine and follow the band!

Translation of the words sung by the La Guignolee:
"Good evening master and mistress,
And all who live with you.
For the first day of the year, you owe us La Guignolee.
If you have nothing to give, a chine of meat or so will do.
A chine of meat is not a big thing, only ninety feet long.
Again, we don't ask for very much,
Only the oldest daughter of the house.
We will give her lots of good cheer,
And we will surely warm her feet.
Now, we greet you, and beg you to forgive us please.
If we have acted a little crazy, we meant it in good fun.
Another time we'll surely be careful
To know when we must come back here again.
Let us dance La Guenille, La Guenille, La Guenille!"

Congratulations!

to Jodi Brown, of Ste. Genevieve, for winning our Wine Diva Survival Pack. Jodi attended our Wine Diva Passport Weekend and went to all 5 wineries, and got entered into our drawing. Each of the 5 wineries chose a different winner for their prize. Jodi won from us a bottle of Christmas Plum wine, a gift certificate to our local spa, a rhinestone Wine Diva t-shirt, and a two bottle wine carrier. It's a perfect little indulgence right before the Holidays.

Crazy thing is that I know Jodi. No, the drawing was not rigged, but I did go to gradeschool and high school with Jodi, and her older sister, Niki, was one of my best friends throughout my adolescence. You'd think that by growing up in a small town like Ste. Genevieve, I'd realize by now just how small and coincidental this world really is, but sometimes I am still amazed. Anyway, congratulations Jodi.

This is a picture of one of the rooms we rent out in the B&B. This is the Fleur de Lis room.

My Dad and I in the tank room