The Living is Easy

This is a picture of Lynn Rose Terry and Friends playing Summertime under the grape arbor at Jour de Fete. With the warm breeze, a glass of sangria, delightful music, Cecilia dancing around me and Charlotte asleep in my arms, I was the happiest woman around.

Buying Local Blackberries

Last week we bought homegrown blackberries and started fermenting them. We put an ad in the paper, and gardeners pick their blackberries, freeze them, and then we pick a day and everyone gets their berries weighed and we start the fermentation and they go home with a check. The first picture is Dad looking at the scale full of blackberries, and the second picture is Melvin Roth's pick up truck full of frozen blackberries he and his wife picked this year. We think these local berries make the best tasting blackberry wine around.

Unwelcome Guests

We have two hornet's nests on the property and we haven't quite figured out how to get rid of them yet. They need to find a new home soon, preferrably before harvest because all those sweet grapes attract so many bees. Any suggestions?

Nice Article

Here's a link to a nice article printed over the weekend in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Come to Ste. Genevieve this fall, you won't be disappointed.

After Hours

Our tasting room has a wonderfully large front porch and last Saturday evening we sat under the arbor with our good friends Sara and Chuck and their kids and watched Jour de Fete close up shop for the night. This is Cecilia and Char (short for Charles) peeking over the railing of our big front porch.

These Are Long Days

We are super busy over here. Somehow we're juggling bottling, labeling, fermenting cherries, crop thinning (a month later than expected), shoo-ing away birds, cleaning bins to put harvested grapes in, getting the harvestor out and running once around the yard to make sure it's working, buying local blackberries, cleaning house to entertain travel writers, ordering yeast, and bottles, and T-shirts, all the while with a baby on my hip.

This is Dad taking a break after we bottles and labeled 56 cases of Concord to be delivered to the Sam's Club in Cape Girardeau.

Bring on the harvest of 2009!

Sangria

Jour de Fete was a scorcher for sure, but we would expect nothing less from the Missouri summer. The Sangria was a big hit; who can resist cool wine and fresh fruit on a hot day. It was nice to see Vicki Meyer and her friend from Shady Grove Vineyard and finally put a face to the name.

Veraison

New Label

Here is another outstanding design by Chuck Drost. Dad gave him some ideas, and Chuck outdid himself again. He said the two people picking strawberries on the left are Dad and I. Come to the winery and check out the new label yourself, or look for it soon on a shelf near you.

Foggy Morning

funny how this picture and the link can make summer and winter look so different, and this foggy morning picture taken back in December 2007 can make August and December look similar.

Mommy's Little Helper

Cecilia is going to start coming to work with me on Mondays, after a nice long summer at home with my husband. She has grown quite a bit since the last time we saw her here on the blog. She's much more active now, and very "helpful." This is a picture of her inspecting the hose on the output of the filter.

Simple Sangria

1 Bottle White Wine (Vignoles, Valle Rhine, Amoureux, or Vidal)
2/3 cup sugar
3 oranges sliced
1 lemon sliced
1 lime sliced
1/2 liter ginger ale or club soda

Pour the wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the fruit into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges and add sugar. Chill overnight. Add the ginger ale or club soda just before serving using chilled wine and lots of ice.

Shake Your Tree

This is a picture of the Cherry Picker up in Michigan. The machine grabs a hold of the trunk of the Cherry tree, then this canvas fans out around the tree like wings. The machine shakes the tree, all the Cherries fall onto the canvas, and back to conveyor belts.

Fermenta-shon

Dad just got back from a quick trip to Paw Paw, Michigan on Monday with 2 tons of fresh Montmorency cherries, and they are fermenting away. They smell divine. We don't crush them, we ferment them whole using carbonic maceration. Each plump cherry has it's own fermentation going on, and when you pop one in your mouth it fizzes, and tastes sweet, with just a hint of the alcohol forming inside. Sumptious!

Jour de Fete

On Saturday August 8th, and Sunday August 9th, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri's most historic town hosts it's annual Jour de Fete celebration with arts, crafts, entertainment and exhibits.

Jour de Fete Wine Cooler
1 bottle Sainte Genevieve Concord Wine
1 bottle Sainte Genevieve Cranberry Wine
Orange Slices
Fresh Cranberries

Chill all ingredients. Mix the wine together and add fruit just before serving.

This wine cooler is refreshing on a hot summer day and pairs well with barbeque.

Out and About

Want to taste some Sainte Genevieve Winery wine but you're not going to be in Ste. Genevieve? Don't worry, we're coming to a spot near you.

On July 25th we will be sampling and selling wine at the Sappington Farmer's Market on Watson from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

On August 1st, we will be sampling and selling wine at Lukas Liquor in Ellisville.

On October 22, we will pouring wine with a food pairing at the Chef's Stop store in Festus.

Norton Bunch

Click here to see a Norton cluster this time last year.

Orange

What a Difference 5 Months Makes

Click here for the same view of the Concord 5 months earlier

Babies All Around

Baby Riesling cluster
Baby Seyval Blanc cluster

Baby Concord cluster

Baby Charlotte asleep after the walk through the vineyard