Wine Country Calls

I must start by saying that I am not a wine drinker. I just never liked the taste of the stuff. I am one of those evil people that you see at parties- you know the ones- ruining your favorite wine by mixing it with soda. Oh –the friends that I have offended and the time that I have wasted. A visit to my sister in Hermann, Missouri has shown me the error of my ways. I took a tour of the beautiful Stone Hill Winery. I usually go on these trips to look at the gift shops to see what other artists and crafters are making. This trip was different because Stone Hill is the home of the only wine that I have ever liked-Stone Hill Pink Catawba. Their Pink Catawba is light, with a slight fruity taste. YUM! No soda required here. While at the Winery I inquired about entering my Gourd art in their “Kristkindl Markt” in November. I wait to hear from the organizers of the event. So with my fingers crossed and a few bottles of wine tucked in the truck we headed for home. The two weeks later we returned to Hermann with the intention of visiting the Deutschheim State Historic Site and the Old German School Museum. We never got there. We met my brother in nearby Rhineland, Missouri for breakfast at the Trailside Bar & Grill, a great stopping place along the Katy Trail. We were served a delicious farmhand sized meal and the service was great. After breakfast my sister called and said that since I was interested in wine ( I guess she got that idea from my plentiful purchases in the Stone Hill Wine Shop a few weeks before) her husband wanted to take is to a little winery “just down the road” that was owned by a friend of his. We met up by our camper in Hermann City Park and headed off to Bland, Missouri to visit Wenwood Farm Winery outside of Mt Sterling, Missouri. The winery is just a few minutes from HWY 50 on a beautiful country lane. However –to get there from Hermann we had to take every twisty, no shoulder, curvy, two lane road in the county. I am a back roads country girl but you should have seen the look on by husband’s face an hour later when we arrived “just down the road.” Oh man! It was worth the trip! We swooped down into the valley and turned a slight corner and there it was. The green grass (yes even in this summer of drought it was green), the small stream, the white farm buildings with green trim. The perfect picture of rural America! I was already impressed with Wenwood Farm Winery and I wasn’t even out of the truck yet! We parked by the big barn and walked across the lane to the small barn that is converted into a gift shop and tasting room. I am all about checking out the items on display in the gift shop but when in Rome….. So it was time to shuffle to the counter and taste some wine. The owner, Tom, (how is that for service) poured for us samples of three of their sweet wines (still not fond of dry) and a special limited edition sherry. They were all wonderful! What a pleasant surprise! I liked them ALL. As he wrapped our purchases (of course) we sat and visited. He also let us sample some of their on-tap root beer. If it was available in bottles we would have had to leave someone behind to make more room in the truck. We took a short walk around the grounds and enjoyed their lovely streamside pavilion where they sometimes offer live music. Before returning to the truck we stopped in the tasting room to say our goodbyes and I dropped off my AngelsGourden business card and was invited to enter an application for their "Art on the Farm" event in late September. See you at Wenwood in September!