Montelle Winery

Two weeks before our move home, we crossed off the last winery on our must visit list. Montelle Winery boasts that their winery has the best view in Missouri wine country. While gorgeous, it would not make my top three.

We visited on a warm summer afternoon, but the tree covered wine deck was still a pleasant place to enjoy a glass of their white wine.

In addition to producing award winning wines, Montelle is also the first winery in Missouri with a distillery. They produce four types of brandy: apple, peach, cherry, and grape.

The real crown jewel of the property is their vast, multi-level wine deck overlooking the Missouri River Valley. 

Mount Pleasant Estates

On a quiet winter day, we decided to drive out to the Augusta wine country about an hour outside of St. Louis. While enjoyable, I prefer visiting during the warmer months.

Mount Pleasant Estates

This is one of many buildings that makes up Mount Pleasant Estates which is the oldest winery in the Augusta area. Established in 1859 by two brothers from Germany, the rolling hills of the Missouri River Valley reminded them of home. They decided that it was a great place to begin their commercial wine business. In the early days, the grounds were filled with both grape and apple orchards.

When Prohibition was enacted in 1920, like the entire Missouri wine industry, Mount Pleasant was forced to close. All of their winemaking equipment was destroyed and the vineyards were set on fire.

Imagine this view in the spring when everything is green!

In 1966, the Dressel family purchased this picturesque property and decided to reopen the winery. Today, Mount Pleasant grows 12 different grape varieties across their 78 acres of land.

Like many of the local wineries, it makes a great wedding venue!

Hermann Wine Trail #2

I am finally getting around to posting the second half of our photos from the Hermann Wine Trail.

This is another family owned winery with beautiful views.

We loved their beautiful views, but didn't have much time to enjoy them.  They were closing soon after we arrived.

Robller Vineyard Winery

Aside from the views of the river at Oak Glenn, this was by far the most beautiful location.  Not long after we arrived, the sun started to set over the Missouri countryside.  It was stunning.

Hermann Wine Trail #1

On a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon in October, we decided to do a bit more exploring in the Hermann, Missouri area.  Hermann is right in the heart of Missouri wine country, and October is supposed to be its most glorious month.  The plan was to visit all of the wineries on the Hermman Wine Trail.



Our first stop was at the Adam Puchta Winery.  Tucked away on the original homestead of Adam Puchta and on the banks of Frene Creek, this is the oldest family farm winery in Missouri.  The same family has continously owned it since 1855. 

Adam Puchta emigrated to the United States from Bovaria.  Upon arriving in Missouri, the family settled on a 40-acre tract of land adjacent to the winery.  He later expanded the family homestead in 1849 to include the 40-acres that currently make up the winery.

Once Adam returned to Hermann following a gold-seeking trip to California, he purchaed the beautiful 40-acres from his father.  He began clearning land for crops and vineyards, and in 1855  produced his first wine using wild grapes and grapes from his father's vineyard.  This first production of Adam Puchta establishes the genesis of the winery.

Today, Adam Puchta Winery has a production capacity of 62,000 gallons.  That is a lot of wine!  They have won many awards where in Missouri, as well as nationally and internationally.

While there, I sampled four of their wines.  The semi sweet Adam's Choice and Vignoles, as well as the Riefenstahler and Jazz Berry from the sweet/fruit wines.  I didn't like either of the sweet wines that I tried, they were both way too sweet.  The Riefenstahler tasted like I was drinking jelly.  The Vignoles was probably my favorite.  It's a semi-sweet white wine with peach, strawberry, and kiwi fruit, and finishes with a citrus taste. 

Our next stop was to the Stone Hill Winery.  We had been before, but wanted to take a tour of the underground cellars.  Unfortunately, the electricity was out at the property.  Since you couldn't do anything, we quickly moved on.

Here is our previous post regarding Stone Hill - http://theseviers.blogspot.com/2011/10/as-you-may-have-noticed-i-traveled-for.html

The next stop was Hermannhof.  Based on the websites, this was the one that  Iwas most looking forward to as it showed a beautiful, sweeping view of the Missouri River Valley.  I have no idea where they took those photos from because this winery is actually located in downtown Hermann, right next to the train station.

While there, I elected to try four of their wines.  Vidal Blanc (Dry White), Chambourin Vin-Gris (Dry Rose), White Lady of Starkenburg (Semi-Dry White), and the Vignoles (Semi-Sweet) were my selections.  Of those, the White Lady was my favorite.  I am actually a little disappointed that I didn't pick up a bottle.  It is a German Riesling with citrus and green apple.  Definitely a great spring/summer wine.

Patio area for Hermannhof

In 1974, Hermannhof Cellars were purchased by the Dierberg family.  The Dierberg father had opened a small grocery store.  One of his sons took over the grocery store and has now grown it into a very large chain throughout the Midwest, while the other decided to make wine for a living.  In addition to Hermannhof, he also owns three vineyards in California.  I would say that he is doing pretty well for himself!    Three Saints Vineyard, Dierberg Vineyard, and Star Lane Vineyard are the three located in California.  Recently, they have opened up a small tasting room for the three right next door to Hermannhof.  These were by far the best wines that we tasted all day.  While others were good, the three from California were in a completely different class from the other vineyards that we tried.  If you ever see these on a shelf, do yourself a favor and pick one up.  I'm not a red fan, but Tony and Jean raved over the taste of their Pinot Noir.

OakGlenn Winery was next on our trail.  Once owned by internationally renowned horticulturist George Husmann, a founding father of the American wine industry, this winery has by far the best views.  Husmann also served in the Civil War, served as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention, and drafted "An Ordinance Abolishing Slavery in Missouri," the first to be enacted in the United States.

Outdoor deck area takes advantage of the views.  They had a great musician playing while we were there.  We stayed much longer than planned because we were enjoying listening to him play.

Sitting high on the Missouri River bluff, OakGlenn Winery commands a spectacular view of the river valley and vineyards.  Unfortunately, their wines are awful.  These were by far some of the worst wines that I have ever tasted.  After tasting five of them, we gave up and just bought bottles of water to drink outside while we enjoyed the views and the music.

That's long enough for now!  I will cover the additional wineries on the trail in a future post.

Grape Stomp at Stone Hill Winery

As you may have noticed, I traveled for work a lot this summer.  On one of the Saturdays that I was home, we decided to make our first trip to Hermann.  We had read that Stone Hill Winery was hosting a grape stomp, so we decided to check out our first one.  We invited Jean along for the ride.

The town of Hermann is an old German town here in Missouri which is at the heart of Missouri wine country.  It sits on the banks of the Missouri River.

Stone Hill Winery is perched dramatically on a hill overlooking downtown Hermann.  It one of the most popular wineries in all of Missouri.  Originally established in 1847, it was once the nation's second largest winery until Prohibition.  During the Prohibition era, the winery was converted to a mushroom-growing facility until the resurgence of Missouri's wine industry.  That actually began with the reopening of Stone Hill Winery in 1965.

This is the home of the tasting room as well as the large gift shop area.  Stone Hill actually offers six free tastings during your visit.

Across from this building sits the winery's original stable and carriage house.  The beautifully restored building is now the winery restaurant.

I should have paid more attention to the grape stomp announcement.  I looked up the start time as 1:00 p.m., but never considered that it might only last two hours!  We arrived fifteen minutes after it ended at 3:15 p.m., so we still haven't made it to a grape stomp.

You can see the bed and breakfast that I want to stay at when we visit for a longer period of time!  From the pictures, it has stellar views of the Missouri River.

The Amazing Chaumette Winery Take Two

 

I'm cheating a little bit and putting one of the beautiful sunset photos first!

After surviving the trek back down the mountain from Charleville, we definitely needed the simple relaxation of Chaumette!  As we were getting ready to leave from Charleville, we noticed a car just getting ready to pull out.  We all ran across the parking lot and jumped into our car.  Turns out, you're much less worried about a head on collision when you follow a safe distance behind another vehicle! 

 

Since Tony had left the little airplane as part of the tip the weekend before, everyone there recognized us when we walked in with Jean.  We were quickly seated out on the porch, and were even able to get the same waitress.  When it came time to leave, Tony made her a ring with the tip money.  She was wearing it when we left!

 

Since I've already talked so much about Chaumette, I thought that I'd tell you a little about the Missouri wine industry as a whole.  Over 160 years ago, Missouri became the nation's first wine country.  Prohibition nearly killed the wineries here, but they have been rebuilding since the 1960's.  Currently, more than 1,500 acres of grapes are planted hear in Missouri which produce nearly one million gallons of wine annually.  The industry employs more than 6,000 people each year, and brings in approximately 812,000 tourists each year.  Last year, it is estimated that Missouri wine country alone brought in $202.8 million dollars in tourism.  People like their wine!

 

Since we were once again visiting on a Sunday, it was a set menu for their Sunday Family Dinners.  We enjoyed the following menu:

Charred Tomato Cream (soup)

Farmer's Salad greens with simple vinaigrette, and Radish 

Grapevine Smoked and Grilled Chicken Breast

Potato Suffle

Carrots and Chaumette Garden Herbs

Spring Snow Peas with Pink Peppercorn butter

I know that I raved about it in the previous post, but their chef is just incredible.  The food is soooooo good!!! 

 

We arrived about an hour later than the previous Sunday, so we were able to see a sunset out at Chaumette.  

 

Pepper just laid by our table for a bit, but Norton was very demanding!  He kept forcing my arm away until he could lay his head in my lap.  It was adorable, but a little difficult to eat without him getting my food!

 

As you can see, the sunset was incredibly beautiful.  After dessert, we headed back to real life in the city.

The Seviers vs. The Road to Charleville Vineyard & Microbrewery and Saline Creek

I've been looking forward to writing this post for the past two weeks, so I am very excited to finally bring our Saline Creek adventure to our readers!

After leaving Sand Creek, we planned to travel the 25 minutes to our next stop of Charleville Vineyward Winery and Microbrewery.  For this trip, we were equipped with our GPS, three cell phones that all have GPS capabilities, and printed Google map directions just in case we had trouble getting a signal.  A 25 minute drive should be simple, right?  No.  As you are reading this, please keep in mind that the GPS, 3 cell phones, AND Google map directions all had exactly the same instructions.

For the most part, the roads throughout this part of Missouri wine country are pretty remote.  As we started our drive towards Charleville, it wasn't a big surprise to not see other cars around.  We did notice that we were really getting into the actual mountain area.  For the most part, it's just hills in this area.  Tony even stopped the car and hopped out to take a few pictures of the beautiful countryside.

Our next hint that something was amiss was when the road went to a one lane gravel road.  We probably should have turned around at that point, but the maps all agreed that we were on the right path.  We REALLY should have turned around when we got to the point where the road had grass growing in it, but I digress.  I wish that we had thought to get a picture of that part of the road.  For a few miles, we continued along this one lane dirt road filled with grass.

By this time, we are all starting to think that it's been quite a while since we've seen any sign of civilization.  This is pretty much our view in all directions.  Tony makes the mistake of commenting that all we need to do now is cross a creek...

Not two minutes later, we arrive at a small part of Saline Creek.  There is no bridge over the creek, but the water is extremely shallow through here.    I'm not even sure that the water would have reached my ankles if I were standing in it.  Again, the actual maps on the various GPS devices were still showing that we were on the right road.  At this point, you would have thought that common sense would have kicked in and turned our car around.  Alas, that didn't happen until we were actually driving THROUGH the creek bed!  Definitely not one of our finer moments.  If you are familiar with the 'Bu, you know that she's not really equipped for driving in rocky terrain like this!  It was definitely a very scary experience.  By this time, we had all noticed that we had zero cell signal between the three of us.  Had something happened to our tires, we would have had a long walk ahead of us to find help!  Our supplies inside the car consisted of three bottles of wine and a bottle of champagne!

So, we cross the creek and all breathe a sign of relief only to find that the road that we've been following on the map just disappears.  Seriously, our barely there dirt road that we've been following just turns into a field.  We do see another dirt path, but it's not matching up with the map that we are seeing on the GPS.  Common sense finally arrives, and Tony turns the car around in the field which brings about another problem.  We have to cross the creek again.  The trip back across was even more scary than the initial crossing.  Luckily, the 'Bu made it with no damage!  She was just a little dusty from her efforts.

Upon arriving back to civilization aka where we can get cell signal, I called the winery to get better directions since clearly the GPS and Google maps had failed us!  Turns out that the winery is only a few miles up the road from our favorite winery Chaumette.  There may have been a few curse words muttered after hearing that.

We quickly learned that we were only a few miles away, so we arrived at Chaumette less than ten minutes later.  We should have just stopped there and called Charleville a bust.  Instead, we kept driving the two miles past Chaumette to the turn off for Charleville.  As soon as we make the turn off of the main road, we end up on a dirt road again.  Another sign that we should have just forgotten about Charleville!  By this time, it was a matter of principle.  We simply were not going home without making it to Charleville!  At first, it wasn't too bad.  We were on a two lane dirt road winding up the hills with a much deeper part of the Saline Creek next to us.  We even saw the construction of a bridge over part of the creek!  Imagine that - using a bridge to cross water in a vehicle!

Our relief was short lived as the road quickly narrowed down to only one lane.  This was much worse than before since we were now on a very steep, winding road through the forest.  I can't tell you how happy we all were not to meet another vehicle!  I really am not sure what you are supposed to do if another car is coming down at the same time, but apparently they make it work.

Charleville Vineyard Winery and Microbrewery!

We finally made it!  This was a very welcomed sign after a particularly steep, curvy part of the road!  Tony came close to kissing the gravel parking lot once after he got out of the car.  He quickly ran inside in search of  a drink.  My nerves were shot just being a passenger in the car, so I can't imagine how he felt as the driver!

This place is remote.  I mean - really remote.  Much more remote than any of the other vineyards that we've visited.  It was quickly decided that we would take lots of pictures since this would probably be our one and only trip here! 

The winery and tasting house portion of the property is pictured above.  

Microbrewery

The family brews an assortment of beers including ales, lagers, and seasonal beers.  Their IPA and Half-Wit Wheat recently placed first and third in a microbrew festival held in Forest Park.  I'm not a beer fan, so I'll stop now before I embarrass myself!

In 2004, the family relocated this historic 1800's log cabin from its original location in St. Mary, MO to the property.  It took 16 months to relocate and restore the cabin.  Once it was complete, it was opened as a two room bed and breakfast in September of 2005.  

View of the cabin from the front.

It was named Bruckerhoff Cabin after the two brothers Willie and Glen Bruckerhoff who gave the cabin where they were born to Charleville Vineyards.

A musician was just finishing up as we arrived on the property.  By the time that we made it outside, he had already packed up.  All of the outdoor pictures were taken from our table on the deck area.

There were several dogs and children running around the large field.  It was a great open field, but it did have quite a steep slant to it that provided a little degree of difficult for the kids playing soccer!

Tony and Jean enjoyed a tasting here while I stuck to water.  Most vineyards charge $5 for their tastings, but their tasting is free.  Jean joked that they had to to get people to travel up that road!  Tony sampled their Chambourcin, Angelique Guyon, and a sweet dessert wine.  He rated the dessert wine the highest with a seven out of ten.

Beautiful view of the vineyards.

I will say that the view here rivals that of Chaumette.  This rustic, country property sits high atop a hill, overlooking a panoramic view of the valley.  There are also several hiking trails that you can enjoy while visiting, but it isn't enough to make me want to return!

In closing, if you ever decide to visit Charleville Vineyward, make sure you only do so in a four wheel drive vehicle!