Take a tour of a winery in the show-me state. You might not want to leave.
Missouri may not be on your list of states to visit this summer, but it should be…especially if you are a wine lover. It may not be the Sonoma Valley of Northern California or the Bordeaux region of Southern France. No, it has something to offer that they don’t, the Norton grape. The show-me state is said to have the largest planting of this grape in the country, if not the world.
If you haven’t tried this rich, dry red wine with chateaubriand or filet mignon, you don’t know what you’re missing. During a visit to Mt. Pleasant Winery, about 40 miles west of St. Louis on a warm July afternoon, you wouldn’t think a dry red wine would be in order. But even with a bratwurst on rye, Norton had just the right richness and fruitiness to make it extremely palatable, albeit a slightly unique combination.
You see, Mount Pleasant Winery offers not only two tasting bars and a grocery store with all the cheese you could ever eat, but also a grill where bratwurst, burgers and club sandwiches are the order of the day.
Plant yourself grill side on the patio, and you will never be able to describe to your friends, the vision massive corn fields create with the sun high in the sky on a Missouri summer day.
Sipping award winning wine atop the Missouri bluffs on a summer afternoon, might lead you to believe that you are not in Missouri at all, but rather a far off sanctuary where you don’t have a care in the world, except to wonder what the dessert wine might be. The Mt. Pleasant Port, of course. It won the gold medal for the 1986 vintage port in the International Wine and Spirits competition in London, England. Bold and vibrant, this is one dessert wine, you’ll want to savor. If they liked it in London, you’ll like it anywhere you drink it, and you don’t have to tell anyone you brought it home from Missouri. Or maybe you do. Because in the fall, the view of the Missouri foot hills is even more spectacular as the leaves change and the parties begin. Trips to the Missouri wine country begin in September and don’t let up until well into November. October Fest is a rite of passage for many Midwesterners and a time to enjoy not only the scenery, but all the wineries the show-me state has to offer.
