July 21, 2007
This edition of Full Circle’s summer travelogue series took me day trippin’ to Missouri wineries on a mission to learn more about them and to bust a couple of myths as well.
I will tell you about the myths in just a moment, but first a little about Missouri grapes.
Simply put, Missouri is into wine making in a big way. It even has its own official state grape, the Norton (a.k.a.Cynthiana), so designated in 2003.
According to the state’s Wine & Grape Board, the Norton/Cynthiana wine is a rich, full-bodied red with a dry character similar to a Cabernet Sauvignon, yet with the spiciness of a Zinfandel.
I could be getting the hang of this wine lingo, but it took awhile.
When I was growing up in Missouri in the 50’s, we had grapevines all right but only for making grape jelly. Granted some folks made Concord grape wine in their basements, but that was about the extent of winemaking as I recall.
After Prohibition in 1919 the vineyards were plowed under, but in the 1960’s winemaking resurged in Missouri when inactive vineyards were re-established. Just think, in the 1860’s Missouri was the leading wine-producing state in the country.
Today, Missouri has an abundance of classic wineries to discover such as those in the Italian region of St. James and Rosati, in the German region of Hermann and Augusta, or the French region in Ste. Genevieve.
At the same time that the old, well-known wineries are flourishing, brand new ones are emerging across the state. Read the highway billboard ads, and you will see what I mean. A virtual smorgasbord of day trips to Missouri wineries is possible.
I learned quickly on my day trips that vineyards and wineries are multiplying so fast in Missouri that the Wine & Grape Board of the Missouri Department of Agriculture has difficulty keeping its brochures up-to-date.
In many Missouri counties, budding vintners are planting grapes and awaiting their first full harvest usually at least 3 to 5 years in the making.
Grapes take awhile, and in the meantime one has to keep the deer away as any vintner worth his cork can tell you.
A friend of mine has his own method of scaring the deer from the vines. He plays a radio all night in his vineyard. Talk radio. Gospel radio. Sports radio. Does not matter which because the deer do not like any of it. He says he does not need deer repellant, and I can see why. I don’t think I would want to listen to that all night either.
Now about those myths.
First, do not get the idea that just because more and more folks are planting grapevines that it is an easy hobby, and do not believe that most Missouri wines are terrible. Both are myths.
Let me begin by busting myth number two.
Turns out, Missouri wines are better than one might assume, better than the bias that is very likely out there today for U.S. wines not made in California.
Even wine experts in California are taking note of Missouri wines.
For instance, did you know that the ratio of medals awarded to Missouri wineries in “blind tasting” competitions held in California has been higher than those awarded to California’s 750-plus wineries? That according to Jim Ashby of Hermann, Missouri, in Brett Dafur’s book “Exploring Missouri Wine Country.”
One has to wonder if the California experts would have chosen a Missouri wine if they were not blindfolded.
Now, about myth number one.
If any of you Baby Boomers are dreaming of starting your own vineyard in retirement years and think it will be easy, think again. Becoming a vintner is similar to starting a Christmas tree farm, romantic but backbreaking. Just my opinion you understand.
We tried the Christmas tree project once, and about all I gained from that was the knowledge of how to prune a pine tree. Not a bad skill to master however, and sometimes I am in high demand with the neighbors when pine tree-pruning time arrives each summer.
I can also de-bone a trout but no one is asking. I wonder if I could prune grape vines?
Do not get me wrong, both vineyards and Christmas tree farms are noble professions but go into it with eyes wide open.
Hugh Johnson in the book “Vintage: The Story of Wine” describes starting a vineyard this way.
“Farmer and artist, drudge and dreamer, hedonist and masochist, alchemist and accountant—the winegrower is all these things.”
If you do not have a taste for wine, then save other people’s corks. I am serious. They make great corkboards, trays, or wreaths. Just glue the corks together and voila! Some crafters remove the colorful wine bottle labels for decoupage projects as well.
Whether one is a teetotaler or a wine aficionado, one cannot help but note that Missouri’s history of winemaking is rich and storied. It all started more than 150 years ago when European settlers brought their precious vines to Missouri’s rolling hills and to a long growing season perfect for grapes.
This time of year Missouri’s grapes are robust and almost ripe, nearly ready for the picking, and there is nothing more picturesque that Missouri’s grape-laden vineyards in August.
Go day trippin’ and see for yourself.
