I love Missouri wine...

but then I like most wines, just don't want too much of the semi-sweet or sweet unless it is a great dessert wine.  This stop was not necessarily on our itinerary, but I decided that it needed to be on it and we had a couple of weeks to do what ever we wanted before we had to be home.  We left the Escapade RV rally and drove directly to Missouri wine country, stayed in a park that was within 1/2 hour of one of my favorite Missouri wineries.  I needed some Chambourcin and Norton wine to enjoy over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We visited some of our old favorites and tried a few new ones that we didn't get a chance to before or weren't open the last time we passed through.  We tasted Monday and Tuesday afternoons, I think Missouri is getting use to "my" style of tasting, going to several wineries on the same day and not stopping and buying a bottle of wine to enjoy on their deck.  The first time I tasted in the late 1990's, it was almost unheard of in this region, they are seeing more and more of it now.  Though buying a bottle of wine and enjoying it on a nice day on one of the decks and one of the wineries would be a very enjoyable thing to do.  Just too many wines and wineries calling my name...

The tasting room at Augusta, lovely gift shop too!  Not only did we purchase a mixed case of wine, I bought a few things to help decorate our new home.  We enjoyed chatting with the other couple, they were biking on the Katy Trail, something I want to do in the future.

Mt. Pleasant Winery was established in 1859, many of Missouri wineries were established in the mid 1800's.  They all had to close down during prohibition, many were not re-opened until the 1980's or later.

Another favorite, Montelle Winery just outside of the town of Augusta.  I couldn't remember if I had been there before, but once I got close to the tasting room, I remembered.  Again, they too had totally remodeled the inside of the tasting room.

The next winery was Sugar Creek Winery.  This was the very first winery I visited the first time I went wine tasting here.  They could not believe that I was just tasting and traveling on to the next winery.  That first time, the deck was full of wine lovers, this time, it was on Monday and late Sept.

As you can see, this is the Louis P. Balducci Vineyards.  They were not open the last time we went tasting through here, so it was fun to try out a new place.  The house depicted on the sign is the family home on the property and was built in about 1820.

I had to show you this, what a great idea!  The bottle of wine is the Balducci Port, but the glass on the right has been dipped into dark chocolate and you taste the port with the chocolate!  I am going to have to give this a try at my house.

Another fun tasting room with a great deck outside to enjoy the fruit of the vine.

Robert Mueller, owner and winemaker (Rob Mueller make up the letters for the name, to make it sound more German since the area was originally built up by German families).  I had a great time chatting with him about his wine.  This is another favorite winery.

Another new winery along the way, Oak Glenn Winery.  We had to check it out.

Oak Glenn grapes, you can see the Missouri River, which makes this a great place to grow grapes.  The river keeps the temperatures more temperate so that the grapes can thrive even while the rest of the area is sweltering!

Adam Puchta (pronounced Pook ta) Winery, just outside of the town of Hermann.  Again, it had been 6 years since I last tasted here, so it was a little hard to remember, but once we had the wine, the memory came back.  I really enjoyed their two ports, but could only buy one of them...

Last but not least, we saved Stone Hill Winery for last so that we could stay and have dinner in the restaurant.  They had a new Chambourcin that they just released and WOW, did I fall in love with that!  I would have bought an entire case, but already had enough wine, between all the wineries on this trip, just a little over 2 cases.

I love the view, looking out over the town of Hermann and this great old church.

The entrance to the restaurant which is right next door to the tasting room and guess what wine I enjoyed with my dinner?  oh, come on, you know what it is... yep, the Chambourcin!  It went really well with the cherry smoked pork roast that I had for dinner.