My Midwest Paradise: Missouri Wine Country (Plus Craft Beer)

I was back in St. Louis for the holidays.  The robbery in Costa Rica and the fight in Castle Tam Hostel had happened two days ago but they were a thousand miles away.  For a short time I could forget them.  I'm going to the place where I always go to forget worries when I go home: Missouri Wine Country.

Ever since I turned 21 my family and I, plus family friends, always try to make it here once a year to share wine, craft beer and fine cigars.  Even before I was old enough to drink or smoke (legally) I became familiar with this area from its various state parks that I hiked as a youth.

 Before I continue, I will make it clear that Missouri Wine Country is actually two regions: the historically Germanic area located on the Missouri River Valley to the west of St. Louis, and the more French Route du Vin located south of St. Louis near Sainte Genevieve.   Both regions are full of wide rolling hills and valleys, rocky cliffs that dive into babbling creeks and lush hardwood forests that look their finest in autumn when the leaves burst into fireworks of color.  The beautiful scenery not only has merited these regions designations as Missouri state parks, but the rolling hills are also ideal terrain for cultivating wine grapes.  Many German immigrants of the western Rhineland and French immigrants from the neighboring border regions settled here because it reminded them of home.

The Missouri River Valley west of St. Louis has two specific wine regions: the Weinstrasse, located on Old Highway 94 north of the Missouri River, and the longer Hermann Wine Trail which winds south of the river along Old Highway 100.  There're both easy trips for anyone unfamiliar with the area since the wineries are practically in a row on the roads and well marked.  The Hermann Wine Trail has seven principal wineries and they majority of them are located in Hermann within walking distance of each other.  The Weinstrasse has only four wineries and is more spread out, but it is on more scenic, hilly terrain.

 These are wonderful places which I will talk about more at another time.  This year I went to the bootheel of Missouri for the Route de Vin, a good hour drive south of St. Louis on Highway 55 to Exit 150 (Ste. Genevieve.)  Here you can spend the morning burning calories hiking on the white pine-covered trails of Hawn State Park; and spend the afternoon gaining those calories back with bottles of wine at the wineries.

Hawn State Park is located approximately in the middle of the wine trail.  The park encompasses several old growth forests of "Whispering Pines," so called for the hushing sound they make whenever a strong wind blows through them.  There are several trails that wander through these pine forests; two short 4 miles trails, one of 6 miles and a long rolling 10 mile trail.  In the interest of time we chose the 6 mile trail so that we could have more time for drinking, but still work up a sweat.  Somewhere around the 3rd mile we started climbing a hill and at the top found ourselves in the middle of the largest of the white pine forests.  In the silence of winter the whispering pines practically scream.

 After the pine forest, we continued over the hill to a series of rocky cliffs overlooking a wide valley.  Somewhere below us was Pickle Creek, a babbling stream that meanders through the park.  The 6 mile trail goes in a loop that crosses the creek twice.  A mile after looking over the big valley we came to some more sharp cliffs that dove directly into the creek before the trail finished.  The look down gave me just enough vertigo to be happy we were almost finished and ready to begin drinking a strong red Norton in the firelight warmth of a winery.

Our hike lasted into the afternoon, so we only visited two of the wineries that day.  Why would you want to rush wine anyway?  From Hawn State Park it's about 15 minutes on Highway WW to the nearest vineyard, the large Chaumette Winery.  Once at the bar inside, our server gave us their wine list and asked us to select 5 tastings.  I've never been to California's famous Napa Valley, but I imagine it would shock me to have to pay for every tasting.  Most Missouri wineries have totally free tastings from 3 up to 7 glasses depending on the size of the place.

For this reason we skipped the nearby Crown Valley Winery in favor of going to the smaller Charleville Winery.  Crown Valley is a massive, impressive place modeled after the California wineries, with nationally award-winning wines to match; but it charges for tastings and it's frequently too busy.

Our group of drinkers has gravitated to quiet, little Charleville because it has better scenery, a more family-owned feel and (most importantly) good craft beer.  Although other Missouri wineries have recently started homebrewing in an attempt to follow the burgeoning craft beer movement, Charleville started before it got big and their experience shows.  Driving to the end of Highway WW and winding up the rocky road in 3rd gear to this isolated spot is well worth the extra effort.

This was the last stop for the day.  There was no rush.  We tasted a few wines and followed them with a beer sampler.  Here you can find an IPA, their big Tornado Alley red ale, a Belgian ale, several stouts and some creative seasonal brews, including the Box Of Chocolate, a special Belgian Ale brewed with chocolate.  We bought pints of the beer that best suited us then went to the porch to pass the afternoon by the fire-pit smoking cigars and shooting the shit.  For me, no trip to Missouri is complete without stopping here.