Adventurista: Wine Tripping

After the wild week we've had (see my lifebecrrr-azy blog for details), a getaway wine weekend was just what the doctor ordered (I love a doctor that prescribes wine, don't you?!). Our first stop was Three Squirrels Winery, just 4.5 miles north of St. James on State Route B. Situated on a gentle hill overlooking a vintage vineyard, the converted-barn winery is charmingly rustic and serves up some pretty tasty wines. All squirrel themed, the short list of wines would please any palate. DMan and I sampled the Acorn White and Red, plus the Red and White Squirrel. The owner was most friendly, even though he got a rush of folks while we were tasting. After perusing the small art gallery lining the walls (some of the photographs by local artists were amazing!), we settled on glasses of Red Squirrel -- a medium bodied wine, Pinot Noir-ish, with a nice kick -- to sip on the covered deck. Sitting in the quiet looking out on the countryside through a light rain gave me peace for the first time in a week. AHHH! The winery has live music on the deck on select Friday nights, which we plan to catch on a follow-up trip. Although not access-friendly for the disabled (lots of stairs to maneuver to get to the winery and deck), Three Squirrels was a delightful place to spend a relaxing afternoon.
Belmont Vineyards and Winery was our main weekend destination, located just east of Cuba on historic Route 66. We'd stumbled onto Belmont on our way home from St. Louis this past July and decided right then to come back for one of their live music Saturdays. And did we pick the perfect weekend for our return visit! Despite the intermittent rain and dropping temperatures, a crowd of 100-plus came out to hear Butch Wax and the Hollywoods. Based in St. Louis, this band is one big P-A-R-T-A-Y with instruments and mics! Nearly every member of the group got their turn at the mic, allowing them to cover a huge range of tunes from the Fifties to the Seventies and rock them all with two keyboards, bass, drums, rhythm guitar, sax, trumpet, and two female singers. Young and old alike hit the dance floor as soon as the band got started and kept right on grooving through all three sets under the beautiful knotty pine roof that covered the huge patio. DMan and I even put on our boogie shoes, doing a little buckle rubbing to the Righteous Brothers "Unchained Melody," rocking out to Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," and getting all funky to The Trammps "Disco Inferno." It didn't hurt that we were well into our second bottle of Belmont's Bella Rosso red (our fave!) by the time the disco tunes started rolling! DMan requires a bit of "lubrication" to get past his what-if-people-are-watching-me-dance nerves. Besides the fabulous wine and awesome music, Belmont serves up some of the best wood-fired pizza I've ever eaten. We tried the chicken-bacon pizza -- jazzed up with spinach, red onions, feta cheese, and a creamy, garlicky white sauce -- and ate every bite! We had such a hootie time at Belmont that it would have been worth the two-hour drive up in the rain even if we had to drive another two hours right back home after the show!
But we didn't. We spent the night at The Chateau Inn and Suites in Cuba. For $69 a night, we had a quiet, spacious room with a comfy bed, large bathroom, and complimentary breakfast the next morning. We skipped the breakfast, lounged around our room watching "Twister" until check-out time, then found Country Bob's Cafe for a hearty nosh before hitting our last winery. Meramec Vineyards and Bistro is just down the road from the more well-known St. James Winery but miles ahead of them in terms of the sophistication of their wines and winery. The exterior is rough-hewn and rustic, while the interior is done in soothing new-sprout green and light pine. We did a tasting with the owner -- the first female to solo own a winery in Missouri! -- a lady who certainly knows her wines. We brought home a Bistro Red, Bistro Gold, and a Silvio's Red, but we could have bought more. They were all good, even though I'm generally not that crazy about wines from Missouri varietals. We hope to go back to catch their Wine Down Friday night music and Saturday brunch, that is if the owner doesn't sell first. If you're in the market for a winery, you can get Meramec for a cool million as the owner is retiring from the wine biz. It would be tempting to buy it if I had that kind of money -- which I don't -- but I'd probably make a mess of the good thing she's created because I know a lot more about drinking wine than making it! And now we've got lots of great local wines to be drinking while reminiscing about our wine tripping weekend!
If you've got a weekend coming up with no plans and relish trying some tasty vino, cruise up I-44 to Cuba and St. James. Here are the websites for the wineries and some pictures for you to check out:

http://www.threesquirrelswinery.com/

http://www.belmontvineyards.com/

http://www.meramecvineyards.com/