Thanks to the combination of the pandemic coupled with a lull in my job status, we haven't been able to get away during our anniversary weekend in May since 2019. With everything pretty much back to normal this year, we decided to head to St. Louis for a long weekend. While we were there, my wife suggested that we head out to the Augusta Wine Country Trail to some of the wineries that are dotted along Missouri Highway 94 west of the city.
A number of years ago while I was working for a company in St. Peters, MO, my wife had come with me for a company meeting. Trying to figure out what to do over the weekend, one of my colleagues at the time suggested we tour some of the wineries in the area. We were sort of taken aback by that as we didn't really think there was any good wineries in Missouri, thinking most of the wines were of the sweet and syrupy kind that we didn't like. But my colleague was also into wine and knew that we had spent some time in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys on a trip out to California earlier that year. "You'd be surprised," he told us. And we were. We actually found some very good wine that was as good as some of the California vintages we had previously.
It turns out that there are 10 different regions of wineries across Missouri, probably the most famous is the Hermann Wine Trail centered around the city of Hermann, MO located about halfway between St. Louis and Columbia on the Missouri River. But the Augusta Wine Country boasts the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the nation. AVA's are designated areas with specific geographic or climatic features that distinguish it from the surrounding regions and affect how grapes are grown. Vintners are able to describe the origin of their wines more accurately to consumers and helps consumers identify wines they may purchase. The Augusta area got the first AVA designation in June of 1980, nearly a year before Napa Valley had been designated as an AVA.
It had been probably 25 years since we had been to the Augusta Wine Country which consists of 9 wineries stretching from Defiance, MO through Augusta and ending up in Dutzow, MO along Highway 94 (see map). The rich soil of the Missouri River valley coupled with the rolling hills allow grape varieties such as Chambourcin, Chardonel, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Seyval Blanc to flourish in the temperate climate conditions in eastern Missouri. Our plan was to start at the furthest point and work our way back toward St. Louis as the day went on. I figured that it was better to be closer to St. Louis at the end of the day rather than the furthest point trying to make our way back on a curvy two-lane highway.
The western most winery on the Augusta Wine Country Trail is the Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow. And, of course, we didn't go there because we sort of forgot about it being there. We had passed 7 wineries along Highway 94 and decided to pull into the 8th - the Balducci Vineyards - to start our wine tour. (see map)
Balducci Vineyards was started in 1988 by Carol and Rick Balducci who were the longtime owners of Balducci's restaurant in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights before closing the restaurant in 2021. (Balducci's was the first place I ever tried St. Louis-style pizza in the mid-80's.) In 2012, the Balducci's sold their vineyard to the Hoffman Family of Companies, a Naples, FL-based company whose founder - David Hoffman - grew up in nearby Washington, MO. The Hoffman Companies are involved in such diverse ventures as media, manufacturing, hospitality, real estate, transportation and financial services. We found out during the course of our Augusta Wine Country Tour that Hoffman owned 3 of the 9 wineries on the trail.
It was late morning by the time we got out to Balducci Vineyards. With a cool breeze coming out of the northeast, it was sort of chilly out of the sun. But in the sun, it was glorious. There was a small restaurant opposite the main building where the outdoor bar was located and in between was an out-building where a band was setting up to play for the afternoon. Picnic tables and tables with umbrellas were smattered about the patio area.
The lush green rolling hills of the vineyards was especially beautiful on that cloudless late morning. We took some time to stroll about the grounds to take in some of the beauty of the vineyard.
My wife was up for trying some wine and she got a flight of four wines - the Natalia, the Vidal Blanc, the Sonata, and the Chiaretto. All four are dry to semi-dry white wines and were served chilled. The lady who was bartending asked me if I wanted anything and I said, "Uh, no. Not now. It's not even 11:30 and I have to drive back to St. Louis today!" I did try a sip of a couple of my wife's wine selections and they were pretty good.
We left the Balducci Vineyard and made our way to the next winery - the Noboleis Vineyard. (see map) Bob and Lou Ann Nolan purchased an 84 acre tract of land in 2005 and turned 12 of the acres into a vineyard that produces 4 different types of grapes.
There was a small tasting room on the grounds and we went inside to check it out. The place was packed with people standing at the bar tasting wines and more waiting to try some wines. We decided to bag this place, but not before walking around the grounds and through a small covered hall where a solo guitarist was setting up for an afternoon of live music.
Our next stop was in the town of Augusta and the Augusta Winery. (see map) Founded in 1988, we have gotten wine from this place before, although from the outside of the building, I have to say that I don't remember the stone facade with the bright red awnings. But, then again, it was about 25 years since we'd done the wine trail and I'm sure things have changed.
The Hoffman Companies purchased the Augusta Winery in 2021 as part of a larger buy-up of properties and wineries in and around the small town. Plans included a couple hotels - including a 5-star hotel near the Balducci Vineyards - as well as restaurants. However, those efforts have stalled and much of the building that was planned has been shelved for the time being.
When we were at the Augusta Winery on our first visit, we fell in love with their Cynthiana wine - a robust dry red that had a buttery taste. There were only two places where the Cynthiana grape was grown - Greece and in Missouri. So, I wanted to get a couple three more bottles of the Cynthiana wine while we were there.
But going through the wine list at the Augusta Winery, I didn't see the Cynthiana varietal. I asked the lady at the counter about the Cynthiana wine and she said, "Well, it's actually called the Norton grape now." She explained to me that some years ago it was determined that the Norton grape - which was first cultivated in Virginia in the early 1800's - had identical genetics to the Cynthiana grape which was first cultivated in Missouri in the late 1800's. Because the Norton grape was an older designation, everything that was called Cynthiana wine was named Norton. (Here's a bit of trivia that you may be able to use at some point - the Norton grape is the state grape for Missouri.)
My wine palate has changed over the years as I've been introduced to many wines from many countries. I tried a sample of the Norton wine and while it was good, I didn't think it was $20 good.
Still, it didn't stop us from hanging out from enjoying some time under the large grape arbor just up the street from the winery. A man/woman duet were playing acoustic guitars while people were enjoying the afternoon warmth that was coming on quickly.
Just to the west of the Augusta Winery is the Mount Pleasant Estates winery, the oldest winery along the Augusta wine trail. (see map) German immigrant brothers George and Frederick Muench established a commercial winery in 1859 and built the cellars in 1881 with wood and limestone from the surrounding area. When Prohibition was enacted in 1920, the winery closed and the vineyards were burned to the ground. It wasn't until 1966 when Lucian and Eva Dressel bought the property and revived the winery by planting both self-rooted and European-grafted grape vines.
In 1992, the Dressels divorced and the winery and vineyards were sold at auction. However, Lucian Dressel's brother Philip bought the property for around $650,000 and named Lucien as the winery's manager. In 2004, Philip's son Charles took over the winery and continues to run it today.
The bright pink building is tough to miss as you pull up to the Mount Pleasant Estates winery. There's a good sized parking lot off to the side and we were able to park in the shade to keep our car cool in the hot late spring sunlight.
There are a number of structures on the grounds of the Mount Pleasant Estates winery and the first building we walked into was the spacious and well-lit tasting room. We immediately liked the lay-out of the tasting room as there was a lot of room to move about.
We went out of the tasting room onto the grounds of the 125 acre vineyard that sits atop a hill which looks toward the Missouri River valley. Mount Pleasant Estates grows 9 different types of grapes on the property.
We wandered into a building that had a bar. We poked around for a moment before we realized that there was a private party going on. There wasn't any signage saying that it was a private event, but once we figured out that we weren't supposed to be in there, we skedaddled for the door.
We did find another building that was next to a three-tiered patio where people had congregated to listen to a small combo. They had wine and craft beer offerings at the bar. I got a hazy IPA from the Three Weavers Brewery from California while my wife got a glass of their Dry Vignoles, a dry white that my wife was pleased with. We hung out on the patio listening to music and enjoying increasingly warm afternoon.
The band - if you can call it that - consisted of a guy playing the piano with another man and a woman singing. After studying the guy playing the piano, it turned out that he was doing nothing more than playing pre-programmed tracks that were stored in a hard drive on the computer. Oh, he acted like he was playing the piano, but his hand movements weren't in concert with the music that was coming out over the small P.A. "Glorified karaoke", I muttered to my wife. Still, the man and the lady were very good singers.
Taking off after finishing our drinks, our next stop was at the Montelle Winery. (see map) It's located off of Highway 94 and up on a ridge that overlooks the river valley. It was a very picturesque winery with a bright yellow main building that was perched above a beautiful deck that looked out to the valley below.
The Montelle Winery was founded in 1970 by Clayton and Nissel Byers. The Byers brought on Bob and Judy Slifer as partners a few years later and the group ran the small winery until the death of Clayton Byers in 1984. The Slifers took on another partner, Forrest Peak, who renamed the winery the Osage Ridge Winery.
In 1998, the Slifers and Peak sought out then-Augusta Winery owner Tony Kooyumjian and his wife Cindy to take over their winery. The Kooyumjians saw immense potential for the small winery and bought the property and renaming it back to its original name. In 2000, the Kooyumjians expanded the wine tasting room and added a kitchen which featured pizzas, sandwiches and salads. The same year they added a micro-distillery making their own grappa and fruit brandy. It was the first micro-distillery in the state of Missouri. They later installed a large multi-level deck with a striking view of the Missouri River valley.
In 2021, Kooyumjian sold both the Augusta and the Montelle vineyards to the Hoffman Companies. In all, 250 acres of vineyards was included in the sale.
The wine tasting room was a large rectangular room with a large bar in the middle. Wooden cases of wine bottles were on the sides of the room. In the back was a serve-yourself cooler that had beer, soft drinks and water. I found a can of the Kona Big Wave while my wife got a bottled water to cool off with. (And to cut down on the buzz she had gotten from previous wine tastings.)
We found a table on the deck with a large umbrella providing shade. There was a band playing - a REAL band - on the far end of the deck and they were rocking the crowd. The combination of the music, the great vista and the cold brew made me want to stay there probably longer than we needed.
After finishing up at the Montelle Winery, we made our way back down off the ridge and back onto Highway 94. We ended up in Defiance and found something I was more interested in - a brewpub! The Good News Brewing Company is situated just off Highway 94 on the east end of Defiance, just along the popular Katy Trail bike path. (see map)
It turns out the brewpub is a faith-based entity where co-founders Dan Tripp and Matt Fair met at church in 2014. Both had dabbled in home brewing over the years and they found that they had an interest in making beers to share with others. They opened their first brewpub in O'Fallon, MO in 2016 and opened the Defiance location in 2019 in what was a former barbecue joint. A third Good News Brewing Company location opened in Augusta in 2021, and a fourth location opened in St. Charles, MO in 2022.
The 7000-square foot facility in Defiance features a large seasonal open-air room with a kitchen featuring wood-fired sourdough crust pizzas. There was a mix of bicycle and motorcycle riders parked out front and a few of them were enjoying the pizza. I have to say that the pizzas we saw looked pretty damned good.
My wife was ready for a break from the wine and we both tried a couple pale ales they had to offer - the Perfect Storm IPA and the American IPA that featured three different types of hops from the Washington and Oregon areas. My wife liked the Perfect Storm IPA a bit more and got a short glass of that, while I liked the American IPA and ended up getting a pint
There was a large patio area off to the main room at Good News Brewing which featured a stage area for live music. Ironically, it was the only place we visited that day that DIDN'T have live music.
We ended up going up on the top deck at Great News and finding a table with an umbrella. The breeze out of the northeast was constant throughout the day and it was rather refreshing on a day where the temps ended up in the low 80's (F).
After finishing our beers, we still had two more wineries to visit before calling it a day. Just up the road from Defiance, we found the Sugar Creek Winery. (see map). Ken and Becky Miller were living in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood when they bought the old Boone Country Winery just outside of Defiance. They had a property in the Sugar Creek subdivision of Kirkwood where they had hoped to build their dream home. However, they decided to build on the land they owned outside of Defiance and called it Sugar Creek, thinking that if they couldn't live in their dream home in Sugar Creek, they'd just bring Sugar Creek with them.
Becky's son, Chris Lorch, had years of experience making wine in Napa Valley. Chris joined the Sugar Creek winery and continues to oversee the operation today. Sugar Creek features a full array of wines from dry whites and reds to sweet dessert wines.
There was a large crowd at Sugar Creek that day. After getting a couple glasses of their Vidal Blanc dry white wine, we wandered through the tasting room and out into a large banquet hall where it looked like they were setting up for an event. We kept on going, eventually heading outside.
We ended up hanging out for a few moments at a table in the lovely garden area of the winery. There was a birthday party going on near us and they had a pretty nice spread of food at the table. Sugar Creek is one of the few places along the Augusta Wine Trail that allows people to bring their own food in for consumption.
Last, but certainly not least, for our revisit to the Augusta Wine Trail was the Chandler Hill Vineyards. (see map) It was a bit of a drive on a side road off Highway 94 to Chandler Hills. The main building at the winery is of a Tuscan design and is somewhat reminiscent of Napa Valley winery main buildings perched on a hill top. Owner Chuck Gillentine founded Chandler Hill Vineyards in 2008 - named after a former slave who owned the property for a number of years - with 2012 being the first year they bottled wine from the grapes they were growing. In addition to growing their own grapes, Chandler Hill sources grapes from California, Chile and local farms.
We got in there around 4:30 in the afternoon and they were setting up for what appeared to be a wedding event. The stately dining room featured large wooden beams across the ceiling and reminded me somewhat of a cathedral.
We went up to the bar to order a couple drinks - a beer for me and a wine for my wife - and we were told that there was a hard 5:00 p.m. cutoff on both drinks and attendance due to the upcoming wedding reception. We figured that we could be done by then with no problem.
Chandler Hills may have been the nicest of all the wineries that we visited that day. It featured vineyards along the rolling green hills with an aqua green pond just beyond one of the vineyards. The wind had died down and it was just a perfect late afternoon to hang on the deck.
The deck overlooked the vineyards and had a small stage where the band who had been playing there earlier was packing things up. The sun felt good on my face as I enjoyed one last small glass of wine for the day. It was very relaxing and very nice.
But it was time to go at 5 p.m. as we had anniversary dinner reservations at Charlie Gitto's on The Hill in St. Louis that evening at 7 p.m. I had paced myself pretty well all day coupling the few beers and glasses of wine that I had with water, so getting back to St. Louis wasn't that tough. And we did the right thing - we went out to one of the furthest wineries and worked our way back toward the city. As we were heading back into St. Louis, my wife and I were wondering why it took us about 25 years before we did the Augusta Wine Country Trail again. The drive was easy, the scenery was outstanding, and the wines and beers we tried that day were all very good. If you're in the St. Louis area and looking to do something somewhat out of the ordinary, I'm sure you'll be happy and somewhat surprised with the Augusta Wine Country Trail.
