Road Trip! Chaumette Winery

                Road trips are best with friends- those people with whom it is easy to laugh, swap stories, and just have a good time.  Some friends are forever friends, other friends are new friends.  Being new to St. Louis, pretty much everyone I do something with is a new friend- and yesterday, I had a whole cadre of new friends to road trip with.  Altogether we had seven people headed out to explore some of the local wineries.  

                Michael, the organizer for the trip, had two wineries in St. Genevieve picked out to visit, but time only permitted us to go to the Chaumette Vineyards and Winery.  The roads to get there are very scenic, even with the drought conditions that Missouri is experiencing.  We enjoyed the rolling hills interspersed with cornfields and dotted with sunflowers.  We even saw two wild turkeys crossing the road at one point.

                Chaumette was tucked into the hills out of St. Louis, off of Route WW.  Their vineyards covered the hillside, and a small chapel peaked out of a stand of trees up the hill from the tasting room and restaurant.  Apparently, they do a brisk business in weddings, and have spa and villas on site in addition to the winery. 

                We started in the tasting room, where a jovial bar tender was more than happy to suggest wines to sample and the order in which to try them so as to get the most appreciation out of sampling.  I started with the 2009 Reserve Chardonel.  I should have stopped there, since none of the other wines were nearly as much to my taste.  It was a dry white wine, but it wasn’t too tart or acidic and the flavor was lovely. 

                A couple of the girls bought bottles of wine and we moved into the restaurant to enjoy the live entertainment and get some lunch.  I have to say that was probably one of the most leisurely lunches I have ever enjoyed.  We started off with an order of the Eggplant Fries served with horseradish cream for the table.  The fries were crispy and delicious; the sauce was very delicately done.  For lunch, I had the County Line Farm Tomato Tart.  The tart consisted of delicious red tomatoes and cheese served on a puffy pastry crust.  I could have eaten three of them, or maybe four, without a moment’s regret.  Michael bought a bottle of the Huguenot Red for everyone to share, and, while I generally prefer white wines, this was a very enjoyable red.

                After lunch, I went walking through the vineyard with one of the other ladies.  It was miserably hot, but with the sun out and the vineyards beckoning, I couldn’t stay inside another moment- and I think she felt the same way.  She grew up in rural Pennsylvania and apparently didn’t realize until she got out of the city how much she missed the timeless feel of the countryside.  We wandered up and down the rows of grapevines, heavy with fruit, and talked about some of the new adventures we have been having in St. Louis.

                Sadly, all things must come to an end; when we got back to the tasting room from our walk through the vineyards, it was time to head back to the city.  It was a delightful afternoon, and if I ever need to get away from it all for a day or two, I think I’ll check into one of their villas and spend my days roaming through the vineyards and people watching in the tasting room.

Chaumette Vineyards and Winery: http://www.chaumette.com/

Streamline (the awesome band): http://www.facebook.com/streamlinemusic?sk=wall

Special thanks to Michael and the St. Louis Transplants for organizing this road trip!