Sensory Overload

Saturday, we woke up to snow flurries. Blah!! However, the day was replete with delectible tastes and sights. We drove through the hilly landscape over twisty, windy roads to Crown Winery. There we were given a tour, a free lunch, free entertainment, and wine tasting. Henry is standing on the walkway leading to the deli and wine tasting area overlooking the large stainless steel wine bins, some which hold up to 3000 gallons each.

The tour took us through the gathering area (all extraction equipment was outside and it was too cold to wander out there), and then into the cave where oak barrels are lined up to store the more expensive wines. The barrels are imported from as far away as France but some are purchased locally. They can only be used three times and then they are sold back to the barrel makers.

In the bottling room,we came across this man dipping the tops of wine bottles into wax, a labor intensive job for sure. Each bottle had to be dipped twice.

Our tour ended at the wine tasting bar, where we were given seven different choices to sip. They were tasty and for someone who doesn't do this very often (or ever) we learned a lot about what goes into the making of fine wine just be looking at the ingredient list. Each wine had different herbs or woods to give it its special taste.

Dinner was at Tiger Ridge Restaurant. This restaurant is owned by the same man who owns the winery. He has rescued several large animals - lions and tigers - who now have their own habitat but we weren't able to see them since that area was not yet open to the public. For dinner I enjoyed a fresh tomato salad with a feathery type of lettuce and goat cheese with chopped beets on the side. Henry had a Cobb Salad with pine nuts. He ordered a 8 oz. sirloin but I had a wonderful piece of Bison Loin with a coffee crust. It was lean and wonderfully cooked. Desserts were varied but we ordered Creme Brule to share first while we waited for them to bake a fresh Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache that was just this side of heaven in the taste department. All in all, I enjoyed the new tastes, smells, and sights of our short vist to Missouri's wine country.

This picture was taken from the large wrap-around verandah overlooking some of the vineyards. As you can see the day was overcast but the sun did come out later in the afternoon.