Wine For Dessert (Literally)

I feel like I can't be the only with this dilemma. There is nothing worse than finishing a big Thanksgiving meal and looking at all those desserts, knowing that you do not have any more room for any of those delicious pies, cakes, and cookies. You try to walk off some food and make space, bust out the sweat pants, or just gorge yourself anyway, but none of these are ideal.. Well, I have found a solution, and it's wine! Pumpkin Pie Wine, that is, from Wenwood Farm Winery in Bland Missouri. This wine is the closest I've ever come to drinking a liquid version of pumpkin pie with a bonus of alcohol.

This wine can be chilled, served at room temperature, or slightly warmed to enhance the mouth-feel and aroma of the pumpkin pie awesomeness contained within. You could even go crazy and try putting some whipped cream on it! (Let me know how that works out for you. I'm very curious, yet unwilling to risk possibly ruining my wine.) I have tried a few pumpkin wines this year, but this is my first pumpkin PIE wine. Just sit back in your stretchy pants, pour yourself a glass, and enjoying drinking your pumpkin pie dessert.

Fall is also the season for mulled wines. All you need is a good base wine warmed up with sugar, spices, and citrus fruits. Edg-Clif's Hollyberry Red is the perfect wine to make a Holiday Treat Mulled Wine. The holiday gift wine comes complete with a gift tag and the mulled wine recipe. It's fun, easy and a great indulgence on a chilly day relaxing by a warm fire. The best way to warm your wine is too use a crock pot and share with good friends.

There are also times when I feel like I have to choose... wine or dessert? I usually pick wine (priorities), but now I don't have to. In the small town of Hermann, Missouri, I have made a wonderful discovery at Jillsie's Bistro & Boutique Cafe. Along with numerous lattes, smoothies, and breakfast delights, you can also order Norton Ice Cream. Yes, you read that right, and no, it's not just Norton flavored ice cream.

Real Norton wine from Stone Hill Winery is an ingredient in this splendid treat. This homemade ice cream is a beautiful lavender hue. When you taste it, you will immediately taste pure, simple homemade ice cream, and it finishes as if you just took a sip of a delicious Norton.  Stone Hill's Norton really enhances the vanilla and is not at all overpowering. Jillsei's has combined wine and ice cream, and it's pure genius!

So there you have it; these three excellent options to finish off your Thanksgiving dinner with that incorporate fabulous Missouri wines. What is your favorite wine-related dessert? Please share with on MO Wine Please's Facebook page.

Missouri Wine Festival

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, look no further than the Missouri Wine Festival happening in Excelsior Springs, MO on June 21-22.

This annual festival is held in Excelsior Springs during the summer time and celebrates over 50 Missouri wines, live music, over 30 art and craft vendors, hosts wine and cheese classes, and cooking demonstrations.    The cost is $5 for the festival or $20 in advance for 10 wine samples ($25 at the gate).  You can buy your tickets online

Here is a list of the wineries that will be participating:

Baltimore Bend Vineyard
Cooper's Oak 
Fence Stile Vineyard and Winery
Jowler Creek 
Ladoga Ridge Winery
Les Bourgeois Vineyard
St James Winery 
Serenity Valley Winery
Stone Hill Winery
Wenwood Farm Winery
Westphalia Vineyard
Windy Wine Co.

For accommodations  check out the map of local hotels.  Note that you are not far from Kansas City, but staying local would be the best route for safety reasons (wouldn't want that wine getting the best of you).

For more information and for registration, check out the event home page: Missouri Wine Festival

MO Wine Madness

With all this bracket madness in the air, we wanted to get in on the fun too this March. And of course, our minds went straight to wine! We love the idea of doing a full blow bracket including wines from all the regions of Missouri, but sadly we didn't have the time to or alcohol tolerances to make that happen. We decided to do a mini bracket, just 4 wines, and focus on a specific varietal, Vignoles. We went with Vignoles because it’s a classic Missouri white wine that makes us think of spring, flowers, and winery hopping. We chose 4 wineries completely randomly (well, if they were on Friar Tuck’s shelves, they were in the running.) Our contestants in the first ever MOWinePlease.org Best Vignoles March Madness Bracket Challenge are….. (We’re going to work on that name!) Adam Puchta Vignoles, Stone Hill Vignoles, Westphalia Osage Innocence (Vignoles), and Robller Vignoles. 

These wines will face each other in a double elimination bracket. Michael and I will both have our brackets guessing the outcome. (There may or may not be money on this!) We will blind taste sample the 2 dueling wines in each round and won’t know how the bracket went or who the winner is until the end. Don’t worry; we won’t have all the fun. We want to know what you think too. We’ll post the dueling wines on Facebook, and you can see how your bracket comes out too! Let the madness begin! Follow all the fun HERE!