If you enjoy traveling the countryside, sampling regional wines and enjoying gourmet meals, consider taking a trip to the Rhine Valley–Missouri’s Rhine Valley–on September 7th.
It’s located in a viticultutral sweet spot, along the Missouri River between St. Charles and Hermann and includes the two most historic wine towns in the state – Augusta and Hermann – as well the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the entire country. (Yes, Missouri had an AVA before the Napa Valley.)
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The Missouri Rhine Valley Association organized the event to showcase all the area has to offer. One of the association’s members, Connie Cunningham, says that a region long known for its wineries is finally being recognized for its food producers, “some that are now being marketed, not just throughout the nation, but worldwide,” according to Cunningham. “That’s really what this dinner is all about,” she said. “All the foods are locally sourced, all are being paired with our local wines, beers, and spirits and our producers will be mingling with the guests throughout the day.” And they’ll be handing out samples….as in goodies to take home.
The day begins with coffee, orange juice, and pastries provided by Hummingbird Kitchen of Owensville, served at the train stations in Kirkwood and Washington, Mo., before the Amtrak trains depart for Hermann. Upon arrival, guests will be whisked off in a private coach to Adam Puchta Winery, where restaurateur/chef Eddie Neill (Cafe Provencal, The Dubliner) will provide Gouda and pickle mini-sandwiches, ratatouille in puff pastry, and gooseberry tarts along with carefully chosen wines.
Then a tour of the Deutschheim State Historic Site, where 100-year-old Norton vines still grow. Here, experience the best Norton wines while dining on Chef Neill’s box lunch of a mini gyro of lamb, a mini beef sandwich, a beet salad with fennel, onion and goat cheese.
Around 4 o’clock, it’s off to McKittrick Mercantile (right) for cocktail hour, featuring spirits from New Haven’s Pinckney Bend Distillery, and another round of decadent appetizers, including goose liver pate, catfish brandade, plus blinis and caviar–Missouri caviar.
Cunningham boasted that “Our St. Louis neighbors are often surprised to hear that Missouri caviar is being shipped to Japan…and [local] smoked geese are being shipped to Hawaii for Christmas dinners. It has become a food lover’s paradise out here,” she said, “all while no one was looking.”
Finally, after a day of fancy finger food, you will sit down to an even fancier four-course dinner of German and French cuisine at the “Merc”, orchestrated again by Chef Neill, including a watermelon and goat cheese salad with arugula (all local, of course) and a “Choucroute of Birds.”
A day of wining, dining, historic sites–and no driving–on a September day in Missouri wine country? Yeah, we feel the same way…
Tickets include all transportation, food, and drinks: $150 for a round-trip train ride from Kirkwood, $140 from Washington, Mo, and $120 if you drive yourself.
To make reservations, call 636-239-2715 ext.101 or email [email protected].
