I've been wanting to visit a few of these smaller wineries. My friend, Donna, and I made a trip up to Boonville to visit the storefront Cooper's Oak Winery on Main Street. This winery originated in Higbee, Missouri, as a spin-off from an oak barrel cooperage. I guess they had the barrels so they decided to make some wine. We were able to taste their main varieties and they were OK but not something I would look for if I was buying wine. We had lunch and we each bought a glass of wine. Donna ended up taking hers back and getting something else. I don't remember what I had but it was drinkable. I tasted hers and agreed that it didn't taste like what we had at the wine tasting session. Maybe they need to get a few more years experience. We were a little disappointed but stopped off at Les Bourgeois Vineyards in Rocheport to get some wine that we liked better.
We tried some other small wineries a couple weeks later down highway 50 toward Mount Sterling and Owensville. Our first stop was Wenwood Farm Winery a few miles south of Mount Sterling. This is some of the prettiest country in Missouri...the Gasconade River Valley and the river bluffs and hills. Even in drought it is pretty.
Wenwood is probably the biggest winery we visited. It has a regular schedule of live entertainment, a fairly large outdoor seating area and a small gallery of local artists' work. You can find some of their wine in Jefferson City stores so they have significant production. We were visiting on a week day and were the only people there at the time. Us and the three farm dogs that were the friendly greeting committee. We went into the little barn-like building and met the hostess, a local jewelry artist who lives down the road and doubles as the wine pourer. We like dry wines and usually reds but we had some very good whites and reds. The winemaker follows the French tradition of blending wine varieties so most of their wines are a mix of different grape types. They use the term "meritage" to describe the wine but don't use that term on the labels. Meritage is a California contrived (proprietary) name for certain grape variety wine combinations. The winery has been in business for ten years and produced an anniversary sherry that was good. Donna bought a couple bottles and I got a bottle of sherry.
Farther down US 50 we found White Mule Winery - which is also a bed and breakfast. It took us a while to find someone to greet us. The place was open and we were wandering around but it just took a while to rustle someone up. Again, we were greeted by the winery dog...a shaved Australian Shepherd who was very hot and enjoyed laying on the cool concrete floor. We had a good tasting session and liked several of the wines. I ended up buying a red dessert wine and a nice crisp white wine. The one thing about visiting these small farm wineries is that you can't be put off by the smell of manure. These are working farms or are located in active farm localities. In farm country, that is the smell of money. 
The other winery we visited was maybe our favorite just because it was easy to miss and sort of a novelty. The Phoenix Winery is located near the top of the second hill east of Mount Sterling on US 50. In local directions....go over Cave Hill and cross the Second Creek valley and climb up the next hill and you are there, more or less. There are two driveways so if you miss the first one, catch the second one. There are small signs posted.
We found the place and pulled into the yard. There was no sign of life. OK, maybe there was a chicken, I don't remember, exactly. We got out and walked through the yard to the winery building but it was locked up. We stood around looking forlorn and finally an elderly man came out of the farm house and greeted us in sort of a German-accented mumble. He was the winemaker and had to unlock the building to let us in. It had been closed up for a while and it was hot inside. We had been having multiple 100 degree days and there was no serious attempt at cooling the building. Our host apparently hoped that maybe we would just go away but his wife made him come out. He took up his position behind the small counter and pulled out several partial bottles of wine from a small refrigerator. He was probably near 80 years old and was missing front teeth but he knows how to make wine. His was the best we had all day and we ended up buying five bottles. We talked a while. He is from the Rhine valley in Germany and he used to make beer as well as wine but gave up the beer making to concentrate on the wine. Now he is in some sort of association with a vineyard in Osage County and whatever they are doing seems to work. His wine was all under $10 a bottle, the cheapest prices of the day.
This proved to be an enjoyable exploration of some of the lesser known Missouri wineries. We also stopped off at the Swiss meat and sausage market and did a sausage tasting and, of course, bought some sausages. We had lunch at Clancy's Irish Pub in Rosebud, Missouri. We never made it to Hermann or Owensville.
