Ozark Mountain | VinoVerve

Arkansas. Wine.

By admin | July 12, 2014 - 4:19 pm |July 15, 2014 Adventures, Altus, American, Arkansas Mountain, cabernet sauvignon, Chambourcin, Cynthiana (Norton), Edelweiss, Merlot, muscadine, Niagara, Norton, Ozark Mountain, Pink Catawba, Traminette, viticulture, wine

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After years of telling me that they were going to retire to Arkansas, my parents have finally done so. Kevin and I tried to talk them into moving to Oregon, but they weren’t going for it.

The Arkansas state flag was designed by Willie Kavanaugh Hocker.

So, Arkansas it is. In the middle of the Walmartian capitol.
Luckily, like almost every place in the country, there is wine nearby. Yup. wine. Located in three American Viticultural Areas. Twenty-four wineries.

California it is not. But that isn’t a bad thing. After all, variety is the spice of life. So what’s the deal with Arkansas wine?
Officially, viticulture began in Arkansas in the 1870s when German and Swiss immigrants settled in Altus, Arkansas. Unofficially, there was wine in Arkansas before that. In A Journal of Travels into the Arkansa Territory During the Year 1819 With Occasional Observation on the Manners of the Aborigines by Thomas Nuttall, F.L.S. (I have no idea what F.L.S. means), the author describes the vineyards and wine encountered along the way. Tales of wine being produced at local taverns like the Hinderliter Grog Shop in Little Rock circa 1827 are likely to be true. And prior to American settlement? Well, Arkansas was once officially part of France after all.
In addition to the Altus wineries, Italian immigrants have made their mark in Arkansas’s wine history. The city of Tontitown was founded by the followers of Father Pietro Bandini in 1898. The residents, mostly from northern Italy brought their traditions with them including wine making. Even today, the sign welcoming you to town features grape vines. Unfortunately, for most American’s the town is more commonly known as the home as the Duggar family.

What kinds of wines are being produced? Well, a lot of sweet wines. Muscadine grapes grow naturally in the state and have long been used to produce. Muscadine is a type of grape known as Vitis rotundifolia that is native to the United States. But Muscadine doesn’t have to produce a sweet wine and there are dry options as well.

Map produced by Gretchen Neuman using a USGS basemap.

Other grapes producing wine in Arkansas include Niagara, Concord and Delaware which are park of the Vitis labrusca family. French-American Hybrids such as Chambourcin and Vidal are common as is Cynthiana, a Norton clone is thought to be created in the Arkansas. There are even folks producing Chardonnay and Merlot… though most of them get that fruit from California.
There are three viticultural areas in the Arkansas. Altus is located around the German Swiss town of the same name in the Boston Mountains. Altus is the only appellation found completely within the state. Altus is also located within the Arkansas Mountain appellation but extends in the area from Fort Smith to Conway (another place my folks thought about moving to… but thought better of as the town is dry). Ozark Mountain contains the Altus and Arkansas Mountain regions and is crosses into Missouri and Oklahoma as well.
Getting your hands on Arkansas wine is tricky. The state does not play well with others, i.e. does not allow direct shipping and because of that can’t ship out of state either. So you kinda have to go there and taste it there.

But since I am about to be spending more time in the Ozarks, I guess I will have time to explore.

Southern Wine

By admin | September 13, 2011 - 8:04 am |September 13, 2011 Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Orleans, Ozark Highlands, Ozark Mountain, Tennessee, travel, VinoVerve, wine, wine and food

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Kevin and I are headed to NOLA this weekend to watch some football and sample the delights of the city. He asked me to see if we could stop at a winery on our way there. I checked my map. Each dot represents a winery.

It appears that we will have plenty of choices depending on what route we take.

Good thing we don’t live in a wine producing region, eh? It appears that we will have 20 options in the deep south.. and more as we head north.

Laissez les bontemps rollez.

What’s your favorite southern winery?

Gretchen Neuman, VinoVerve.com Editor, September 13, 2011

Show Me Some Goals….

By GMN | March 30, 2011 - 10:22 am |March 30, 2011 Adventures, AVA, Catholic, France, Gretchen Neuman, Hermann, Illinois, Kevin Neuman, Local Wine, Missouri, nerd, Ozark Highlands, Ozark Mountain, patron saints, St. Louis, travel, video post, VinoVerve, viticulture, wine, Wineries

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

The nice part of goals is missing them sometimes. Yes, it was your editor’s goal to complete podcasts for all four Missouri viticulture areas before leaving for the Show Me State… but that sadly hasn’t happened. Something about teenagers and their crazy schedules screwed that up. Oh, and randomly placed Spring Breaks. Ahhh. Good times…

So, instead of showing you are about the Ozark Mountain and Ozark Highlands AVAs, I will postpone the publication of these videos so that I can gather some footage of my own…. and instead will talk about where I am planning to go on my Missouri adventures. While I am only going to be in Missouri for a long weekend and most of that time will be spent in St. Louis, I have found that I will be able to visit all four viticultural areas. Yeah!

As you can see, I have gotten lucky that all of these appellations are located at least in part near St. Louis. So naturally, given that I have no obligations to teens and/or volleyball (like last year or next week) I get to explore Missouri.

The conference location is the starting or ending point of the trip. At least from a planning perspective this is the raison d’être for my get away. Kevin is watching the teens, which earns him my pity as it is their spring break. He initially wished to join me along this journey but thought better of it as it is likely teens would have sucked all the joy out of me for this adventure, and I thank him profusely.

Why Ste. Genevieve? Simply, it is the oldest town in the state. Founded by the French along the Mississippi River before even the French and Indian Wars, the town has a collection of Creole-French buildings that were common among French settlers or habitants… Obscure? Perhaps. But I love that kind of stuff. Plus there are wineries there too which are located within the Ozark Mountain AVA. This AVA is the biggest in Missouri (especially since it extends into Arkansas and even Oklahoma) and the Ozark Highlands and Hermann appellations are located within its boundaries.

My next must see stop is the town of Kaskaskia, Illinois. Crossing back over the Mississippi, you say? Hardly. Kaskaskia, also a French settlement, was located east of the Mississippi but as the river has changed course, so has the location of the town and it is currently located just a couple of miles south of Ste. Genevieve. Actually, most of the original town has been lost to flooding and hardly anyone lives there anymore (the 2000 census indicated a population of 9). The appeal of Kaskaskia is twofold. It is the original capital of the state (or maybe territory) of Illinois. Also? It has a bell that was a given to the local parish church by Louis XV (Yes. Louis XIV is dead, to answer my husband’s snappy response whenever hear hears the name of a monarch with a number attached to his name.. Thanks so much, dudes from Monty Python).

The next goals of the trip are to visit all three appellations that I haven’t been to before. This means, stopping at wineries in Ozark Mountain (done… with stops in Ste. Genevieve), Ozark Highlands (done with stops in and around Leasburg or Steelville, MO) and in Hermann.

As if this isn’t a busy enough weekend, I will then be attending the Drinklocalwine.com conference in St. Louis. Whew. I am going to be tired come Monday. But I will have lots to talk about when I get back!

Hope you have as much fun this weekend!

Next stop

St. Louis Locapour List

By admin | April 14, 2010 - 4:20 pm |April 14, 2010 AVA, cabernet sauvignon, Lists For Locapours, Locapour, locavore, Ozark Mountain, Road Trip!, Sophie-bear, wine

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

While in St. Louis, I did more than drag an underaged teen from one winery to another… I went out to dinner… With grownups even!

Yes, it is true. After spending a long day in volleyball and touring Daniel Boone’s favorite wineries, the girl and I headed back to the hotel where she immediately ditched me for team related activities and headed up to see my favorite wine-loving volleyball mom. After snacking on some cheese and crackers and drinking some delicious Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon we headed down to the hotel’s restaurant, An American Place.

The room for this restaurant is beautiful with ridiculously high ceilings due to the Mezzanine being above. The ceiling seemed to have Wedgewood cameos engraved, painted, however it is done.

One of the things that I liked about the menu was that the Chef/Owner Larry Forgione sources many of his supplies locally. Unlike many chefs, he extends this policy to his list of libations which contained selections from :

Mt. Pleasant
Chaumette Estate
Schlafly
O’Fallon

Better yet, the meals were terrific. We started out with an amuse bouche of blue cheese panna cotta with a reduced balsamic glaze and chip of cured pork shoulder. Next I had the sweetbreads which were a treat I haven’t had in a long, long time and finally the hanger steak which at that point I forgot to photograph because I was enjoying the food and conversation…. Oh, and I loved the presentation of the shrimp cocktail, which I thought looked like mini versions of the St. Louis Arch!

Show Me More Wine!

By admin | April 9, 2010 - 12:01 am |April 8, 2010 Arkansas Mountain, Augusta, Augusta AVA, AVA, Hermann, Ozark Highlands, Ozark Mountain, wine

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

So there is Augusta… but where else do you find wine in Missouri?

Well, the area entirely surrounding St. Louis is part of another AVA. This one is the Ozark Mountain AVA. In fact, Augusta is contained withing Ozark Mountain as well as four other AVAs: Ozark Highlands, Hermann, Altus, and Arkansas Mountain.

This AVA covers 3.5 million acres of land in what is the Ozark Plateau in the states of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Ironically, the Sugar Creek Winery that did not list itself as an Augusta AVA winery? It also didn’t claim to be in Ozark Mountain. Neither do the wines of Yellow Farmhouse Winery or Chandler Hill (although in all fairness, they seem to have wine from all over so maybe they get confused) Ah, well..

Still the news is that Missouri and its surrounding neighbors are full of wine…

And I will eventually get to visit all of these regions!

Category Archives: Ozark Mountain

Arkansas. Wine.

Southern Wine

Show Me Some Goals….

St. Louis Locapour List

Show Me More Wine!

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