We went to our friends' farm this weekend with the intent of doing a winery tour on Saturday. The weather has been absolutely crappy the last few days and Friday night was no exception. Things weren't looking good for Saturday. Somehow, miraculously, we had the most gorgeous day on Saturday, and as I sit here watching the rain fall outside the window, I thought I would share some of the pictures from that sunny-around-64-degree day.
We actually went to 4 places on Saturday, but my favorite was a relatively new winery. A place called Charleville Vineyard. I'm not a huge winery person (sorry, MO wine just isn't my thing), but, unbeknownst to me, this place was also a brewery.
Here's the greeter that met us when we got out of the car. She walked right up to us, I said "hi kitty" and she flipped over on her belly for me to scratch. I'm thinking I'm gonna like this place.
Right next to the parking area is the building where they sell beer, wine, snacks and gifts.
This is a closer look at the right side of the building where a cat was snoozing in the sunshine. Too adorable, really.
Hey, I recognize some of those beers! They sell Charleville at The Stable in St. Louis. I have consumed at least a couple of these beers already.
I decided upon the seasonal beer the Witches Brew'mm. They gave me a sample first (which I wasn't expecting. Also, Charleville was the only winery that didn't charge us to sample. But, I don't really need to sample good draft beer. I pretty much like it all. Still, that was nice.)
It was less pumpkin-y than OFallon, and not as spicy as Schlafly. I liked it. Come to find out, I was not the only one. I set my beer down at our table and went exploring. This is the bed and breakfast located at the vineyard. I love the front porch with all the rocking chairs. They were nice enough to let us take a self guided tour. The upstairs is two bedrooms and a bath, and the downstairs is a breakfast/siting area. The whole place smelled like maple syrup. Yum.
When I returned to my beer, I found this guy in it. I still drank it anyway; bees don't gross me out. Then I went off adventuring again.
Butterflies were out en masse on Saturday. I thought this one was particularly cool.
When I returned to my beer, this lady beetle was floating around in my beer, so I fished her out. That was enough buggy guys in one drink, so I dumped it and went to get another.
This time, the Hoptimistic IPA, which was hoppy and delightful. Perfect on a mild fall day.
Anyhoo, out of all the places we went, Charleville was hands down my favorite. The scenery was great. The people hanging out there weren't freaks. The music (one acoustic guy with a guitar, a harmonica, and a tambourine rigged to his foot) was the most appropriate for the laid back setting, and the staff was the most friendly.
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