Missouri Wine Festivals 2009

Now is the time to harvest crops and grapes for winemaking are the same way. Missouri has two major wine festivals this time of year in two vastly areas. St. Louis and Hermann host their largest wine festivals of the year to celebrate new vintages and the best wines available.

The St. Louis Wine Festival is October 3 and 4, 2009, in Forest Park. For those not familiar with St. Louis, Forest Park is the equivalent of Central Park in New York. It's the large outdoor area where St. Louisans go to hangout outdoors.

From Noon until 7 on Saturday and Noon until 6 on Sunday, ticketholders will have the opportunity to sample more than 200 wines from around the world. Wine seminars and food and cooking demonstrations will enhance the live music played in the beautiful autumn setting of Forest Park.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Buying a ticket at the door will be cash only. Special discounted rates for a hotel room are available at the Roberts Mayfair starting at $119 a night for a king room. If you wish to volunteer, opportunities abound to help.

http://www.stlouiswinefestival.com/

The Holiday Fare Wine Trail is November 21 and 22, 2009, in historic Hermann, Missouri. From 10 to 5 on Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday, tickets are $30 in advance only. Six wineries are participating this year to celebrate great wine and serve good food.

Lodging in Hermann fills up quickly with small inns and beds and breakfasts in this historic town proud of its German heritage. Definitely call in advance if you need a room to stay for both days. The Holiday Fare event is a great way to celebrate the harvest and take a weekend getaway to the beautiful scenery and small hamlets in central Missouri along the mighty Missouri River. Nothing says middle America like harvest time in Missouri's vineyards.

The Hermann Wine Trail stretches twenty miles from Hermann to New Haven and includes six of Missouri's most popular winegrowers. Stone Hill Winery is probably the most commercially successful of them and the others are just as charming and welcoming.

http://www.hermannwinetrail.com/pages/events_holiday.htm

http://www.hermannwinetrail.com/

Missouri wines are very good drinks to partake of and nothing says new wines like harvest time amongst newly fallen colors of central Missouri's gently rolling farmland dotted with spectacular foliage. St. Louis's Forest Park is a great gathering place for one of Missouri's biggest annual wine festivals in terms of volume and participation.