I am still playing "catch up" with our postings. This one is another outing with our retirement club, Power Partners back in October. It was a chilly, cloudy, and windy day but most of our activities were indoors at the Les Bourgeois winery near Rocheport, MO.
The winery is owned and operated by second generation Bourgeois family members. Wine making started as a hobby back in 1974 but has grown to a fairly large business. As a matter of fact, Les Bourgeois is now the third largest winery in Missouri. They have moved from the kitchen table to some very modern facilities with production reaching nearly 100,000 gallons each year. The winery is located about half way between Kansas City and St Louis just off I-70. Edel and Sigrid are ready to do some wine tasting.
The last of the grapes for 2011 are at the front door of the tasting room.
Their wines have done well in competition.
The names of the wines indicate that the winery doesn't take itself too seriously despite the fact that they have received excellent reviews.
One of the family members gave us a wonderful and fact filled tour. It was clear that what was once a hobby has turned into a serious business and the family has done its homework and invested carefully to produce high quality wines.
The processing area is all new and very clean. You can see some of the fermenting tanks along the wall. Maintaining a precise temperature during fermenting is of utmost importance and they have high tech equipment to do the control.
De-skinning and pressing equipment are located at this end of the building.
Grapes ready to go.
This area has the bottling equipment and stocking/shipping operations.
Filling and corking machines.
The barrel room is used for aging certain wines in oak barrels before bottling....not much spare space here.
The family also operates a restaurant near the winery. Many in our group joined us there for lunch.
The restaurant sits high on a bluff and has a beautiful view of the Missouri River. One of the family members is an architect so they designed their own building. It was very warm inside and the food was great. They have a chef in the kitchen.....not just a cook.
After lunch, we went out to get a better view of the river.
The leaves were just starting to turn color.
You can see why the restaurant has such a nice view from the dining room.
Some of the family's grape vines.
A nice way to spend a cold and cloudy day.
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