A Visit to the Winery

     I had the pleasure of spending the day, or at least a good part of it with my brother and sister today.  It is rare that all three of us have free time at once and get to do something fun together.  We decided to check out a few local wineries.  It was a great day for this since the sun was shining and really pretty warm out for the middle of March.  We picked 3 wineries to check out today. 
     Our first stop was in Weston, MO.  I had forgotten how much I love visiting Weston.  The first winery we went to was Pirtle Winery.  That was probably my favorite as far as the taste of the wine goes.  It was a great place to start, first of all the wine tasting is free.  There was a long list to choose from and we were able to pick 8 wines from the list to taste.  My favorite wines were their Cherry Chocolate, the Effervescent Blueberry and their Mellow Red.  I would have loved to taste more than just 8 which for a price I could have but for now, knowing there was more wine on the way I stuck to just checking out what I could for free. 
      After leaving Weston our next stop was at Jowler Creek Winery just outside of Platte City, MO.  For this one I sat back and let my sister and brother pay the $5.00 (plus tax) to test 5 wines a piece. I did get to try a few sips of the wines they had picked.  The Jowler Creek Butterfly Blush was another favorite.  This was similar to a White Zinfandel.  After all, I am definitely a sweet wine drinker.  I am not a fan of very dry wines.  The Jowler Creek Nort was another fav.  This was a bolder dessert wine.  I'm not always a red wine fan but this was pretty good.  
     Our final stop (after a drive thru at McDonald's to feed those who were hungry in the car) was the Ladoga Ridge Winery in Smithville, MO.  Again, I did not spend the money for the tasting so I was given the 3 complementary tastes.  I was not as impressed with the taste of these wines as I was with the previous two places we had been.  Although I will say the setting was gorgeous.  If I was to pick a wine, and remember I like sweet wines, I would pick either their Blackberry wine or their
"B Cause" wine that honors breast cancer survivors.  Even without the great cause it honors it still would have been one of my two picks here.  
     All in all it was a pretty successful, relaxing day.  We tasted some great wine, had a lot of laughs and enjoyed the great weather.