Wine Tasting

This is not a recipe entry, but a wine entry.  And wine pairs with food so I decided to blog about it!  :)
Last Saturday we went on a Kansas City area wine tour for Lexie's birthday.  All 16 of us jumped in the limo at 11am and started out on our tour.

Our first stop was Amigoni Urban Winery in Kansas City, Missouri.  We tried 5 wines, all of which were dry.  Most area wineries use the Norton grape which sweetens the wine.  This winery does not use this grape and does not have any sweet wine.  We liked the Amigoni Viognier the best. It's a white dry wine similar to a Chardonnay.

Our next stop was Pirtle Winery in Weston, Missouri.  There was a $5 tasting fee, and we got to try 14 wines.  These were much sweeter compared to the Urban winery.  We loved the Weston Bend White which is made from Vignoles grapes.  We bought it and a blackberry wine to drink there.  It was sweet, but not as sweet as some of their other fruit wines.  They had a Mead which was made from pure fermented honey.  They also let us try a port with some dark chocolate which was fantastic!

This winery had a nice garden outside where you could sit and order a cheese plate and drink your wine - which we did!

Next we hopped in the limo with our bottles and headed back to Olathe to Stone Pillar Winery which is actually right by our house!  We have been to a tasting there before.  They have live music on the weekends.  For a small cover you can take your bottle of wine out by the vineyard and listen to the band.  However, the day we went was crowded and we did not get to do a tasting.  We bought a couple of bottles to drink outside and got back in the limo.

Our final stop (the wineries all close at 5 - this one let us begin our tasting at 5) was Somerset Ridge winery in Louisburg, Kansas.  I have been to this winery several times before with friends, and I took my parents for my mom's birthday.  They have a good selection (15 wines to taste) and a nice patio out by the vineyard that also often has a jazz musician playing.  We bought the Oktoberfest, a slightly sweet German-style wine, and the Buffalo red which is a slightly sweet red wine which would go great with barbecue or would make a good sangria.  The women giving us the tasting were very helpful and personable.  We had a great time at this winery.

The two wineries that we did not have time for were Stonehause Farm in Lee's Summit, Missouri and Monteserrat.  Maybe next time!