Kevin's Wine Tour

The best part about exploring local wines and wineries is when you get to introduce someone else to the experience. Recently, we took the opportunity to take my brother Kevin to try some local wines. He was, and really still is, a bit of a wine novice so this was a cool way to not just find specific wines he liked, but also determine where his palette was in general.

The outing started at our favorite place, Belvoir Winery. Unfortunately Belvoir was very busy that day with a wedding, a birthday party, and a baby shower. This meant they weren’t offering tastings and there was no place left to hang out. With no tasting we had to shoot somewhat blind. Kevin said he liked sweet wines so we got him a glass of Sorelle Dolce. I had a glass of the Lucky Pierre which would allow him to try the two sweetest of Belvoir’s wines. Kevin immediately described Sorelle Dolce as “saccharine” so I offered to trade him. He was much happier with the less sweet but more berry forward Lucky Pierre.

Lucky Pierre at Belvoir Winery

Initially Belvoir had been the only winery we planned on visiting, but it was so busy we left fairly quickly. With so much time on our hands, we decided to make it a whole tour for Kevin. Onward to Excelsior Springs.

The next stop was Four Horses and a Dog. We’ve always enjoyed the cozy and friendly atmosphere. Kevin immediately got excited when he noticed they had warm hard cider on the menu. But we were here for wine, so we started him with a tasting flight. He was still leaning to the sweets and semi-sweets for his tastings which he was fairly happy with. However, he did decide to go out on a limb and try the Luther which is a dry red Noiret wine. The hint of mint on the aftertaste had him reeling. I’ll admit it’s a bit unusual for a tasting note as far as I’m concerned as well. He did think that the First Chance Chancellor (another dry red) was alright. He finished his flight with a mug of their hot hard cider which he called “perfection”.

After a quick stop at the Willow Spring Mercantile, we headed on to Fence Stile Winery. This was Kevin’s favorite winery of the tour. Their dry Seyval literally made him exclaim “Maybe I do like drys!” At this point, he was wondering if he really did prefer sweets or if he just hadn’t found the right dries. Kevin bought a bottle of the Baciamoci which was a semi-dry white wine with a bit of a tangy finish. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wine here as always and, honestly, I’m not sure why I have low expectations in the first place.

Finally, it was time for Van Till Family Farm Winery. The main goal here was dinner because of their delicious wood fire pizza. But this was still a wine discovery tour so we started with a tasting. Kevin’s favorites were the two “Farm” Reds (Ranch Red and Farm Shed Red). Our favorite from Van Till is the Chai Spice so we ensure he got some of that as well. He really warmed up to the mulled spice in it. We finished our adventure with a bottle of Farm Shed Red and two pizzas (Thai Peanut Chicken and Bacon Gorgonzola). The pizza was absolutely delightful.

Farm Shed Red with Pizza: Thai Peanut Chicken (front) and Bacon Gorgonzola (back)

With full bellies and full spirits, it was time to head home.