Z&M Twisted Vines Winery

Michael and I have our favorite wineries, but some weekends when we don’t have anything planned, we decide that maybe it is time to try a new winery. The last weekend in January 2022 we decide to add a new winery to our cellar. After debating on if we should stay in Missouri or go to Kansas. We ended up deciding on visiting a Kansas winery. The lucky winery was Z&M Twisted Vines in Leavenworth.

Z&M Twisted Vines Winery

This winery is in the old downtown area of Leavenworth. As we walked in, we were warmly greeted by the bartender. As we told her that we were interested in a tasting she told us our options. They have a tasting of the month which has 5 wines to taste for free with a purchase of either a glass or their food, or you could build your own tasting of 5 wines. We opted for the tasting of the month. Our first was St. Vincent, which we have had in the past at other wineries, but normally it is blended with some other grape. Following that wine we had Fredonia, which is a dry red but had a fruity sweetness. The rest of the monthly wines were Baco Noir, Heroes, and Blackhawk Blackberry.

After our 5 tastings we were asked if there was anything else on the wine menu that we would like to taste. Michael, seeing that they had Vignoles, had to try it. Fun Fact: Vignoles is the Kansas state white grape! Unfortunately, he was very disappointed in this Vignoles and at this point he is almost an expert in tasting Vignoles as it is his all time favorite. I wanted to try Seasons of Aspen, which is a Riesling wine and felt very outdoorsy. It was extremely good. I referenced it to a Dandelion Wine we bought that this is how that wine should have tasted. After that, we learned why they are called “Twisted.” Michael who likes his coffee, noticed that they had Black Out Coffee Wines. He picked the Cherry Coffee wine and noted if you like iced coffee this would be wonderful. I took one smell and was like "that’s just coffee." Any tastings he had afterwards if I took in the aroma of the wine, I was like I still smell just coffee. We were also given tastings of Harvest Moon, On Wings of Eagles, Country Lemonade, and Hellfire. Their Hellfire wine is a red grape wine that has some heat from jalapenos. We’ve had a jalapeno wine before while great for cooking you couldn’t drink it; however, this Hellfire wine was one that you could keep sipping. The Country Lemonade was like drinking adult lemonade and is the perfect wine for sipping on a hot Midwestern summer.

Z&M Twisted Winery - Fredonia Wine

After our extended tastings, we decided to try some of their food. They have a small menu of appetizers and sub sandwiches. As a starter we had to get the spinach and artichoke dip, which was amazing but I love most spinach and artichoke dips. We each got a sub sandwich: Michael got the Italian Meatball, and I got the Italian Deli. Both sandwiches were excellent. We both also had a glass of wine with our meal. I picked the Fredonia, to get a better idea of the wine and to see if this could potentially be a good wine to give my only sweet white wine friends a taste to expand their horizons. Michael tried their Chambourcin. Fun Fact: Chambourcin is the Kansas state red grape! Unfortunately, he was not impressed with their Chambourcin as it almost seemed watered down. Though as he continued to eat his meatball sub, he realized that his wine paired well.

Overall, this winery was good. It wasn’t great as some wineries we have been to, but they did have some things that made them unique. There were many other wines we didn’t try, and they also have things called Twisted Concoctions. Will we be back? Yes. Will it become one in the rotation of wineries we must go to? Probably not.