Over Labor Day Weekend, our family set out on our annual camping and canoe trip in southern Missouri. Any road trip that has three children as particpants can be sure to included numerous (and inevitably inconvenient) pit stops. Ramping off the highway in Carthage, Missouri for one of these "breaks", our expedition leader (aka Dad - we like to humor him) spied a sign for a local winery. Eager for an enroute distraction, we headed down the small town road and found The White Rose: Winery, Restaurant, Bed & Breakfast. We had a wonderful time touring the property and tasting wine. Our host was the charming and knowledgeable Jan O'Haro. In Jan I found a kindered spirit in the love of history. She told us about the beautiful limestone Victorian house built in 1900. Positioned along the Spring River in Carthage, the house had been the jewel of a 2000 acre Hereford ranch built by the owner of the local quarry. Later, the ranch was parcelled out and transitioned into a 1000 acre dairy farm with cow stalls built of the same beautiful stone as the main house. Today the home, sitting on 10 treed acres, is the the O'haro bed & breakfast with a Victorian palor room for wine tasting.
We tried several of the O'haro wines while our children played with corks (which are apparently as fun as leggos) and chit-chat with other patrons. From the wine list we tasted: Norton, Chardonel, Cayuga White, Spring River White, and Lady in Gold. The Cayuga White was a beautiful, smooth honeyed wine that very much reminded me of mead. The wines of the White Rose winery are produced in a traditional European fashion without added sulfites (the nasty stuff that causes hangovers in lessers wines). The wines are the namesake of a lovely garden statue of a woman with roses in her hair, looking over a little coy pond. Having enjoyed our time at The White Rose and with two new bottles of wine to add to our collection, we said goodbye to the Lady of the Roses and headed back down the road.
Canoe trip and wine tasting? What a perfect time (well, minus the kids, no offense). I went to a wine tasting and art show myself over labor day but was uninspired. I hate / love art festival tent type events--it's fun to meet artists and talk to them, but depressing to walk by a tent with a bored artists staing hopefully ot into the passing crowd praying for a sale, any sale, or even a word.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know just what you mean. In the same situation, I feel like I'm passing over sad-eyed puppies at the city pound when I do not purchase.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious - How you deal with citing sources/references on your blog (or do you)?
I do cite when I can--usually a link (I'll highlight part of the material with a hyperlink to the original source). If it's a text, I just say what text it's from.
ReplyDelete