This event was special for me because my beau, who lives out of state, happened to be in town. When we arrived at Nebula Coworking – a seriously rad coworking space - near Cherokee Street in South City, St. Louis, we were warmly greeted by Angela and asked to write our name and our blog’s URL on a “Hi, My Name is…”-style paper label nametag.

MilliGFunk, photo by Nick

I did exactly as instructed, my clever, clever boy toy got…well…clever. Nick isn’t a blogger, so while my name tag said, “@MilliGFunk” and “SmallTownGirlsGuide.com”, here’s what he wrote on his name tag:

"What Blog?" photo by MilliGFunk

Once everyone arrived, Angela introduced herself and explained that this course would be a wine tasting only (not a food and wine pairing), and was designed to be a sort of a Wine 101; an introduction to generic styles of wine rather than a tasting to highlight particular wine makers or vintages.

Angela gave us a handful of tips on handling wine, including tips on wine storage. She explained that wines should be stored in a dark, temperature-controlled environment like a closet or a wine cooler,and that wines shouldn’t be stored in direct sunlight.

STLWineGirl's Will Write for Wine, photo by MilliGFunk Photography

Wines shouldn’t be stored in a room where temperatures tend to fluctuate, Angela explained. And do you know which room in your house has temperatures that change the most in any given day, month or year? Your kitchen! What does that tell you? Don’t store you wine in your kitchen, silly. Store it in a room were temperatures are more stable.

And for those of you wine your wine collection sitting on the top of your fridge? For shame! It’s all kinds of hot up on that fridge, so go right now and move that wine someplace cooler.

Speaking of moving wine, wine doesn’t like being moved around a lot. What does that mean? If you’ve got a cross-country move planned, maybe you should invite all your closest friends over to help you drink you wine. Okay, maybe that’s not necessary, but your friends would probably appreciate the invitation, and there is a chance that your wine might go bad in transit.

Another tip Angela offered was the 30/30 rule for chilling wines. Red wines should be put into the fridge to chill roughly 30 minutes before you’d like to serve them. Whites, on the other hand, should start out chilled and should be removed from the fridge 30 minutes before you imbibe.

One of the things I didn’t know before this class was exactly why it is that a server will let you taste a small pour of the wine you select while dining out. It’s not so that you act hoity-toity and return the wine if you don’t like it. The only time it’s okay to send the wine back is if the wine is “corked”; in other works, if the wine has turned bad in the bottle.

Here’s where it gets neat, IMHO;  the restaurant doesn’t take a loss on the corked bottle. They sent it back to the distributor, who sends the restaurant a new bottle. And the wine maker replaces that bottle for the distributor. The lesson here is that if you’re poured a glass of wine that’s gone bad, you can return it without feeling guilty, since the restaurant won’t be hurt in the pocketbook (and neither will your server).

Missouri Rose, photo by MilliGFunk Photography

Through the course of the class, we tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Missouri rose, discussing the basic characteristics of each wine. Angela provided us with a helpful glossary of terms often used to describe wines, and I got the impression that all 20 of us in the class learned at least a few new things about wine.

Angela was one of the first friends I made after moving “home” to Missouri two and a half years ago.  I genuinely enjoy her classes, and I think she’s building a good business. Her mission is, “Creating a personal experience with food & wine that is approachable & accessible”, and she’s done this and more in each of the wine experiences I’ve shared with her.

Thanks for another great class, Angie!

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Sharing this class were: @cityjars, @MoEats, @kimberly9938, @ironstef, @maddie_em, @katiethatcher, @goblueELTblog, @mamamarcus17 @stlsouptonuts, @citydiva, @deliciousstl, @4leafclovergirl, @stlveggirl, @hannahviolin, @eatlocalstl and @howmomrolls

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Other bloggers’ write-ups on the Will Write for Wine Event:

Bridget McGuire’s Filling Station

City in a Jar

Every Little Thing

Hannah Violin

Michelle A. Marcus

Tony Loves Food

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To learn more about STLWine Girl, visit her online!

photo taken by small town girl

I’m familiar with the wineries in St. Genevieve County and in Farmington, Missouri, but I’d never been to any of the wineries or vineyards west of St. Louis on the Highway 94 “Wine Road”.

While driving home from Wright City, Missouri on Monday, I saw a sign for a winery just outside of a town called Dutzow, Missouri. I had never even heard of Dutzow, and the name was so strange that I couldn’t resist the urge to explore the town.

Blumenhof Vineyards and Winery was a great surprise. While I’m thrilled that wineries are becoming a source of tourism for the state, I’m not always a fan of Missouri’s wines. I’ll never turn down a day with friends at one of the wineries, but I’m usually luck if I find one wine on a list that I would purchase a bottle of. Blumenhof changed that.

photo taken by small town girl

Blumenhof has been around since 1979, when the first grapes were planted in the vineyard. The first vintages of wine were produced there in the mid-1980s, and today you’ll find thirteen wines on their tasting list. Here are some of the vineyard’s highlights:

2008 Winegarden Rose: Silver medal winner at the 2010 Tasters Guild International Judging

2009 Chambourcin: Silver medalist at the 2010 American Wine Society Competition

2009 Femme Osage: Silver medalist at the 2010 Missouri Wine Competition

photo taken by small town girl

And my two favorites…

2009 Vignoles: Double Gold Meal at the 2010 New World International Wine Competition

2009 Seyval: Gold medal winner and Best of Class winner at the 2010 Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition.

I was impressed enough by Blumenhof’s wines that I came home with a bottle of the Seyval and a bottle of the Vignoles. The 2009 Missouri Weinland (Gold Medal winner at the 2010 Missouri Wine Competition) was also a strong contender for my wine-buying dollars.

Blumenhof is located on Highway 94 in Charrette, Missouri, between Augusta and Marthasville. The winery offers indoor and outdoor tasting and picnic areas. If you enjoy tastings, I highly recommend exploring Blumenhof Vineyards and Winery.

Despite soaring temperatures and unbelievable humidity, my friend and I enjoyed the event. Live music was presented continuously from 11:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., though we were too busy planning projects and hiding out under shade trees to listen too closely to any one band.

The food at the festival was mostly really good. The organizers chose mostly locally-owned restaurants (Lola, Chefs de Cuisine Association of St. Louis, etc.). Each vendor offered something that was suitable to people of very different palates, from fruit and cheese plates to Chinese to crepes, and price points were spot-on; ranging from $1.00 to $6.00 per item.

I opted for a savory crepe from Lola, and oooh, was I satisfied. It was fantastic. I’m used to spending $6.00 at festivals for a hot dog and soda. This time the same amount of money bought me a delectable lunch from Lola. For another dollar, I bought a truly refreshing strawberry lemonade from O’Charley’s.

Unlike the cool, coordinated white tents used by the other food and wine vendors, Palermo’s Pizza was served from a mobile marketing trailer covered in photos of pizza and of the Palermo’s logo. I’m sure the pizza tasted fine, but the trailer the pizza was served from didn’t fit in with the crisp, preppy feel of the event. St. Louis Uncorked should opt for one of the many fantastic local pizza joints in the city next year.

The festival itself was free, and while the food was reasonably priced, the wine was a little bit on the expensive side for being served outdoors in plastic cups. $5 bought four tasting tokens, which seemed like a good deal until I realized that two ounces of wine was valued at two tokens.

If you’re having trouble visualizing what two ounces looks like, picture a shot glass or check out this picture:

My $5.00 in tokens bought me tastes of a 2007 Argentinian Malbec from Graffigna and 2007 Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon by Santa Rita. I liked the Chilean Cab, but not enough to buy a bottle. The Argentinian Malbec and I could have spent more than two tokens worth of time together. I’ll likely seek a bottle of this wine out at some point soon.

On a whole, StL Uncorked was a lot of fun. The organizers did a nice job with the venue (Soldier’s Memorial), the view of the Arch, and a wide enough street to allow plenty of people to move through comfortably. The food was great, and the vendors were friendly. I’ll definitely try to attend again if they hold the event in 2011.

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For more information about St. Louis Uncorked, click here.

For reviews of and directions to Lola, click here.

Robust is only one of two restaurants I’ve found in St. Louis that transported me back to New York City with its style, its service, and its patronage. When I walked in the door, the diners on the patio and at the bar were smartly and stylishly dressed. The hostess knew before I even mentioned twitter exactly what the tweet-up was and where the girls had been seated. The menu a touch of chic and a lot of subtle, and the servers knew or were willing to seek out answers to any questions that we had.

Before the meal, Stanley the voice of Robust Wine Bar on twitter (and, I believe, the owner) introduced himself to us.  A waitress showed up at our table with complimentary sparkling wine for the table, and we toasted twitter, wine, girlfriends and Robust.

Robust Wine Bar gets social media. As a business, seeking out key users on twitter, blogs, facebook, Yelp! or other online forums where clients or guests can formally or informally review your business is a smart move. Last night was an excellent example. Six of the seven of us at the table are active twitter users, at least two of us have active blogs, and another girl is employed at one to city’s fast-growing interactive agencies.

We’re activators in our respective social networks. In other words, we’re the girls who organize the parties, talk about our great restaurant experiences with friends online and offline, and go out of our way (this blog post, for example) to recognize businesses and people whose services exceed our expectations.

Stanley and his staff at Robust get it. They recognized that while we may not have had the deepest pockets of all the guests in the restaurant, we have some of the biggest megaphones. He and his team rolled out the red carpet for us, and the girls have raved about him and about Robust on twitter ever since.

Speaking of Ro(lling) Out the Red Carpet, that was the name of the flight of red wines I ordered last night. The wine menu was filled with clever but eloquent names for flights, bites and wines. There was one dessert, however, which has not yet been named. We cast our vote that the dessert be called the “St. Louis tweet-up sweet treat”, because based on our experience at Robust Wine Bar, there’s nothing about the place that isn’t a sweet treat for a twitter girl.

Robust Wine Bar is located on West Lockwood Avenue in historic Webster Groves, Missouri. Learn more about Robust by visiting them online or following them on twitter.

Wines, photo by MilliGFunk

Angela Ortmann of @StLWineGirl was kind enough to take me as her guest to a St. Louis Cellars Wine Club event in February, and I had a great time.

photo by MilliGFunk

St. Louis Cellars only carries wines that are $20 or less per bottle, and they have some really fun labels in stock. Some of my favorites were a line of wines that had rock & roll labels (Pink Floyd, etc.). As I looked at the rock & roll labels, I couldn’t help but think of the friends those bottles would make good gifts for.

The label in the next picture made me think of the beef I had a year or so ago with Metro Mix St. Louis for listing a prime rib buffet as an “event” in St. Louis. If my dad were a wine drinker, this bottle would be for him:

Beef, photo by MilliGFunk

I think my brother – with his penchant for monster movies and old school science fiction – would really appreciate the Big Red Monster label:

Big Red Monster, photo by MilliGFunk

The St. Louis Cellars folks are super nice, and are a great resource if you need help choosing a wine to pair with a specific meal or to give as a gift. The Cellars carries a variety of cheeses, wine accessories, and foods as well, so the next time you’re in Maplewood, I really do suggest stopping in. St. Louis Cellars takes some of the snobbery out of wines, and for that, this small town girl offers her accolades.

St. Louis Cellars is located at 2640 Big Bend Boulevard in Maplewood, Missouri. Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 10:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Visit St. Louis Cellars online. Follow St. Louis Cellars on twitter.

St. Louis Wine Girl Angela Ortmann offers fantastic courses and tastings that make wine approachable for everyone. I highly recommend trying one of her tastings, offered at various venues in and around St. Louis. Visit Angela online. Follow Angela on twitter.

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Note:  All photos were taken with my Blackberry Storm, rather than my usual Fuji Finepix DSLR, and some clarity is lacking as a result.

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More posts on Maplewood, Missouri:

Maplewood Arts Walk

Maplewood Arts Walk I: Joining a Dance Troup

Maplewood, Missouri

St. Louis Area WiFi Hotspots

Foundation Grounds Coffee

St. Louis and Social Media

NYC Food Lover Lost in SEMO

I’m such a proponent of locally produced goods that I really wish I could acquire a taste for Missouri wines, most of which are very sweet. I bought a bottle of Crown Valley’s blackberry wine because it said it paired well with chocolate, and of course, I took a few photos…

Blackberry Wine, photo by smalltowngirl

One of my favorite photos of the day; me, my dog, a bottle of wine, and a beautiful Missouri sky.

Selfportrait witn smalldowndog, photo by smalltowngirl

And, finally, no real country girl wears shoes in the yard in the summer. I may have loved New York City, but there’s nothing like the grass between your toes…

Barefoot in the Summer, photo by smalltowngirl

Or should it?

At Friday night’s #stl #tweet-up, @Tojosan and @MattHomann, determined to convince me that St. Louis isn’t just BBQ and steak, drafted a list for me of the best restaurants and bars in St. Louis. Here’s what they came up with: (note: their original list has been extended to include more recommendations from friends reading this blog and following me on twitter).

33 (wine bar)

Absolulty Goosed

Bailey’s Chocolate Bar

The Bleeding Deacon (for good bar food)

Boogaloo’s (Maplewood)

Farotto’s (great lasagna!)

Franco

Frazier’s Brown Bag

Grazzi’s (The Hill)

Hodak’s (for fried chicken)

Iron Barley

La Vellasana

Niche

Olympia (Greek – try the flaming cheese!)

Pi

Porch (store)

Ravanelli’s (Collinsville, IL)

Red Sea (Ethiopian)

Venice Cafe

Do you think my twitter friends have omitted great St. Louis restaurants? Leave me a comment, and I’ll add your suggestion to my list!

When  we arrived, we were the only two patrons in the joint, and we were greeted by a sleepy yellow tabby cat on a black wicker sofa outside the front doors.

Sand Creek Vinyard, photo by smalltowngirl

Wine tastings here are five wines for $5.00, so we each handed over a President Lincoln and started our tasting.

The first wine on the list was a Chambourcin, followed by a Norton. Nortons are one of Missouri’s more popular red wines, and the Norton was one one of my two favorite wines at Sand Creek.

The third on the list was the very sweet Plank Road Red. I got nostalgic at the title, since our late-night hang out years ago was Plank Road Inn.  I’m still learning to like my home state’s sweet wines, and as I sipped the Plank Road Red, I found myself daydreaming of summer sangrias.

Traminette, a semi-sweet white wine came next. Sand Creek’s Traminette has a similar green apple and apricot flavor as Peaceful Bend’s Semi-Sweet White, though Peaceful Bend’s wine has an almost cider-like tartness. I’m not too proud to admit that I thought the Traminette tasted like a grown-up Peach Jolly Rancher wine. That said, it was one of my favorites at Sand Creek.

The last wine of the day, which is one of Sand Creek’s best sellers, was my least favorite. Becky’s Blush was very, very sweet. I’m a Shiraz and Syrah kind of girl. I like the wines that go well with dark chocolate and stain your lips and teeth purple. I’m sure it’s a wonderful blush, but I’ll pass on this one next time.

Five for $5.00 - Sand Creek Tasting, photo by smalltowngirl

Sand Creek Vineyard is one of the newest additions to Southeast Missouri’s wineries. It sits a few miles southeast of Farmington off of State Hwy 00, and tastings are 5 wines for $5.00, and you get to keep your glass.

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Not sure how to get the glass home with you safely? Note my friend’s creative use of her kiddo’s car seat on our way home (also note that said kiddo was safely at home with his grandma):

Cozy Wine Glasses, photo by smalltowngirl

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Sleepy Tabby Cat, photo by smalltowngirl

The top 10 things I’d encourage you to see, do, and experience in and around this small town:

1. Millstream Gardens State Conservation Area, seven miles West of Fredericktown, Missouri on Highway 72.

2. A drive through Downtown Farmington

3. Bauhaus Coffee

4. The Factory

5. Elephant Rocks State Park

6. Bonne Terre Mines

7. Farmington Farmer’s Market (Saturdays and Wednesday in Spring and Summer)

8. Farmington’s Mennonite Farmer’s Market, Ole Tyme Pantry

9. Crown Valley Winery

10. 12 West for dinner and drinks