Spring Has Come to The Wine Country in Augusta

Spring is breaking out with a vengeance in the wine country in Augusta, Missouri. The crowds are coming, and the wineries are prepared.

The Mount Pleasant Winery is located at 5634 High Street in Augusta, open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5;30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. After 5:30 p.m., sunset weddings are held each weekend. Saturdays are booked all the way through October.

Patch.com caught up with Ladue resident, Chuck Dressel, owner of Mount Pleasant Estates for a 1 on 1 interview. This is what he told Patch.

Ladue-Frontenac Patch: What is new and different this spring?

Chuck Dressel: “Obviously springtime is slow coming this year as compared to last year, and now its coming very fast. We have live music entertaining each weekend. We’ve seen a lot of interest in people wanting to get out, and now is the time to do it. Trees are just starting to come into bloom. Now is the peak time for spring colors.

The grapes are coming out 5-6 weeks later than where we were last year, and two weeks later than when they should, and we don’t have to worry about frost but I’m hoping we have a long enough growing season where there isn’t a problem on the other end of the season.”

Patch: What interests visitors the most?

CD: “Most people are interested in the wine making side and enjoying the country side. The people who follow wine making are a cult group and they are called Oenophiles and they’ve latched on to something that’s been around seven millennia and something that never seems to die. People are even interested in the minute, technical aspects of wine making. They still ask if we crush the grapes by stomping on them. We do not.

Now they ask about aging processes and what types of woods do we use for our aging barrels.”

Patch: Where do your visitors come from?

CD: “They come from all over the country. A heavy concentration lives in St. Louis County and St. Charles County. We get people within the region, about a thousand miles, but on occasion, we get people from either the east or west coast and some international visitors.

The people coming now are from the northern areas; Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Chicago.They want to get out of the freezing cold climate. This is a great time to come down, especially for those who want to be outside and get a breathe of fresh air.”

Patch: The wine country of Missouri is not unlike being in the rolling hills of Germany or France?

CD: “It is, but here, we speak English. This is a visit much like one made to the Rhine Valley. That’s why so many Germans settled there, reminding of their land back home. They settled here to farm the land.

Every day I pull into the property, I still have to look around one more time at the beautiful valley below.

There’s no better time than right now to visit the seven different wineries that make up the wine country of Augusta. Want to learn more, visit their website or just call 636-482-9463.