Oktoberfest in Missouri Wine Country

Saturday dawned warm and bright with brilliant autumn colors abounding. Since all indications were for a beautiful fall day we decided to take a daytrip to Hermann, Missouri. Hermann is on the south bank of the Missouri River in the heart of Missouri wine country, only a few hours from our house, and every October weekend is an Oktoberfest celebration.

We ate a breakfast of apples and almonds in the car as we drove. By mid-morning we had arrived at the Stone Hill Winery, high on a hilltop above the little town of Hermann. The party was already well underway. We took a quick tour of the winery and did some sampling of their wide variety of wines. Stone Hill, like most Midwest wineries, makes some nice sweet wines but just doesn’t produce a really good dry white or red. They are trying with their Norton grape but in my opinion it still lacks the nose and fruity taste of the west coast or European wines. The vignoles and traminette are getting better but still remind me of table grapes more than wine. But any wine on such a beautiful autumn day in such a wonderful locale is glorious. We had a late lunch of bratwurst, kraut, German potato salad and chunky applesauce that was so very good and matched well with a bottle of their dry vignoles.

In the afternoon we went down the hill to downtown Hermann and did a walk-through of the Hermannhof Winery. I was wined out by that time and was happy to see a new microbrewery, TinMill Brewery. The beer was cold and hoppy, a nice complement to the sweetness of the wines. I especially liked their light amber, Red Caboose. A lively polka and more group called The St. Louis Czech Express Band was playing on the back patio and was drawing a large, happy and inebriated crowd. We ended staying and drinking their brew and people watching until they closed at 6pm.

At dusk we wondered just down the street to a crowded bar with a big screen TV and ate pizza and drank more Red Caboose, augmented by Budweiser, and watched the St. Louis Cardinals trounce the Texas Rangers in the third game of the World Series.

It was a long drive back to Kansas City, luckily I had a sober driver. We pulled into the driveway, locked up the car, and tumbled into bed, exhausted and slept like babies. It had been a wonderful day.

Blogging and the KCRep

As usual I didn’t follow through on my beginning of the year promise to blog more often. Maybe I’m just not born to blog. I hope I have some interesting things to say. But by the time I get to posting it is old news.

Did anyone see the KCRep production of Borderland? What did you think?
I have enjoyed all the productions this year. I was getting a bit tired of the “same old same old” as my father says. But this year Eric Rosen has brought us something new. Thank you.

However, I was disappointed in Borderland. I thought the acting was weak. The first act was boring until right before the intermission; just enough suspense to get me back for the second act. And then it all fell apart.

Alfred Hitchcock once said in an interview about his movies that you must first get people to buy into the McGuffin. Once there you can go anywhere and the audience will follow. And that was the problem with Borderland.

BTW. Did you know La Bodega has a happy hour of half-priced sangria and tapas from 2-6 pm during the week? Perfect timing when the KCRep is at the Copaken.

A Great Double Header

When I selected the dates for the plays at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre I just picked every third or fourth Saturday night because weekends at the first of the month always seem so busy. First Friday. Second Saturday. Everyone wants to be early.

So, I was disappointed when I realized our tickets to “The Drawer Boy” were over the Memorial Holiday Weekend. That weekend usually involves a weekend trip back home to the Ozarks. However, since we had the tickets we decided to stay in town until Sunday.

Last weekend I saw a mention in The Pitch about the restaurant La Bodega, and the wine and tapas. I have always enjoyed a good glass (or bottle) of wine and I have been curious about tapas since my daughter came back from a summer visit to Spain and was all infatuated with their culture.

We decided to double up on Saturday night for tapas at La Bodega and a play at the KCRep. Both were a resounding success.

At La Bodega we did the potato pancakes to clams and mussels. All washed down with cold sangria. As the early evening sun shown on the colorful tiles of the restaurant we might have been in Barcelona.

We ended the evening with a standing ovation for the actors of “The Drawer Boy”. I have seen a few plays in Kansas City, Chicago, Toronto and New York. This was one of the best.