Perfect Fall Weekend for the Wineries

We kept it pretty low key around here this past week and decided that we would spend some time enjoying the fall weather this weekend.  My Aunt and Uncle were down at the wineries in Ste. Genevieve for a mini getaway and asked us if we wanted to come down for lunch and a visit to a winery or two.  Missouri is known for its wine country and considering I have never been to one since turning 21 (watching the grape stomp when you're 14 doesn't really count!) and D has yet to see much of the state, we decided to make the hour trip south.
After missing our turn off and getting lost for about 30 minutes, our first stop for lunch and a bottle of Bouvet Blanc was at Chaumette Winery. The food was amazing and from a girl that very rarely eats a lot of meat anymore, my pork burger was absolutely delish.  (I was the DD for our trip, so a burger paired with my wine was exactly what I needed so I wasn't loopy.)  My uncle, who had done a tasting on Friday afternoon was our wine expert for the day.  Thankfully I didn't have to make many decisions on what wines we were having.
After lunch, we traveled down to the Charleville Vineyard and Microbrewery.  This is one of the smaller of the wineries but it was absolutely beautiful sitting in the countryside enjoying the view and the company.  At Charleville we did a small tasting and what is really neat about this winery is that it is a microbrewery as well so D was in heaven.  He did a sampler flight of some of their regular and seasonal brews and after testing 3 wines, I settled on a Charlerita, which is margarita mix paired with their lovely Genevieve Rivard.  It was refreshing and didn't leave me feeling woozy like most margaritas with tequila do.  In fact, after everyone tested my Charlerita, it became the favorite of our group and everyone else had one the next round.

We spent a couple of hours just chatting with my Aunt and Uncle, catching up on what all of my cousins have been up to, what is coming up ahead for the holidays, and anything else we could possibly think of.  The great thing about hanging out with them is that there is never a dull moment and we have a lot of fun.
As the afternoon started to dwindle, we made our way to our cars and made the hour trip home.  It was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy the weather and the company.