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Weingarten Vineyard

 

We visited Weingarten Vineyard on August 12, 2017, and certainly plan to go back. I really do not want to share this little gem with anyone because I prefer the quiet serene scene rather to the crowds of the wineries closer to St. Louis.

The winery has only been here about 8 years (since 2009), but I wondered to myself how many times I had driven down Highway 32 from the Ste. Genevieve exit to go to Farmington and passed it right by. It is about 8 miles from the Ste. Gen exit, turning left on Rottler Lane. There is a nice sign at the entrance, but it is more visible coming from the other direction. Down a gravel road, veering to the right, you come to this quaint bridge.

I believe we have visited there more than once, but I do know we have gone by there several times since Covid-19 hit and they were only open by reservation, so we could not visit. Since we usually go by there when we are heading to hiking trails and do not plan ahead or do not know when we will be done hiking, I doubt we will go there again, although it is a very nice place.

Across the bridge the building and grounds come into view and you think "oh wow" because both the building and the view are of grandeur size.

There are flowers dotting the landscape everywhere.

As one enters the building past the hallways another view of grandeur sets before ones eyes of this up scale dining room with huge ceilings and a wide expanse of windows to the indescribable view of the landscape beyond.

Out the door there is a deck with tables and chairs for sitting.

A photo of the view does not do it justice. The wideness and distance for which the eye can see is a sight I could look at for a long time while sipping a glass of wine.

We wondered about what was in the distance and how far one could see.

We asked and in the distance one can see Coffman, which is where the other Ste. Genevieve wineries are located down Highway B.

To the left of the view is a large lily pad field.

The lilies were so large and there were so many that a walk around the pond with glass in hand was a must-do.

Our bottle of wine was spot on delicious.

We ordered the warm baguette with the feta and herb cheese spread. There is only a deli menu for non-event visitors, but that is all I would expect at a winery. The cheese spread was delicious.

We also split a handcrafted stuffed pretzel with turkey and provolone and it came with a cheese dipping sauce. Our first thought was that it was rather small, but it did taste so much better than first impression. In addition, we really cannot eat that much food and by the time were were done, we were comfortably full.

We always love to walk around the vineyards at wineries. I wonder about how many people miss this adventure of peacefulness.

The grapes were beautiful to see.

I wanted to steal the whole bunch and take it with me.

From the vineyard near the lily-pond, this is the view of the back of the building.

Another view of the back of the building.

Back inside, we finished our wine sitting in the huge comfy chairs and couch and a cat came to visit us. We saw a dog outside, but he had not visited us while we were on the deck.

As we drove back to the bridge to leave, we parked the car and I got out to take some photos of the flowers.

We enjoyed the butterflies flitting about.

There were many varieties of butterflies.

We took the road to the right that went under the bridge. There is a great place on the railroad tracks for photo fun as well. The road went up a hill and came out where we came in.