We know that our readers know a lot about everything, but we sometimes wonder just how knowledgeable they are about the wines of our state. More than a century ago, Missouri grapes helped save the world's wine industry; about a century ago, Missouri was one of the world leaders in wine production. Today, Missouri is home to nearly 100 wineries.
All this will be celebrated April 2-3 (this is not an April Fool's Day joke) at the Doubletree Westport and at some Missouri wineries. It's the third in a series of Drink Local Wine events; we met in Dallas in 2009 and in Virginia last year, under the leadership of co-founders Dave McIntyre, who writes about wine for the Washington Post, and Jeff Siegel, who runs the Wine Curmudgeon blog from his Dallas home. I was at the first one and had a fine time, and learned a lot about Texas wine.
Both Ann and I will be involved; we're on different panels on Saturday morning and will be the hosts of a bus tour on Sunday afternoon. There are other panels and other bus tours, as well.
The event also includes a Twitter Tasting on Saturday afternoon where a large group of Missouri wineries will be pouring samples and tasters are invited to share their opinions and thoughts on Twitter.
Interested wine-drinkers can get more information and can sign up for the event at www.drinklocalwine.com
Join us. It's sure to be fun, and your next chance won't happen until 2063.
—Joe