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Traditionally, Nouveau is the first wine bottled to celebrate the recent harvest. This year, our farm team harvested 1950.7 tons of grapes in just under two and a half months, so we certainly have a reason to celebrate! Our cellar crew selected some of the best grapes of harvest and has expertly crafted them into the 2017 St. James Nouveau.

After only a few weeks of fermentation, this small batch of excellence will debut Thursday, November 16. This wine is intended to be enjoyed young and, because it is handcrafted in an elite small batch, it is being introduced as a part of the St. James Winemaker Series. Our Winemaker Series selections are available only for a limited time online and in our Tasting Room. Don’t procrastinate ordering or you may miss the opportunity to enjoy them!

The tradition of creating a Nouveau originated in the Beaujolais region of France where the wine would release the third week of November after each harvest. Following in the French tradition, St. James Winery began creating a regional Nouveau 20 years ago from right here in the Meramec Highlands.

Our 2017 debut will begin with our complimentary annual tasting event, Friday, November 17. You are invited to sample this dry red wine from 5 – 7 p.m. in the St. James Winery Tasting Room. Nouveau displays aromas and flavors of black cherries and plums and we will be pairing it with roast beef, black olives, and chocolate covered cherries.

We hope your will join our St. James family and be a part of this tradition and help us celebrate our bountiful harvest!

This whole month we’ll be celebrating Concord in Missouri. The grape makes up about 8% of all wine grapes grown in our “Show Me” state.

The wine is a tribute to the Concord grapes grown in the Ozark Highlands along Missouri’s Historic Route 66 for over 115 years. A long-term contract with a prestigious juice, jam and jelly company helped make these high-quality Concord grapes famous. Every year during harvest, Italian descendants still set up Concord grape stands along the highway to sell their fruit to travelers.

Our Concord wine is juicy and sweet, with an intense grape jam flavor and light finish. The red wine made from these grapes is usually served chilled, making it perfect for a hot day. Try it at refrigerator temperature, over ice or mixed with a club soda to create a light, grape spritzer.

Our St. James Winery vineyard team works hard year-round to grow the best flavors. Bud rubbing is an important task that typically takes place in late spring and directly impacts the way the grapes develop.

By removing the shoots and buds that are starting to grow on the lower parts of the vine, it helps send all the energy and nutrients into the grapes and canopy during this important growth time.

Watch William McIntyre, a member of our vineyard staff, show how it’s done in the St. James Winery vineyards:

Now that you are familiar with what bud rubbing is and how it impacts our grapes, taste the fruits of our past labors!

St. James Winery is excited to announce our new Concord sweet red wine, which releases on March 31, 2017.

The wine is a tribute to the Concord grapes grown in the Ozark Highlands along Missouri’s Historic Route 66 for over 115 years. A long-term contract with a prestigious juice, jam and jelly company helped make these high-quality Concord grapes famous. Every year during harvest, Italian descendants still set up Concord grape stands along the highway to sell their fruit to travelers.

The Concord wine is juicy and sweet, with an intense grape jam flavor and light finish. Serve it at refrigerator temperature, over ice or mixed with a club soda to create a light, grape spritzer.

On March 31, the new Concord sweet red wine will be available for purchase in the Tasting Room, online at StJamesWinery.com and in retail stores where St. James Winery wines are sold.

That evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., we will host a special tasting event in our St. James Winery Tasting Room in St. James, Mo. Second-generation owner Peter Hofherr will discuss how Concord grapes have shaped the history of the area and sign bottles upon request. We’ll also be serving complimentary samples of the new Concord wine along with food pairings.

Our hearts and souls are poured into each bottle of wine. The story of St. James is found in the Italian culture, and the winemaking and farming traditions of the Meramec Highlands. It’s a special place – like no other, where life is sweeter.

Grape and wine production have a long history in the St. James area. Known locally as the Meramec Highlands, our region is also fondly known as “Little Italy of the Ozarks” thanks to the establishment of an Italian settlement in the area more than 115 years ago. The Italians who settled here planted vineyards, and by the 1930s over 1,000 acres of grapes dotted the landscape.

These Italian immigrants were very important to Missouri’s wine industry. Instead of destroying their vineyards during Prohibition like others in Missouri, they formed a fruit grower’s association in order to keep growing and selling the grapes, as well as other fruits, to grocery stores in St. Louis.

During WWII, Welch’s® steps into the story. Welch’s remembered the quality of the area’s Concord grapes. When they received a government contract to supply the military with juice, jams and jellies, Welch’s contacted the Italian immigrants and set up an exclusive long-term contract for supplying them with grapes from 1941 to 1991.

Within Welch’s agreement, the Italians negotiated to be allowed to sell small quantities or quarts of their grapes to individuals. Every year during harvest, these Italian immigrants would set up grape stands along I-44 and Route 66 to sell their fruit to those living in the area and those traveling along the highways. The original Italian families still carry on the tradition to this day.

Throughout the years, making wine from the grapes they grew for family and community consumption was also part of the Italian tradition.

When Jim and Pat Hofherr established the St. James Winery in 1970, they were inspired by the Italian immigrants and the wines they made. Velvet Red, the winery’s first and still best-selling wine, was developed to pay homage to the Concord-based wines made by the Italian community.

The Friendship School House is the winery’s icon and represents a time when the Italians sent their children to the one-room school and where they gathered for community events. In addition to The Friendship School being our icon, it appears as a drawing on the Velvet Red, Velvet White and Pink Catawba labels.

On the Country Red, Country White and our new Concord wine labels, the drawing of the truck driving on Route 66 represents our vineyards, which are right along “The Mother Road.”

Today, Concord grapes still play a staring role in our Velvet Red, Country Red and Concord wines.

Today, through constant research and development, St. James Winery continues to sustainably grow flavors that reflect the natural character of each of our grape varieties and of the special place they are grown – the Meramec Highlands. This is where we make wine to make your life sweeter.

Come and try the 2016 Nouveau on Friday, November 18, 2016, in the St. James Winery Tasting Room! Traditionally, Nouveau is the first wine bottled to celebrate the recent harvest and is made to be enjoyed young. We’ll pair it with cheese, meat, and chocolate, so stop in anytime 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. This event is complimentary!

Tasting Notes: This dry red wine has aromas and flavors of red raspberries, cocoa, and juicy red cherries. It is well-structured with a lasting finish. Our 2016 Nouveau will only be available in the St. James Winery Tasting Room for a limited time.

Learn more here.

St. James Winery has been growing Norton for four decades. Every year we produce one of the most awarded Norton’s in the country, our Estate Norton. In 2015 we set aside our very best,
hand-selected Norton grapes to produce two additional unique, small batch wines.

norton_422015 Norton 42
Back for the fourth year, our Norton 42 has gained a cult following with our dry red wine lovers. The name for the wine came partially as a nod to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
because we discovered the answer to the ultimate question of making wine was 42. When this wine recipe was first created, we were celebrating our 42nd anniversary, and our Executive
Winemaker Andrew Meggitt had turned 42 years old. It seemed that all the stars had aligned to help make this wine from the oldest block of vines – Block 14, which is 41 years old this year
– in the vineyard.

We crop at a low rate of 1-2.5 tons of per acre to create intense fruit flavors and give this wine an old world feel and complexity. We also harvest it much later than our other vineyards, due to the slower ripening of the old vines. The wine is made as naturally as is possible, destemmed and 60% whole berry fermentation. The berries are cold soaked to extract flavor and tannin for up to five days, then fermentation is started with the naturally occurring yeasts. We incorporate the stems as a source of tannin and structure in the wine during the fermentation process, too.

Tasting Notes: This wine has an old world charm that presents it self as having plum, black current and red cherry aromas. These fruit aromas can also be found in the flavor of this wine, along with a great tannin structure that creates an extremely elegant and well-balanced palate. There is subtle oak and integrated tannin that gives the wine a silky mouthfeel.

$24.99 / bottle
Take advantage of our 10% case discount when you buy 12 bottles

norton_label_20162015 Norton Cellar Selection
What do you get when you give each cellar hand 2,000 lbs. of fruit to ferment? A distinctive, intense wine called Norton Cellar Selection. This unique blend shows the hard work of 10 different cellar staff members who had the opportunity to try their hand at winemaking. Each one created their own recipe and list of ingredients, with direction from Executive Winemaker Andrew Meggitt and Assistant Winemaker Aaron Spohr. The wines were fermented, pressed and barreled in the individual lots, aged for nine months and then blended together.

This wine had its genesis in a conversation about creating, understanding and making better wine. This collaboration helped the cellar workers engage in and better understand the process of making wine. Its exceptional quality, structured tannins and flavor intensity captures the vibrant personality of our cellar team.

Tasting Notes: Aromas of black cherry and red plum, with cinnamon and cloves as a supporting cast. The palate has blackberry and cherry flavors, structured tannins and
a unique, great intensity.

$24.99 / bottle
Take advantage of our 10% case discount when you buy 12 bottles

St. James Winery Podium Series is a collection of innovative wines that reflect our winemaking creativity. Handcrafted in small lots, created in celebration of wine, our Podium wines are available only in the St. James Winery Tasting Room in St. James, Missouri.

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St. James Winery and the Missouri Wine and Grape Board are excited to announce the launch of the Missouri winery Visitors’ Program (MVP). MVP will reward visitors to Missouri wineries through points redeemable for unique rewards. The program will officially launch on Thursday, September 1, just in time for the first weekend of Missouri Wine Month!

Participating wineries, including St. James Winery, will hand out MVP tickets, each with a unique code, which program participants can collect every time they visit. These codes are then entered into a free account the participant creates on MissouriWineMVP.com for points. The first visit to a winery will earn participants 500 points, with visits 2-10 to that same winery being worth 100 points each, and 11+ visits to the same winery accruing 10 points each. Points are redeemable for rewards on the MVP website. The best strategy to earn points for rewards is to explore Missouri wine country – visit new wineries throughout the state and you’ll not only earn more points, but you will also discover great wineries and award-winning wines along the way!

wine_food_people_MWGB

Wine enthusiasts to those new to the wine scene will have the opportunity to get acquainted with St. James Winery and Missouri wines… and earn points for each winery visit! With more than 125 wineries and 10 wine trails in Missouri wine country, what are you waiting for?

Although wineries will not be handing out tickets until September 1, those interested in becoming an MVP can register ahead of time on the program’s website MissouriWineMVP.com. For more information about MVP, please review the program Terms and Conditions and FAQ on the MVP website.

January in Missouri is cold temperatures, snowy landscapes, and chilly winds. It’s easy to see why January is also Norton Month in Missouri — Norton is a great way to warm up when you come inside.

St. James Winery’s Estate Norton showcases Missouri’s state grape in a wine that has aromas of mixed berries mingled with flavors of vanilla, black cherries, blackberries, and pepper. This full-bodied dry red (only .4% residual sugar!) has been aged on oak for 12 months. It looks beautiful in the glass and tastes even better!

Enjoy St. James Winery Estate Norton with grilled lamb or venison!

In honor of Norton Month and the cold temperature, here are some of our favorite warm and hearty soup recipes featuring St. James Winery’s Estate Norton.

And our Cherry Fudge Cake is delicious for dessert…served with a glass of Norton. Of course!

Country family_2015

The iconic Route 66, also known as “Main Street of America,” is a fixture in American popular culture. Ever since St. James Winery opened in 1970, the Main Street of America has been an everyday part of the winery’s life because the original route runs directly past the St. James Winery Vineyards and Tasting Room and through the town of St. James.

This summer to celebrate and honor the tradition and heritage of Route 66, St. James Winery’s Country Red and Country White wines are getting a fresh new look with eye-catching art that pays tribute to the winery’s little piece of “The Mother Road.” The labels feature a distinctive old blue pickup truck motoring down the road, its bed filled with crates of red and white grapes and sporting a Route 66 license plate on the back bumper.

St. James Winery Country Red and Country White wines are both delicious sweet wines. Country Red is bursting with delicate fruity flavors and aromas and flavors of fresh berries, while Country White features flavors of ripe pears, green apples, and melons. Both pair well with spicy foods, making them the perfect choice for a backyard barbecue featuring hot and spicy sauces.

Look for the new labels on St. James Winery’s Country Red and Country White wines at grocery and wine stores throughout the South and Midwest. St. James Winery, the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri, has been making exceptional wines for 45 years. Find the winery online at stjameswinery.com.