friendship school red Archives

Wine of the Week: Friendship School Red

Our wine of the week is the highly awarded Friendship School Red! This medium-bodied, semi-dry red is made from our estate-grown Rougeon grapes and comes in a bottle worthy of display. It is rich with the flavors of black cherry and blackberry with a deep purple hue. This versatile wine is great to pair with herbed goat cheese, barbecue pork ribs or even chocolate cheesecake making it a wonderful table wine for any gathering.

In addition to its award-winning taste and beautiful presentation, this wine is a toast to the one-room schoolhouse adjacent to our vineyards. The Friendship School was built in the late 1800s, by Italian families who brought winemaking to our Meramec Highlands region. They used this one-room schoolhouse to educate generations of children in both academics and heritage. This schoolhouse is preserved today in our vineyards and our Friendship School wines were created to reflect the sense of community and heritage represented in that little schoolhouse.

In fact, we are so inspired by this schoolhouse, we have formed a Friendship School Foundation to continue the work of preserving the cultural and environmental sustainability of our community. Through our partnership with this foundation, we are able to invest in and work to sustain the cultural heritage of our vineyards, our craft and our community. We love the land we work and practice sustainability wherever we are able. A few of our sustainable efforts are:

Use of a fine-tuned irrigation and soil monitoring system so we use less water in our vineyards.
Creation of energy savings through efficient harvesting equipment and low-energy wine fermentation storage processes.
Leadership of a large solar energy investigation project with our local community.
Use of recyclable screw tops versus hard-to-recycle cork as our wine closure method.
Eco-friendly lighting. Business recycling program.
Large composting efforts to create less impact to waste streams.

These are just a few of our sustainability efforts today and with the help of our Foundation, we are always investigating how we can do even more. So, the next time you lift a glass of your favorite St. James Winery selection, especially our Friendship School Red, know you are supporting a Missouri winery, its community and our shared environment. Cheers!

January 4, 2018/by CurlyHost

Think Outside the Bottle

st. james winery

Labor Day Weekend is coming up, the perfect time to get outdoors and enjoy the late summer sunshine. Take St. James Winery wines along with you. It’s easy when you think outside the bottle…to the 1 liter pouch and the 3 liter box!

St. James Winery’s Friendship School White (Pacific Rim Grand Champion & Long Beach Grand Cru Best White Wine) and Friendship School Red (Pacific Rim Best of Class) are both available in travel and eco-friendly 1 liter pouches.

For the sweet wines you love best, try St. James Winery’s three liter boxes of Velvet Red and Velvet White. Sip all weekend long without needing to make an emergency run to the wine shop!

Quick Facts:

Wine pouches (1L) contain 6 glasses of wine.
Wine boxes (3L) contain four bottles of wine.
Wine stays fresh for up to four weeks after opening.

Find A Store Near You

Wine pouches and boxes are not for sale online, but use our handy store locator to find St. James Winery wines near you so you can enjoy a fine wine weekend!

August 28, 2014/by CurlyHost

Back to School — Friendship School!

It’s back to school time — Friendship School wine time!

For years people have loved St. James Winery’s Friendship School White and Friendship School Red wines for their high quality and great value.

But they’re also a perennial favorite because of their versatility. Here are some of our favorite ways to indulge in these two delicious wines.

Enjoy them before dinner with spicy peanuts or crackers and cheese or barbequed wings.
Add them to your favorite dishes when the recipe calls for a semi-sweet red or white wine.
Give food-friendly Friendship School Red or Friendship School White a place on your table to complement your meal.
Savor these award-winning wines all by themselves to unwind at the end of a long day.
Now that these two great wines are available in 1 liter pouches, take them along in their on an outdoor outing picnic or hike.

And here’s a Cook’s Tip: our wine pouches are also great for at-home use keeping because wine stays fresh for up to a month after opening!

Cheers!!
Your Friends at St. James Winery

September 11, 2013/by CurlyHost

St. James Winery Introduces New Eco-Friendly Pouches

parties, press release, red wine, white wine

This summer St. James Winery is thinking outside the bottle! For the first time, St. James Winery’s popular Friendship School line of wines – Friendship School Red and Friendship School White – are available in convenient, outdoor-friendly pouches.

Enjoy these fun, easy-drinking wines in any setting. Lightweight and portable with a built-in, cut-out handle, each one liter pouch holds the equivalent of six glasses of wine. Wine pouches fit easily in a cooler, and white wines can be chilled in less than 20 minutes. They are perfect for canoeing, barbecues, picnics, fishing, camping, concerts, poolside, tailgating, or any outdoor activity! Even after opening, wine stays fresh for up to a month.

“The Ozark Highlands St. James Winery calls home are an outdoor lovers paradise,” said Peter Hofherr, CEO of St. James Winery. “Spring-fed streams with outstanding trout fishing wind their way through dense oak forests. Iconic Route 66, America’s Mother Road, runs right in front of our winery. With so much to see and do, making two of our most popular wines available in an easily portable pouch just makes sense.”

“Sustainability is an important part of what we do at St. James Winery. These eco-friendly pouches help us make the point that less really is more,” Hofherr said. “Reduced packaging takes less energy to produce, fewer materials to manufacture, and takes up less space during transportation.”

Look for St. James Winery’s Friendship Red and Friendship White wine pouches wherever you shop for St. James Winery wines.

St. James Winery is the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri. Founded by the Hofherr family in 1970, St. James Winery celebrates more than 40 years as a family owned and operated winery. St. James Winery’s award-winning wines are sold in 19 states.

Photo #1: https://www.stjameswinery.com/pos/stjames_rack_topper_friendship_bbq_01.jpg
Cut Line: Now available from St. James Winery, Friendship School Red and Friendship School White wines in eco-friendly pouches.

Photo #2: https://www.stjameswinery.com/pos/stjames_rack_topper_friendship_camping_01.jpg
Cut Line: Easily portable and eco-friendly, St. James WInery’s Friendship School Red and Friendship School White wine pouches are perfect for outdoor enthusiasts.

July 5, 2013/by CurlyHost

Twenty-One a Lucky Number for St. James Winery

awards, press release

If St. James Winery were playing blackjack, it would have definitely come up a winner at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition by hitting 21! Twenty-one bottles of wine were shipped from St. James, Missouri to California for the competition, and when it was all said and done, each one of those bottles came home with a medal.

At this kick-off competition for the 2012 wine judging season, two of St. James Winery’s wines were honored with Best of Class Awards: Best of Class for Red Native American went to the 2009 Cynthiana, and Best of Class for Fruits went to St. James Winery’s Raspberry. The good news continued with gold medals for 2010 Seyval and Strawberry.

St. James Winery also received silver medals for its 2010 Traminette, 2010 Chardonel, 2010 Vignoles, Velvet White, Friendship School White, Blackberry, Peach, and Cherry, bringing the total of silver medals to eight. Rounding out the award-winning entries were nine bronze medals, which went to 2008 Norton, 2009 Chambourcin, Riesling, Velvet Red, Friendship School Red, Country Red, Country White, Pink Catawba, and Blueberry.

“When you send wine to a major competition like the one in San Francisco, and every single bottle comes back home with a medal,” said Peter Hofherr, CEO of St. James Winery, “that’s just a great way to start a new year! Especially when you consider that our wines were among 5,500 wines entered. This year San Francisco set a new American wine competition record for entries, and it’s the ninth consecutive year it will rank as the “Largest Competition of American Wines in the World. So, winning in San Francisco is big news!”

St. James Winery is the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri. During the 2011 competition season, St. James Winery’s won a total of nine Best of Class, five double gold, and 42 gold medals, along with 126 silver and 76 bronze medals. Celebrating more than 40 years as a family owned and operated winery, St. James Winery wines are sold in stores throughout the Midwest and the South. St. James Winery is online at www.stjameswinery.com.

January 12, 2012/by CurlyHost