Another year has come and gone and we are already running head first into the Christmas holiday! As time flies and everyone grows older, we realize how important it is to stop and take a look around. The holiday season is a great time to be thankful for our loved ones and all that we have. 

Allow Missouri Wines to be a part of your celebrations this year. In addition to the many great pairings that we share all year-round, we also want to supply you with a tasty holiday wine-tail that will be a delight at any gathering this season. 

Cheers to being thankful, grateful and blessed! 

Missouri Cranberry Rosemary Cocktail​

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Freeze Time: 8 hours | Serving Size: 10 glasses

Cocktail Ingredients:

1 ½ cup          Water
1 sprig            Fresh rosemary
2 cups            Cranberry juice
1 cup              Triple Sec
1 bottle           Missouri sparkling wine, chilled

Directions: 

Heat water to boil in microwave – depending on your microwave, this could take 2-5 minutes. Once your water begins boiling, remove from the microwave and add a rosemary sprig to the water, let it steep for 10 minutes. Discard the rosemary sprig. 

In a 1-quart freezer container, combine cranberry juice, rosemary water and Triple Sec. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or until ready to use. 

To serve, scoop frozen cranberry mixture into your glass of choice – champagne flutes, wine glasses, etc. Fill the glass about ½ full. Top the glass with your Missouri sparkling wine of choice. Garnish with sprigs of fresh rosemary. 

Enjoy!

Although Johnna’s mother Donna struggles with dementia, she recognized her husband the instant she saw the label. “She was overcome with emotion,” recalls Johnna who made a print to hang in her mom’s room.  “She loves it and shows it to everyone.”

There’s another reason why Jack’s Frost is so special to the Swineford family. It’s the first wine that John and Johnna have produced at the winery. The couple purchased Viandel Vineyard on February 23, 2018. The winery’s seasonal wine has a rich color and crisp cranberry flavor with a smooth finish. Jack’s Frost’s semi-sweet nature has the perfect balance of tartness and tastes like Christmas in a glass.

It’s the time of year when we scramble to find gifts for our friends and family members. Sometimes it is hard to think outside the box and find the perfect gift year after year. 

No worries, Missouri Wines is here to help! What better way to spread holiday cheer than shopping local and supporting Missouri businesses?

Have you ever thought about going to your local winery and checking out their retail items? Many wineries have great options for that wine lover in your life. Of course you can find a great selection of Missouri wines, but retail items may also include:

• Apparel 
• Wine stoppers
• Home décor
• Baking items
• Mulled wine spices
• Tumbler cups
• Wine glasses
• Cheese boards
• Candles
• Wine totes
• Pillows
• Dish towels
• Hats
• Koozies
  
      
    
     
     
  
  
  The best tip we have to give when it comes to Christmas shopping? When in doubt, a bottle of wine always does the trick… especially when it’s Missouri wine!  

Do you have a Christmas tree with spare space? How about one or more sparkling wine corks lying around? If the answer to both questions happens to be “yes”, you’re in for a treat! 

Get in the crafting mood and create these adorable sparkling snowman cork ornaments. It’s fun and easy. Plus, you only need a few supplies. These cork ornaments are the perfect addition to any Christmas tree or holiday decorations. 

Supplies Needed: 
Paint brush
Paper plate
Permanent markers (black and orange) 
Ribbon
Scissors
Screw eye rings 
Sparkling wine corks
Twine
White paint 

Optional: 
Glue
Hot glue gun

Assembly Steps: 
1. Gather your sparkling wine cork and one screw eye ring. 
2. Gently turn the screw eye ring into the cork.  Keep turning the screw until you can only see the ring peeking out of the top of the cork. 
3. Once you have the screw eye ring in the cork, hold the cork by the screw and paint the cork white.  Depending on how your paint spreads, you may need to apply a second coat. 
4. Let your cork dry completely.  Again, depending on your paint and the number of coats you apply, this could take 5-15 minutes.  To speed up the drying process, use a blow dryer or heat gun on low speed.
5. After the cork is dry, draw eyes, buttons, and a mouth with a black permanent marker.  
6. Next, use your orange permanent marker to draw the snowman’s nose. 
7. After you’ve drawn on your snowman, cut ribbon for the scarf.  We cut our pieces about 5 inches long. 
8. Gently tie the scarf around the snowman’s neck.  In order to get the scarf to lay to the side, try tying a loose double knot. If you don’t want to tie the scarf, you can also use a hot glue gun to place the scarf on the snowman. 
9. Cut your twine to the length that you want, loop the twine through the screw eye ring and tie a knot. 
10. Place your snowman on the tree!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsPGM_N_FyE&feature

Living in Missouri, we are fortunate to be surrounded by more than 130 fabulous wineries that take pride in their wine.  From grapes to glass, the amount of love and time our wineries and vineyards pour into production is truly astonishing. Throughout the year, as the wineries work together to make their award-winning wines, many of their wines wouldn’t be possible without the wine barrels grapes spend the majority of their aging life in. 

So, what do you know about these barrels?  The wine barrels, where the wine spends years hibernating, are extremely important to the flavors these wines take on. Here are the basics of barrel manufacturing and methods that Missouri manufacturers use. 

First and foremost, there are two production components for barrel manufacturers.

 (Stave pieces pictured)

 (Stave pieces being formed into barrels)

There are stave mills, which are companies that saw white oak logs into staves for barrel production, and then air dry the staves before selling them. They can also produce headings, which are the tops and bottoms of each barrel. In addition to stave mills, barrel manufacturers are called cooperages. Cooperages oftentimes purchase staves from stave mills to make the barrels. However, each manufacturer has a different process. Some cooperages do the entire process themselves, manufacturing their own staves and headings to produce their barrels from start to finish. But, what’s important to note, is that cooperages may each approach barrel manufacturing in a unique way.

Did you know that the world’s largest barrel manufacturer is located in Missouri?

Independent Stave Company (ISC) is the world’s largest barrel manufacturer and is located in Lebanon, Missouri. ISC was founded in 1912 and continues to grow its 100+ year heritage. 

All barrels are made from white oak.

The white oak used to produce barrels is either European oak or American oak. Every single barrel that is made in the world comes from one of those two types of white oak. 

There are two ways to test if a barrel is completely sealed.  

Whether the barrel is being made to age whiskey or wine, the next step after the barrel is formed together with staves and headings is to fest the seal. There are two types of tests that can be performed. One of the ways to test the barrel is to fill the barrel with air and see if there is air seeping out from any areas of the barrel. The same type of process can be performed by filling the barrel with water. Just like the air test, if any water leaks out of the barrel, there was an issue in the creation of the barrel unit and the barrel won’t be used. 

Now that you know all barrels are made from white oak and how the seals are tested, did you know there is a difference between wine and whiskey barrels? 

After the barrels are created and tested for durability, depending on if the barrels are going to be used for wine or whiskey production, the next steps are very different. For our wineries, the barrels are toasted. The inside of the wine barrel is toasted and not burned. The reason for toasting wine barrels is because winemakers want the wine to take on the toasted oak flavor of the barrel. Whiskey barrels are charred. The charring (burning process) singes the inside of the barrel and gives the whiskey its brown color. This is another reason winemaker’s barrels aren’t charred – they don’t want their wine to take on the dark color. 

Not only does Missouri house the largest barrel manufacturer, but ranks 2nd in the US for barrel and stave exports. We are Missouri proud and thankful for all of the barrel manufacturers and the work that they do to ensure that Missouri wineries can produce their best wines.

It’s not easy to improve upon the classic chocolate cupcake recipe. But here at Missouri Wines, we cracked the code with this mouth-watering wine cupcake! 

Have you ever thought about baking with wine? If you haven’t, you should definitely give it a try! These chocolate cupcakes mixed with our very own Missouri-made Chambourcin make for the most moist, rich, full of flavor, scrumptious treat. We would highly recommend this baked good for any occasion. 

(This recipe calls for coconut flour, but the ingredient can easily be substituted with a 
wheat-based flour.)

Chambourcin Chocolate Cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Serving Size: 12 Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

6 tbsp - Unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup - Dark brown sugar, packed

¼  cup - Granulated sugar

1 Large Egg + yolk, room temperature

¾ cup - Chambourcin wine

1 tsp - Vanilla extract

1 cup + 1 tbsp - Coconut flour ¹

½ cup - Cocoa powder

1/8 tsp - Baking soda

½ tsp - Baking powder

¼ tsp - Salt

¼ tsp - Ground cinnamon

Icing Ingredients:

8 oz. - Cream cheese

¾  cup - Chilled heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp - Granulated sugar

Sprinkles ²

Directions: 

Preheat over to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, sift together coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Set aside. 

In the bowl of a standard mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together butter and dark brown and granulated sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the egg + yolk, beating well.  Next, mix in the Chambourcin and vanilla. 

Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until it’s all combined and mixed well. 

Use an ice cream scoop and divide the batter into the lined muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely. 

In the meantime, to make the frosting, whip together cream cheese, heavy whipping cream and granulated sugar until soft peaks form. Put frosting into piping bag (or Ziploc bag and snip the corner) and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool before icing.

Be sure to enjoy with a glass of Missouri Chambourcin!

Additional Notes: 

¹These Chambourcin cupcakes were made gluten-free by using coconut versus wheat flour.

²For added beauty, and a seasonal touch, feel free to add your favorite sprinkles.

When it comes to wine, nothing is black or white. Often people base their opinions on their first impressions or a singular experience. There are a lot of misconceptions about wine – have you heard any of the following? 

1. MYTH: A screw cap is a sign of low quality wine. Overtime, screw caps have been associated with large, economy-sized wine production. Many consumers view large industry winemakers as lower-quality, thus creating the myth that all screw cap wines are lower in quality than wines with corks. 

Even though screw caps get a bad rap, they really aren’t a sign of poor quality wine. Screw caps are actually used for many reasons, all which essentially increase the quality of wine. One of the reasons winemakers use screw caps is to keep the bottle sealed and not allow oxygen to get into the wine. Producers also choose screw caps versus corks to reduce the risk of cork failure. 

2. MYTH: Since wines improve with age, they never go bad, even after opening. This is nottrue. Once a bottle of wine is opened, it has a shelf life. The type of wine determines the shelf life. 

To preserve the wine as long as possible, you should always seal and refrigerate wine after opening. 

Red wine typically lasts 5-7 days after being opened and white wine for 3-5 days. After this period, the wine is past its prime. 

3. MYTH: Expensive wine is better. Although expensive wine canbe high quality wine, that is not always the case. A price tag is not a true indication of a wine’s worth. Many factors play into the overall cost of a wine, including labor, barrels, bottles and grape production as well as label design and packaging. 

4. MYTH: Old wines are better. Did you know wine is actually perishable? Most wines are meant to be enjoyed within the first one to fiveyears of their life – their life outside of the barrel!  

The most age-worthy wines are those with solid acidity and structured tannins – like Norton. 

5. MYTH: Red wine is better for you than white. A lot of people claim that red wine is healthier than white. Without getting into the heart health debate, if we are just looking at calories, white wine actually tends to have less calories. Check out our Missouri wine calorie chart for more information: 

References: 
Grapecollective.com 
Missouriwine.org