Winemaking a growing industry in Southeast Missouri

Some vintners do it full-time; for others it's a weekend venture. Some are new to the business; others are carrying on a family tradition. Some specialize in dry wines, while others tout their fruity dessert wines. There are just over 100 wineries in Missouri, and a good chunk of them are in Southeast Missouri. More than 30 new wineries have opened in Missouri in the past three years, according to the Missouri Wine and Grape Board, and there are even more to choose from in Southern Illinois. Is the Midwest a new wine country?

"I think it's great. I think the more people who think of Missouri as a winemaking state, we would all be for that," says Elaine Hoffmeister Mooney, winemaker at Ste. Genevieve Winery. "People now are really interested in agritourism and buying local and seeing how things are made," she adds. "The local support keeps us going day in and day out, and we know we're making wine that local people like. That keeps us in business."

Mooney's parents, Linus and Hope Hoffmeister, started growing grapes in the early 1980s on what had previously been their beef cattle farm. Linus grew up making wine with his grandfather and wanted to get back into it, says Mooney. He opened the winery in 1984 and is still very active in the business.

Mooney works full time to make the wine, do marketing, plan events, handle bookkeeping and run the tasting room. She even has a degree in enology -- the study of wine -- from California State University in Fresno. She worked for several California wineries, including the one on campus, for several years before moving back to Ste. Genevieve in 1999 to work with her parents.

"I did grow up helping my dad make wine. My dad learned the 'old school' way of doing things, and I went to college so I could learn the chemistry behind it," says Mooney. Ste. Genevieve Winery grows all sorts of grapes, including concord, norton, vidal and seyval, and makes a variety of sweet and dry wines, including unique fruit wines like elderberry and pear wine.

Ste. Genevieve Winery is one of the more established wineries in Southeast Missouri, but new ones continue to open from Bollinger to Stoddard to Cape Girardeau counties. Mooney also knows people who are putting in grapes and talking about starting wineries. She expects new wineries to continue to pop up throughout Missouri in coming years.

Nicole and Martie Sifford opened Indian Hills Winery near Puxico, Mo., in 2009. The overall winery culture is a big draw for Missouri residents and tourists, says Nicole Sifford.

"You can go to a store and buy wine, but being able to go out to a winery and hear live music -- it's just a different venue than is typically offered," she says. The Siffords are both full-time teachers who decided to put Martie's lifelong farming experience to work growing grapes. They talked to several other growers and wine producers before opening their own place on County Road 250, where guests are invited to relax in the peaceful country setting and even stroll through the vineyards. Indian Hills produces nine wines, says Sifford.

Further north, Steele Crest Winery opened on Route Y in October, and the Jackson winery is gearing up for its first summer season.

Terry Steele owns the business with his wife Sheila, and also runs a full-time business next door, Jackson Door and Window. Says Steele, the winery started in part because the housing industry is down, which means the door and window business is down as well. So, he put his employees to work building Steele Crest Winery, which now boasts a spacious tasting and dining room, the largest outdoor pizza oven in the state, a wraparound porch, and beautifully landscaped outdoor areas. The winery was four years in the making, says Steele, but something he'd been wanting to do for much longer.

Steele spent most of his adult life in St. Louis and has fond memories of visiting the Hermann, Mo., area wineries.

"I wanted to bring a little of that charm to Cape County," he says. He bought books and took classes at Southeast Missouri State University, then started working for Hermann wineries for free so he could learn more about the trade.

"I just started hanging out with people who make wine," says Steele. Steele buys grapes from all over -- Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri as well as Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina -- and uses them to make more than 20 varieties of wine.

If you ask Steele, wineries do well in Missouri because there are relatively few of them and they're something new and different from typical bars.

"The atmosphere is so different. People come to feel a little more refined, more settled down," says Steele. "It's a different, different atmosphere, and it's right in our back yard."