On May 17 around 7 pm we will auctioning off this very special guitar here at the winery.  The proceeds of the auction will go to Amanda’s mom, Sherry Richard, who has been battling lung cancer this year.  Sherry has been going through Chemotherapy and Radiation for the last few months and hasn’t been able to work during that time.  So in an effort to help with Sherry’s mounting medical costs, her good friend Susan is donating this autographed Ibenez guitar for us to auction.

The guitar is signed by:

From Poco: Paul Cotton, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, Jack Sundrud, George Lawrence;

From Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: John McEuen, Jimmie Fadden;

From Jim Messina’s Band: Gary Oleyar

For more photos of the guitar, check our Susan’s Picasa Album.  Come on out to the winery on Saturday if you are a fan of any of these guys, and help support a good cause.   Our Americana Festival will be going strong that evening at 7:30 featuring Will Maring & Robert Bowlin followed by two flat-picking greats Bryan Sutton & Russ Barenberg!

This week we are scrambling around trying to finish bottling a couple of wines so that Clyde can begin clearing out the cellar in preparation for our Third Annual Americana Music Festival. You can click here for the page with all the events and information about the festival. I thought I’d post a little you tube video of two of the performers today as a little sneak peak at what you could expect. Saturday May 17, the concert will begin with Wil Maring & Robert Bowlin. So if you have a high-speed connection, give them a listen. And if you have that Saturday off, be sure to come down - they are even better in person!

I just found a lovely article about the wineries of the Ozark Highlands Appellation.  If you have a few minutes and would like to learn more about the Missouri wineries in our neck of the woods, click on over!  Cheers!

Sorry to wait so long to post…I’ve been all over the contryside and back this week. I did get back just in time to help Clyde and Jeff bottle our Yadkin Creek. Yep, you read me right, the Yadkin creek is now bottled! WooHoo!!!!

We bottled over 200 gallons of Yadkin Creek, so we should have plenty to last until your next visit. And you’ll definitely want to sample it again - last year’s grapes, what few we had, developed some wonderful flavors.

In the pic above, Clyde is working the ‘filler’ then setting the full bottles on the table for Jeff to pick up and cork. Clyde’s always telling Jeff to put a cork in it. Poor Jeff. ‘Back in the day’, or should I say just a mere three years ago, Clyde was doing Jeff’s job. And I was doing what you see Clyde doing. So I used to be able to keep telling Clyde to put a cork in it. Sometimes I kinda miss those days.

And one other quick note, tomorrow (Friday, May 2) Amanda and I will be pouring our wine at The Warehouse in Cuba MO from 5-8pm. Come on over and say hi if you are driving by. The Warehouse is next door to Mace’s Grocery on Hwy 19 in Cuba. Their phone number is 573-885-WINE. Hope to see you soon! Cheers.

I’m home this weekend - for the full weekend! Wow, what a change of pace from the last few weeks. To celebrate, I’m giving 10% off all the souvenir items in the salesroom today (Friday), tomorrow and Sunday. The catch is that you have to buy them here at the winery and mention that you read this blog entry.   So come on down and enjoy a nice picnic on the porch, and stock up on t-shirts, glasses, or cork stoppers.

For those following the bottling process, you saw we had bottles arrive on Thursday last week. Clyde finished all his filtering yesterday, and now we are just waiting for our corks to arrive. They were supposed to be shipped yesterday, so we should be able to begin bottling next week. Yay! Cheers everyone.