West Winery is a stop I always make when I'm in Silver Rails Country.  The Winery is located just 22 miles (23 minutes) south of the Depot Inn & Suites at 1245 N Brown St. La Plata, MO 63549-1466, where I was staying for the Depot Inn & Suites Kirksville Air Festival in 2010.  Of course, I have a little history with West Winery that helps my self esteem a great deal.  I suggested using trains on their wine labels and now I can point to two of their wines and say, "That's my photos on the labels!"  (See those labels [the two on the left] at locovino.com/wines)

I love working with young entrepreneurs like Jen and Chris West of West Winery, 107 Vine St.,  Macon, MO, because each time I visit their winery, I learn of new and exciting ideas they plan to implement at their winery.  I also learn new things about wine making. 

One experience I had at the winery this trip was helping Chris follow the 'old school' method of bottling some of his award-winning-recipe blackberry wine.  He had only about 6 gallons of wine to bottle, so he set up a siphon system to bottle the 29 bottles of wine.  Chris would be a good teacher because he didn't make me feel like a 'wine dummy' (which I really am) when he had me make adjustments in my work to increase the flow of wine and adjust the amount I was putting in each bottle.  I guess this is part of that "Lifelong Learning" that I used to tell my students about.  I was also able to view the final portion of a much bigger bottling of Norton wine, about 65 cases, that took place earlier in the day using more modern methods.

The West's newly remodeled Winery and Tasting Room.	A yearly Festival in Macon.
April completes the capping of a day's work of bottling Norton wine.	Curtis puts a cork in one of the final bottles of Norton.

A few hour's work of bottling West Winery's Norton wine.	The Winery (behind the two counters) from the Tasting Room.  The original stained glass windows give it a classic look.
Chris taught me the 'old school' way of bottling blackberry wine via the siphoning method.	Teaching an Old Dog new tricks. Yours Truly. Photo Credit:  Chris West

The West's have another tasting room at Jackson Stables between La Plata and Kirksville at 22694 Rainbow Bason Trail, Kirksville, Missouri. Phone: 660.665.4611.	West Winery cork floating in Norton Wine, the state grape is Norton.

The people at Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, MO, have come to them with a new marketing idea.  The West's are now providing the wine for a tasting room. Also, they will be aging dry red wine in the Cave at a constant 52 degrees, so keep a lookout for "Cave Aged Wine" at the Mark Twain Cave from West Winery in the future."  It will be Dry Red Wine with the Cave's own label.  Chris took me with him to deliver a few cases of wine to the Mark Twain Cave and I was able to photograph the tasting room and the portion of the cave where his wine will be aged.

	Before or after you tour the Cave, walk over to the Village Hollow Gifts and taste some West Winery Wine.

The tasting room is very large and nicely decorated with items you can browse and purchase while tasting.	In an adjacent room is a large variety of candles and a candle making demonstration.
Notice that I was taking photos when Chris did the heavy lifting of the delivery work.  Ah, the glamorous life of a wine maker.	Table and chairs available in the Tasting Room.

Finally, the "Save the Katy Railroad Bridge Wine Walk" was held in Boonville, while I was in Missouri, and Jen West was one of the seven Missouri wineries to have their products available for tasting and sale on the Walk.  Another unique marketing idea since the West Winery makes railroad-themed wines and I am the proud provider of two photographs for two of their three Loco Vino wines.