Kansas City Weekend(ish) Winter 2020

For Valentines Day weekend, we decided to head out to Kansas City for a day of ski practice and restocking at some of our favorite KC wineries. With a flexible schedule and a holiday weekend, we were able to make the most of the time we had on this Presidents Day holiday weekend.

Valentines Day Skiing and winery dinner

We chose Snow Creek Ski Area because of its proximity to the KC area, its size for getting some practice in, and the cost. Miranda is new to skiing, so before we go hit the big powder again, we got a chance to hone some skills on the smaller slopes. Going on a weekday saved us some money and a nice veterans discount didn’t hurt. We benefited from a nice recent snow fall and sub freezing temperatures for the three previous days, if you’re going to go skiing outside of the mountains, then you pray for little things like that. The slopes had two small easy areas, but they were quickly overwhelmed by what was probably a school field trip, so after several runs here, we migrated over to the blue slopes. These were all fairly short, and at first, a little overwhelming if you’re newer at skiing, but it’s better than waiting in the lines for the small slope lifts. All-in-all we had a great time, prices were reasonable and the slopes were a good way to spend 3-4 hours, regardless of your skill level.

For dinner Friday night, we went out to on of our favorite wineries in the area, Riverwood Winery, just north of Kansas City. They had a special going on for valentines day which included two of their personal flatbread pizzas, they included a honey drizzle that gave the pizza a slight sweetness that paired well with their large assortment of dry, but not too dry wines. We did the full tasting that included a dozen wines and only found one we weren’t fond of, this is a great stop if you’re in the area, but plan on spending some time here if you really want to enjoy it.

The Food

BBQ is king in Kansas City and we came to eat, in previous trips, we were able to hit Q39, which is very good, but is also a sit down restaurant that usually has a solid line, Jack Stack, which is another nice sit-down restaurant with locations all over KC, and Slap’s BBQ, which is your typical order at the counter, pay at the end, find a seat kind of place. We returned to Slap’s for dinner on our first night and were not disappointed, we split the Sampler Plate, it was more than enough food for the both of us and it allowed us to try every meat they had with two sides, I highly recommend this on your first visit, heck, we might do it that wan on all of our future visits.

Our Late lunch on Thursday was supposed to be Black Belt BBQ, a mobile BBQ stand that normally sets up shop outside the hotel we were staying at in Leavenworth, however it was 10 degrees outside and we understood why he didn’t show up that day. We instead took the recommendation we had gotten from a bartender the previous night and set out for Tin Kitchen in historic Weston, Mo. Since we arrived during off-hours, we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the pulled pork and brisket, both were top notch, and their sides of hand-cut fries, mac & cheese, coleslaw, and blah were all very good. The area it’s in has a nice Main Street feel to it and you can check out the shops and walk down to the river front. There are three wineries in the downtown Westin area and another one not far away.

Thursday night, after a number of great wineries, we stumbled across Abe’s Place Pizza, I know right, a pizza place, but it was a nice change of pace and man was it delicious, they even give you a bottle of honey to drizzle on your crust if you don’t subscribe to the roll-up method of eating the last couple of inches of each slice. The owner is a very sociable guy, and if you’re there when he’s not as busy, he’ll come out and joke with the customers.

On Sunday, we started working our way back to St. Louis, starting first at a fast food chicken place called Slim Chickens, we totally expected this place to be a Raisin Cain’s knockoff, but we were very wrong on that. The strips were delicious, they had lots of sauces to choose from, their fries were top-notch, and they had other sides we could have gone with, we’ll definitely be back for this one, and maybe drop a “please open in St. Louis” note in their suggestion box.

For dinner that night we stopped in Columbia at a place that was a little off the beaten path called Como Smoke and Fire. We weren’t sure what to expect here but we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of food we got and how good it was. The restaurant is in a little strip with a gas station, which usually either means awesome or awful, rarely is it in the middle. We also got there just in time as we listened to the waitress tell the table that was seated right after us that they were out of a number of items, including chicken strips, how does that happen? The meats were very good, probably the best combo of the whole trip, the fries were excellent and the baked beans were good as well.

The Wineries

In addition to Riverwood Winery for dinner on Friday, we built out a solid path around Kansas City to stock up at some of our favorite wineries from previous trips. Wednesday after the drive in we hit Amigoni Urban Winery, and KC Wineworks. Amigoni is one of our favorites with very good dry red wines and a neat rotunda tasting room. The wines aren’t cheap, usually running north of $25 for their good stuff, but they are very good. KC Winworks was another repeat for us and we were able to test out a long running theory about Missouri grapes thanks to a regional Chambourcin taste test they had. They also introduced us to Christopher Elbow Chocolates, which was a couple doors down from them, this was a place that really took pride in their chocolate with some pretty amazing looking pieces, but don’t think you’re walking out of there cheap.

We were able to get an early afternoon start on Thursday, after lunch we covered the wineries that were on the north/northwest section of the area:
Jowler Creek Vineyard & Winery - This place has a pretty cool inside seating area with lots of wine barrel themed furniture and decorations. The wines are mostly sweeter with Hayride Red being the favorite.
Ladoga Ridge Winery - Ladoga Ridge gets the award for best place to just sit and hang out on a nicer day, great inside seating area, outside seating with a view of the vineyards, and a good mix of sweet, dry, and slushie wines, their Chambourcin is one of the best in the area.
Holy-Field Vineyard & Winery - If you’re ever in the area and you don’t stop here, you’re doing it wrong. This is easily our favorite winery in Kansas with over a dozen wines, a very good and inexpensive port, a fun tasting room with dogs patrolling the scene, and just an awesome staff. We’ve never been to one of their events, but they are always talking about them and they sound like a lot of fun. This year they had a Late Harvest Vignoles that was on-par with some of the best ice wines we’ve tasted.

We had a full day planned on Saturday, but with it being the off-season, we only had about a 5-6 hour window that most of the wineries were open during:
Stone Pillar Vineyard & Winery - We had not been to this one yet, it’s got a nice little tasting room and a large outdoor seating area, they’ve got a very large wine list, with a healthy mix of sweet and dry. I’m not sure if it was just because this was our first stop of the morning or not, but there was something not right about their dry wines, we’ll have to try this again next time, maybe later in the day.
BlueJacket Crossing Vineyard & Winery - A new contender for our favorite winery in Kansas, this place was pretty amazing and was the single largest wine buy we made on this trip. They too had a reasonably priced port, in fact all of their wine was very reasonably priced with Wolf Red being a gateway to dry reds and an off-dry Vignoles being popular with both dry and sweet palates.
Devenport Orchards & Winery - Just a short drive away from BlueJacket was Davenport, here they have something for everyone, fruit, sweet, dry, even sparkling wines. The owner is a Vietnam Vet and a number of his wines have a military theme to them. The tastings here are free and that can get away from you in a hurry if you don’t watch out.
Crescent Moon Winery - We stopped in for their wine and dessert pairing event for Valentines Day weeekend, they had some pretty solid treats to go with their wines. Unfortunately we didn’t try much else because of the previously mentioned tasting at Davenport, but we’ll go back again next time for a better review.
KC Wine Co. Vineyard & Winery - Another casualty of how late in the day it was getting was KC Wine Co. We did the tasting here but honestly we were done. We did buy a bottle of the Norton, which was the best of the ones we tasted. The Tasting room was closed and everything was being done at their event space just down the street, so this will have to be another one we try on a future trip.
Belvoir Winery and Inn - Our last stop of the day doubled as our accommodations for the night as well. We’d been here before and really liked the port, they’ve got a number of other good options as well. This is an old Odd Fellows home that used to take care of orphans, widows, and the elderly, it’s been renovated to an event space, tasting room, and inn on the third floor. It was a fun experience but one you can probably only do during the week or in the off-season since it’s likely booked solid for weddings during the nice months.

On Sunday we set off back towards home with some of our favorite mid-Missouri wineries on the agenda. The stretch of Missouri between KC and Columbia, just north of I-70 covers the edges of two of Missouri’s 11 defined wine trails, our custom trail starts just Northeast of KC and runs just west of Columbia:
Fence Stile Vineyards & Winery - Don’t write this one off just because of the website, which seems to be more about the estate and all the fun you can have there, this winery has over a dozen wines with a lot of solid choices from dry to sweet along with a dessert and port-style wine.
Four Horses and a Dog - This is a neat little winery owned by two couples that seem to really know what they are doing, each time we’ve been, the owners have been there talking to people and guiding them through tastings. They are very knowledgeable about what they do and their wines are very good.
La Bella Winery - Somehow we had never been to this winery but it made a good impression and will easily join our drive home trail. They’ve got a good inexpensive port, a good
Baltimore Bend - This tasting room is regularly patrolled by a cat or two, so watch your feet. They have a huge selection of wine and a very affordable tasting at 8 for $5.
Les Bourgeois - This is the largest winery on our trip and one of our personal favorites with an affordable Vignoles, Port, Norton, and Syrah. The tasting room is large and the tastings are pretty reasonable at $8 for 10. We’ve never eaten here or done the tour, but both are on our to-do list.

Needless to say, a great time was had by all, we really do love a lot of these small vineyards on the west side of Missouri and we’ll keep coming back as long as they keep making the wine. Adding the skiing to this trip was a fun twist but at some point we’ll have to finally visit these wineries in the spring or fall when we can take full advantage of some of the outdoor seating, views, and entertainment.