Ten Spoons of Wine Makes the Wine Go Down

This is the first time I've ventured on a field trip with my PEAS Farm compatriots and already been to the place and tasted the fruits of labor poured out there.

About a mile and a third up the Rattlesnake (the big creek that runs North-South into downtown and the namesake of our northerly neighborhood...we can hear it in our living room) from our home and a wee bit west is the farm I work at every morning. About two miles up the Rattlesnake and a wee bit east is Ten Spoon Vineyard and Winery. John and I checked it out a couple of weeks ago. It has a great view of the surrounding mountains and very affordable sample flights. Friday and Saturday nights they host live music.



Andy, who owns the business with his partner, shared with us a bit about how they came upon the place and the idea of a winery/vineyard. The organic vegetable market was already flooded in town, and their value-added tomato-chip idea was too expensive and didn't have a big market. But wine! Missoulans love their beer and breweries. They love their wine, so it was clear they needed someone to grow and process grapes within city limits. A gorgeous 5 acres of hybrid French-American varieties flourish during the short growing season and produce a fine house wine. Other grapes are sourced from the Pacific Northwest (as are the glass bottles that they purchase and reuse) and fermented on site. It's a dangerous place to have just up the road, but I don't think the occasional tandem bike ride up the mountain for a sample will do us much harm.

It's been one of the first sunny weeks on the farm for us (and of course, there was plenty of rain, too), but it allowed us to get a HUGE amount of much needed weeding done and it's looking great!