Pair it with Jowler Creek Wine
Chambourcin — A
delicious, light-bodied
red wine with just a
hint of oak. Enjoy it
with your light summer
supper.
Norton — Missouri’s
first sustainable wine.
Its rich cherry flavor
and oaky characteristics make it the perfect mate with a KC
strip steak, smoked meat or chocolate.
Traminette — This semi-dry white wine combines floral
scents with hints of pear and tea leaf flavors. Pair it with
seafood, chicken or fresh salads.
Vignoles — This semi-sweet wine is rather exotic and loaded
with tropical flavors of pineapple, apricot and honey. It’s the
perfect mate to a lunch out on the deck or a hot and spicy
supper.
Butterfly Bush — This semi-sweet blush is
bursting with berry fruit flavors and finishes
with a flutter of sweetness. Pair it with Swiss
cheese, chicken or angel food cake!
Red Cock-a-Doodle-Do — This sweet red
wine has savory and smoky undertones,
make it the perfect pairing with Kansas City
BBQ, spicy chicken wings and fried fish!
Muskrato de Missouri — Like Moscato
d’Asti? You’ll love this locally-made version
with just a hint of bubbly. Enjoy with
brunch, desserts or spicy Asian cuisine.
Nort — Like Port? You’ll love our locally-made version
that uses Missouri’s Norton grapes. It begs to be sipped with
chocolate desserts or blue cheese.
6 HEARTBEAT | SUMMER 2017
Meager Beginnings
True entrepreneurs, the Gerkes
didn’t set out to own a vineyard
and winery. Both former corporate
wage earners, the two are bonded
by their love of agriculture and
communications — though
they come from very different
backgrounds.
A traditional Missouri farm
boy, Jason was raised in the land of
crops and cows in central Missouri
near Windsor while Colleen
hails from the central coast of
California near Santa Maria where
the produce and wine industries
reign.
After meeting through their
involvement in the American
Agriculture Editors Association
while in college, the two were
married and settled into their
careers in Kansas City — Colleen
at John Deere, Jason at Drovers
magazine and later Dairy Farmers
of America.
The couple traveled to the
Weston area on the weekends,
visiting the area’s shops and
wineries and fell in love with
its ambiance. Ready for some
elbowroom, in 2003 the Gerkes
purchased their home in the Platte
County countryside.
“We moved in, and as we’re
driving up that driveway Colleen’s
like, ‘You know, it’d be kind of
cool if we planted some grapes,’”
Jason explained. “It would be kind
of a fun landscape project and
would remind her of home. By the
spring of 2004, we had ordered
250 vines.”