The Belvoir Winery (http://www.belvoirwinery.com/) trip also happened to be on our anniversary. Since there wasn't another winery close by, we decided to also go the Dish Pizzeria, just up the road from the winery and further into Liberty, Missouri. Luckily, my in-laws offered to watch the kids so we could make the trip.
Since Liberty, Missouri was within the Kansas City Metropolitan area, we opted to take a combination of Interstate and State Highway. We leisurely took Lee Boulvard in Leawood south to the Stateline – I-435 on ramp and headed east. Traffic was heavy due to summer travel to area lakes and other daytrippers. We continued east, transitioning from I-435 to I-470. The road curved north past Lee's Summit, Missouri and its new growth as the city expanded with new industrial parks and car dealerships.
Driving further north, we passed through Independence, Missouri, home to the 34th President of the United States, Harry S.Truman. Independence's growth along I-470 was booming with a new event center and increased traffic to its shopping district. On the north side of Independence, I-470 transitioned into State Highway 291 and traffic signs indicated that travelers were supposed to limit themselves to 55mph.
Sugar Creek, Missouri was the last town on the south side of the Missouri River, but there was only a riverfront park and the Carefree Industrial Park on the east end of town. Visible over the western treetops was a defunct oil refinery I had learned about as part on an environmental case study in my last graduate class. The refinery was part of Standard Oil and had been on the Missouri River for over a hundred years. Its new uses included a park, an asphalt plant, and industrial park.
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| Missouri Highway 291 bridges over the Missouri River |
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| View of the Missouri River through the bridge trusses |
Once across the Missouri, there was little in the way of development. With the river valley being in the floodplain, there wasn't a good enough reason for businesses to tempt the river to overtop its banks. Speed limit signs indicating 45mph announced our arrival into Liberty, Missouri. We drove past the Belvoir Winery turnoff and continued into town. A few minutes later, we arrived at Dish Pizza.
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| The Dish Pizza in Liberty, Missouri |
Dish Pizza (http://www.dishpizza.com) is something we discovered a few years ago when it started showing up in our Hyvee grocery store's freezer case. Being from Chicago, my wife is particular about deep dish pizza and the Dish is by far the closest thing locally she has tasted to authentic Chicago pizzerias. If you've ever eaten a deep dish pizza in Chicagoland, the Dish is most similar to Giordano's Pizza with it's flavorful pizza sauce on top, abundant cheese, buttery crust and variety of toppings. We had side salads and a small Mill Pizza, the Dish's vegetarian pizza with olives, green peppers, artichokes, and cheese. Since we forgot our cooler, we purchased a small cooler and ice from a nearby Price Chopper grocery store and placed our leftover slices in the trunk of the car.
Backtracking on our route, we turned off onto Odd Fellow's Road and drove through the open gates of the winery. The Belvoir Winery inhabits the International Order of Odd Fellows Liberty Encampment (http://www.belvoirwinery.com/index.php?cID=51). The estate consists of five buildings situated below the crest of a ridge. The road leading up to the buildings splits for traffic and adjacent to the fork is a fountain and gazeebo. When we arrived, white chairs had been setup on the lawn in preparation for a wedding the following day and people were working to string lights across the entrance to the grand main building.
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| Entrance Gates into the Belvoir Winery |
The largest building is three stories tall and was built in 1905. We walked inside and saw that the wine tastings bar was full of visitors. The hostess behind the bar informed us that we were free to roam around the main level of the building, but couldn't enter the other floors or the other buildings. We opted to explore the main building and nearby portions of the estate.
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| View of the Belvoir Winery's main building from the front lawn |
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| Floor tiles in the entryway of the main building |
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| Baby grand piano being played by a laptop |
The main building, pictured on the Belvoir winery website, has been renovated and serves host to the wine tasting bar and wedding receptions. Also onsite is a baby grand piano that can be played by a laptop computer.
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| Entry way to the Belvoir Winery's main building |
The next building was a smaller two story building and built in 1952, but was unused and signs warning no trespassing were posted on the doors. The next two buildings were larger, but even more in need of repairs. They appeared to have been built around the same time as the main building but had many broken windows and mature trees growing out of them. It was an interesting contrast to the newer homes that backup up to the estate, easily visible from the crumbling steps of the two smaller buildings. Behind the two older buildings stood a small unoccupied building. It too had fallen into disrepair and did not appear to be used.
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| Auxiliary Building similar in architectural style to the main building |
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| Auxillary Building being reclaimed by nature |
Behind the main building was a fenced field with a horse in it. Upon closer inspection, another horse stood up. Apparently it noticed us and decided to stop lounging in the sun. Seeing nothing further to explore, we decided to see if there was room at the bar.
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| Looking east from the main building |
Once inside, we found two seats at the bar and proceeded with the tastings. Our hostess started with a white chardonel. It was a good dry wine with pear and light oak notes with a crisp, steely finish. We thought it would be excellent with white meats or cheese since the wine would compliment the flavors of those foods. Next we had another white wine, Belvoir's Plumeria wine. The hostess mentioned that it had been named by the owner's late wife who loved Plumerias. She quickly added that it did not have plumeria flowers in it. It was well chilled, very floral and semi sweet; a good wine for drinking without food since it was very flavorful. The last white wine we tasted was the Sorelle Dolci. It was a sweet wine and could easily be enjoyed on its own or with a dessert. The Dolci was similar to a Muscato, but not so overwhelmingly sweet.
We then had their Norton. It was the best Norton we had tasted to date. It was a dark red, robust wine with notes of berries and spice without the sharp tannins we'd experienced with other Nortons. Then we had the Casanova, a blend with three different wines. It was a good light bodied wine and semi-sweet. A Casanova would pair well with sweeter dishes such as grilled teriyaki chicken or red-sauced non-spicy pasta dishes. Last we had the Little Pierre, a sweet concord grape wine. It was very flavorful, sweet, but complex. A chilled Little Pierre could like the Dolci, be enjoyed alone or with dessert.
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| Belvoir's wine tasting room and bar that caters special events |
It was difficult to choose a wine to take home, but we bought a Chardonnel and the Sorelle Dolci. We could easily see drinking all of their wines. We also disappointingly learned that the Belvoir wines were not available in retail stores. Fortunately for us, it is only a 40 minute drive away. One last note, tours of the winery are only available during the weekdays as much of the weekend is spent hosting visitors and preparing for wedding receptions and other large groups.
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| Looking through the main level from the southern wing in the main building |
Between desiring to buy more wines at the winery and wanting to learn more of the historic Odd Fellows home, we could definitely see returning to the Belvoir Winery again and again.
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| The two white wines we selected |
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