What's Missouri "Wine Country" (SE) like?

Dear "Show-me" State DUers:

Do any of you live in or near the southeastern corner of Missouri? I have heard that it's very nice there, called in fact the "Napa Valley" of Missouri. Please let me know what it's like and what real estate goes for. Also, what is the general economy of the region & how many enlightened citizens vs. morans. Any general cultural info too.

Thanks

around Hermann, St. James, etc as wine country.
And the wine, as well as the politics is red.

I live just south of St Louis, and visit St Genevieve and the wine country about once a year. GREAT wines, great people, great scenery.

Real estate is below average prices compared to the rest of the country. The closer you get to STL, the higher prices get, but even in St Louis its below the national average.

Culture - the area was settled by the French before the Louisiana Purchase. St Genevieve has the oldest Catholic Church west of the Mississipi river. German immigrants came over later, their culture is also prevalent.

Morans - like the rest of rural Missouri, its heavily freeper. The closer you get to St Louis, the more Blue the country gets. The exception is Cape Girardo, home of SE Missouri State University, which is very much a University town and more enlightened than the boonies.

seven years ago, it was ranked per capita as the methamphetamine capitol of the country.

Yeah, real nice place.

In fairness, I don't know if it's improved since I moved away in 2000, but for a while there, every yahoo in a 100-mile radius was cooking up speed in the bathtub.

As for wine, I did go to a couple wineries while I was there 00 but this was in college. I was more interested in drinking copious amounts than in ascertaining quality of said wine. :evilgrin:

Sorry for any confusion--a friend and fellow Californian recently mentioned that she had heard how nice the "Missouri Wine Country" was, and that it was in the Southeast corner of the state, right next to Kentucky. We are both horsepeople and she thought that there were a lot of horse farms there, kind of an extension of Kentucky, and that it would be a great place to retire (in her case).

I thought it sounded interesting because it's supposed to be beautiful there, w/great quality of life & low real estate prices. So, was she likely to be referring to the SE corner or the central part of the state? Whichever area has great quality of life + noticeable horse farms + beautiful scenery would be the place. Also, could you please cite the names of some towns so that I could run a search for real estate listings?

Thanks again.

Would I want to retire to SE MO? *shudder* No way.

the SE corner around St Genevieve, settled by the French,
and the east-central area around Hermann, settled by the Germans.

Both very nice in their own ways. The area around Hermann has more wineries, I believe, including one of the oldest in the country, Stone Hill Winery.

It is nothing like Napa valley.

It's also where Rush is from. Is that enough of a picture for you?

I'll try to take your questions in oreder...

No, I do not live there but have been there often.

It IS VERY, VERY nice. Rolling hills, woods, leaves that turn golden in fall. Majestic. Better than Napa in this regard. We have seasons.

Real estate is moderately priced, especially when compared with Napa! Taken in perspective, land in the mid west and south east is very affordable, especially when taking into account the real estate bubble enveloping each coast.

Enlightened vs moron- Hmmmm, not sure I've met any "morons" there. People that have different views? Yes. "Enlightened"? No, not very many. But this does not make them "morons". Under educated? Under exposed? Un-informed? Oooooooo yes. Moron? No. Although I will say it seems like there are more morons (Face it, you meet a certain percentage every where ya go) but that's cuz there's fewer folks.

In conclusion I would highly recommend purchasing some land in this area for what ever purpose. You'll love it.