Need a roadtrip??

   We sure did, so yesterday DMan and I skedaddled to Golden Rock Winery in Camdenton.  This was our virgin voyage to this winery, but the experience was well worth the hour and a half drive from Springfield!  Golden Rock features an elegant but comfy restaurant, with several seating areas and plenty of room for a rocking party, plus a classy tasting bar.  They even have a cozy lounging area in front of the fireplace and big screen TV, which will be heavenly come fall and football season.  
   Beyond the amenities and super helpful staff, the wines are wonderful!  Golden Rock has only been in business as a winery for ten months, but we sure couldn't tell it.  They bring in grapes from all over the world and do some wine-o magic to make some of the best local wines we've ever tasted.  And the variety of what they do is crrr-azy!!  Their list of reds is the longest, which was great for us since we prefer red wine.  Our fave of what we tasted was the Latin Grande, a Cabernet, Carmenere and Malbec blend from Chilean grapes.  We had a glass and then brought two bottles home -- DELISH!!  We also dug the Cab/Syrah/Zin blend and the Duo, a Cab/Merlot blend.  They have several nice whites to choose from and a tasty sounding menu of fruit wines for those who have sweeter tastes.  Wish we could have stayed all day and sampled them all, but that would have required a nap and it was too dang hot to nap in the car.
   We had their "make your own pasta" for an early supper, where you choose from two pastas, three sauces, three meats (DMan loved the shrimp!), and veggies and they put it all together for a yummy meal.  I had the marinara sauce on my penne and it had a surprising pop of heat from red pepper flakes.  We ate every last bite of both our meals!  
   Another cool thing is Golden Rock will add a custom label to their wine for only a buck or two more.  We got a lovely personalized bottle of wine as a wedding gift for some friends and had them do a custom label to commemorate our roadtrip for one of our bottles of Latin Grande.  After we drink it, which will probably be tonight (YAY!), we'll stick a taper candle in the bottle and use it for ambiance on the patio.  Double bonus!
   We are hoping someone in Springfield gets on the Golden Rock Winery bandwagon and starts selling some of their wines, but even if they do, we'll definitely be roadtripping back to Camdenton real soon.  We had too much fun not to do it again!
   Wishing yall a happy first day of summer and a crrr-azy fun roadtrip sometime in your near future!!


(If you want to check it out, Golden Rock Winery is at 955 N Business 5 (about a mile north of the main Camdenton intersection).  Or give them a call at 573-317-WINE (9463) or give their website a look at www.goldenrockwinery.com.)