05/18/2008

Associated Press

Vintners in Missouri's wine country have a simple message for tourists — it's fine to drink wine in the middle of the week.

A volunteer group of winery owners in the hilly region just west of St. Louis is trying to promote the area as a midweek destination vacation site. Their goal is to build on the weekend tourist traffic the wineries already rely on.

On really big, obviously good weekends, when it's warm and sunny, everybody has more business than they can handle," said Bill Schaul, who heads the new Boone Country Tourism Committee.

"The rest of the time they're trying to figure out what to do with their employees."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that the newly formed Boone Country Tourism Committee is trying to draw new tourists from outside Missouri to the cluster of wineries in the towns of Augusta, Defiance and New Melle.

The group is hoping to capitalize on the area's Missouri River valley vistas, shops and bed and breakfasts. The volunteer committee is getting help from St. Charles' tourism agency, the Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The bureau has included the wine country area in its brochures. The bureau has also applied for a state grant to boost its efforts.

"We're putting our money where our mouth is," said David Rosenwasser, director of the St. Charles bureau. He said at least $25,000 to $40,000 would benefit the outlying area.

He said the area's wineries will be mentioned in some radio, television and newspaper ads that St. Charles runs in cities such as Peoria, Ill., and Paducah, Ky.

The wineries have already had some success drawing weekday visitors who are drawn to the peace and quiet once the weekend crowd has left.

When Barb and Larry Benson of suburban Chicago spent part of a midweek vacation in the rustic town of Augusta, they almost had the place to themselves.

"For us, it's easier in the week," Larry Benson, a chemical engineer, said in the Augusta Winery's tasting room. "You can get in and out of places."

Mike Right, a spokesman for AAA Missouri, said the wider marketing effort makes sense. But he warned it might be difficult to pull large numbers of people from as far away as Chicago and Kansas City.

"They have the capacity and they want the business doesn't everybody?" Right said.

Right said the auto club already includes the wine country area in its list of day trips for people visiting St. Louis.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com