Defiance Ridge Vineyards has taken the term “farmhouse dinner” to a whole new level.
The 42-acre property, with its vineyard, tranquil lake, lush landscaping and sweeping views of the Missouri River Valley can be enjoyed year-round from the terraces and veranda surrounding their historic farmhouse. But to fully experience the most exciting, unique cuisine created with ingredients from local vendors and exquisite wine pairings, you have to attend one of their monthly Farmhouse Dinners.
“Inspired by our desire to nurture people through food and wine, each month we host an intimate multi-course dinner in our modern farmhouse tasting room,” describes father-son owners Chuck & Trevor Gillentine.
“We try to work with a wide variety of local vendors that have a unique place in our local food scene. The goal is to keep it fresh and introduce a new vendor each month and hope to use them annually. At the moment, there are about eight different vendors we have worked with, and our plan is to continue to build upon that. Some that we have worked with so far include Moondance Farms, Tony's Family Farms, Triple J Shrimp Farm, and Mushrooms Naturally.”
There is a theme for each, including anything from "Wild Game" to "Mushroom" dinners.
If you’re interested in this experience, you may want to do it soon. When asked how many people are usually at these dinners, they replied, “At first, we had envisioned small intimate dinners, with capacities of 30-35 people. Over time, with greater demand, that has changed as the concept really took off. We're now hosting crowds of 70-100 people for the most recent ones. The idea is still to keep the dinners feeling intimate for our guests, so 100 would be our absolute cap.”
As far as COVID limitations, they say they're very fortunate to have a large pavilion space that holds 300 people. So they can easily host 100 people and space tables out while adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Also, staff are required to wear masks at all times and customers are required to wear masks inside the indoor tasting room at Defiance Ridge.
For information, visit DefianceRidgeVineyards.com/calendar or call 636.798.2288.