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For the first time since prohibition, Missouri wines are on their way to Europe. The exportation of 7 thousand 380 bottles of Missouri wine will pump more than 43 thousand 500 dollars into the state's wine industry.
The sale is the result of a visit to the state by German wine buyers. They visited four wineries: Augusta, Montelle, St James, and Stone Hill. Tony Kooyumjan (koo-yohm-jee-in) owns the Augusta and Montelle wineries in eastern Missouri.
He describes what it was like to the have the Germans visit his facilities.
The Missouri department of agriculture arranged for the Germans to visit the state as part of a joint effort with the state of Michigan. The wine buyers went to both states and Missouri secured 70 percent of the German wine purchases with the remaining 30 percent of the purchase consisting of Michigan wines. Kooyomjan says he was surprised the Germans wanted to buy wine at all given the current market for wine.
The exposure Missouri wines will receive in Germany is important, according to Kooyomjan.
He says Europeans want to find new and different tastes whereas Americans tend to buy whatever wines are marketed heavily.
And since the American public tends to buy wines they're familiar with through marketing, owners of Missouri wineries say they are at a disadvantage. Kooyumjan says Missouri wines have less familiar names and different tastes because they come from a different kind of grape.
Southwest Missouri state university's wine experiment station conducts research to help Missouri wineries develop hybrids that will grow well in the state's climate. Kooyumjan says Missouri wines win gold medals almost every year in wine competitions around the world'he says the challenge for the industry is to familiarize the public with their award-winning products.
