Odessa Country Winery

This is definitely a great little winery! It is family-owned and the family's house is right across from the tasting room. We visited this winery on our way home from a winery-weekend in Hermann, MO. This was our last winery on our trip back to Kansas. It has been opened for 5 years and deemed "a hobby gone crazy".This winery specializes in sweet wines/fruit wines. We had Wildflower White, Apple, Puddle Jumper Pear (purchased!), Peachy Peach, Front Porch Red (Purchased!), Country Concord, and Happy Chef. One more wine that I didn't try, but my husband really enjoyed is a jalapeno wine (purchased!). I'm excited to have added these wines to our growing collection!

We did a little wine trip this last weekend and hit up Odessa Winery. It is extremely hard to find but worth it. They only make sweet wines.We tried a 2009 and 2011 Concord they were okay. One of them was called Happy Chef. Then we had the Apple, Puddle Jumper Pear, a white wine I don't remember the name, an Elderberry wine, and Tornado Spotter which is a Jalapeno/Apple wine.I bought the Pear and White wine for my parents. They are a little sweeter than I like. The Elderberry wine (which I love) I didn't like theirs it was dirty tasting. The Tornado Spotter is NASTY and a palate killer. The owner was super nice and they were having a farkel party while we were there.I would go again to get the Pear and White wine as gifts for people if I were in the area. Take cash or checks they charge and extra 3% for credit cards. They are all about $12 a bottle

Cool tasting room on warm sunny day...signage easy to miss... friendly people, hope to walk prop when temps are cooler

This is my second trip to this winery. The first time I met the husband who was very friendly. I had bought the Tornado Spotter wine and love cooking with it so I was excited to go back and get another bottle. This is a pretty long drive, so I called ahead and was told they would be open, just under construction. I got there and the wife was in the vineyard and told me the winery was closed. After I asked if I could buy a bottle, she let us in. It looks like the bar will be nice when they get it open again, just sad they are missing out on business when they could still be open. However, I got my bottle and am still cooking!

Sorry guys, I'm not a fan. Everything is sweet, which is fine if you do it well, Odessa Winery just doesn't do it all that well. The tasting room is hot and stuffy, the single window-unit A/C could barely knock the heat out of the day even though it's a small space. The dimly lit room is cluttered in a haphazard fashion. Tastings are $2.50 (I think...), free with purchase. If you pay with a card there's an up-charge on anything you buy. Oddly enough, you can write a check.Every vintage is syrupy sweet. The Elderberry has an odd aftertaste, and Elderberry should be a bit tart. The Apple/Jalapeno is too hot to drink at all, even by the standards of people who like it hot. The winemaker said the Apple/Jalapeno is his best seller. I can only imagine people are buying it for the gimmick-value. The winemaker was friendly, but I wasn't buying what he's selling.When you mention Missouri wines and people wrinkle up their nose and make an off-hand comment about low-rent-Koolaid, Odessa Winery is a perfect example of what they are talking about. And to make matters worse, it's a royal pain to get there.

Working on Missouri Wine Passport program. Apparently the person I went with called ahead of time to make sure they would be open and check their hours the weekend we went.. everything seemed good to go. We arrive and they were closed doing construction. Didn't get to sample anything, didn't buy anything, though there was recommendations to buy their Tornado Spotter for cooking. The owner was extremely friendly though.. maybe next time..

What an adorable country oasis in the city! Is it a slick high volume production winery? No. But it is like visiting family who takes their bountiful harvest of fruit and makes some fun summer wines. All the wines offered would be awesome for a good sangria base. In fact, I can't wait to try the Tornado Jalapeño as a spicy sangria. This is a family friendly winery complete with catfish pond, homespun man cave, and off the gravel road mind set. Friendly owners and overall fun day trip.

OK this is out in the country on gravel but very worth it, wonderful fruity wines. If your a bit adventurous you will want to try there Tornado Spotter (WOW) defiantly different not for every one but a wondeful adventure in wine.