TS05 – Petals, Vines and Wines

If you love sampling local award-winning wines while making new friends with those who share your interest in wine, this is the tour for you. What better way to spend a relaxing Sunday and savor life?

• Visit two nearby wineries and sample a range of wines. Walk the vineyards, see how the grapes are processed, and talk with the winemakers themselves.
• Wine and art, the perfect pairing. That’s why there’s a stop at the Monet Garden at the Overland Park Arboretum, a replica of Claude Monet’s own garden in Giverny, France. You’ll be delighted by its sheer size (hundreds of plants), its vibrant color combinations, and its varying plant heights. It looks lush and wild with plants growing freely, just like the French artist’s garden in France.
• At day’s end, watch the sun go down and reflect on the good life with dinner specially prepared by Chef Celina Tio, a nationally known chef.

Fascinating Fact #1: Prior to Prohibition, Kansas and Missouri were the Napa Valley of the U.S. and led the U.S. in wine production.

Fascinating Fact #2: In the mid 1800s, it was rootstock from grapevines grown in the Midwest that saved the blight-ridden vineyards of Europe. European vintners used the hearty rootstocks, grafting onto them their threatened grapes. The made-in-the-USA rootstocks were able to resist the bacterial infections that were harming European grape harvests.

———————————————————
Max Participants: 50
———————————————————
Included
• Wine tasting
• Buffet evening dinner
• Admission to the Arboretum
• Water on the bus. Be sure to bring your conference water bottle.
———————————————————
Accessibility
Monet Garden at the Overland Park Arboretum: Wheelchair accessible.

Isinglass Estates Winery: The gravel roads and vineyards have limited accessibility.

Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery: Mulch and grass paths. Wheelchair accessibility to the dining area may be an issue.

ITINERARY

The Monet Garden at the Overland Park Arboretum

Head 20 minutes south of the Convention Center and travel back in time to the lovely Monet Garden at the Overland Park Arboretum. The one-acre garden is a miniature replica of Claude Monet’s own garden in Giverny, France, that inspired his iconic landscape and floral paintings.

Like Monet’s garden in Giverny, the Arboretum garden includes hundreds of varieties of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and bulbs replicating the colorful palette of the original garden. You’ll be delighted by its sheer size, its vibrant color combinations and its varying plant heights. It looks lush and wild with plants growing freely, just like the original. And, of course, there is a lily pond.

Your tour begins with a short video showing how the Monet Garden faithfully draws on the Giverny garden. Your hosts, the Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners, maintain this demonstration garden. As you stroll through the garden, they are on hand to answer questions and explain how the garden is maintained.

Isinglass Estates Winery

Your next stop is the Isinglass Estates Winery, a working farm with over 40 acres of grape production within a 600-acre working farm.

• Listen to the owners talk about growing their grapes, pruning the vines, and producing and bottling the wine.
• Sample wines in an air-conditioned tasting room or outdoor patio area.
• Hungry? The GastroPub (an onsite food truck) offers appetizers and flatbread pizzas for purchase.
• Explore the area, which also includes a petting zoo with exotic pigs, sheep, goats, horses and a yak. (What’s a winery without a yak?)

Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery and Dinner

Head back toward the city to Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery. Although smaller in size than Isinglass, Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery has over 9,000 grape vines and grows several different varieties of grapes. The winery’s annual production has now reached 5,000 cases. Our hosts have operated Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery for over 25 years. As you might expect, they are passionate about wine and hospitality.

Before dinner, taste a variety of wines at stations among the grapevines. Wander through the gift shop where keepsakes and bottles of wine may be purchased for taking back to the Convention Center or shipping home.

The day ends beautifully. Chef Celina Tio, a nationally known chef and James Beard Award winner, specially prepares dinner just for you. Enjoy this buffet-style dinner on a large patio overlooking the grape vines. Take in the expansive view of the beautiful, rolling hills of Kansas as the sun starts to set.

After a delicious dinner, it’s time to head back to the Convention Center, a 30-minute bus ride.