ElderBlossom View Orchard and Winery

Here’s a new place we’ve discovered, and I know you’re going to love it, too: ElderBlossom View Orchard and Winery. It’s not your standard winery; it’s not your standard anything. And we really like that: it’s different! It’s smart. It’s unique.

First, your typical winery uses grapes, while ElderBlossom View (EBV) focuses on elderberries. They grow them right there. Second, while your typical winery makes wines, and sometimes also juices, EBV has a dual mission: they make both high-quality wines and juices, including some juice blends suitable for a wide range of uses. For example, their Elderberry Relief juice with ginger, sweetened with organic honey and cinnamon, clove, and elderflower extracts, can be used as a tonic, to relieve a sore throat, but it can also be used in imaginative cocktails or nonalcoholic beverages. Same goes for their pure elderberry juice, which is full of antioxidants.

They also make a product called Elderflower Nectar that combines fresh lemon juice, cane sugar, and their own hand-harvested elderberry flowers. You can add this to hot tea on a cold winter’s night, or you can add it to club soda to make something much more interesting than a Pepsi, or you can mix it in cocktails, or even in a glass of sparkling wine.

I like the juice just dashed into a glass of club soda. And they're happy to serve it to you that way at ElderBlossom View.

See where they’re going with this? Although your first thought might be “oh, all they offer is elderberry wine, and I can’t picture my whole gang sitting around drinking just elderberry wine,” instead, realize that they have a truly wide variety of tasty and refreshing (many quite healthy) beverage choices. Including non-elderberry drinks. The special beverage menu changes seasonally. This summer, they offered an elderberry mojito and an elderberry mule, among other intriguing choices. They had a fresh, locally sourced watermelon-elderberry cooler, perfect for a hot summer evening. The watermelon is from a grower right across the highway in Hartsburg! So many options. Ooh-la-la!

Now that the weather’s cooled, you can have an Autumn Blossom Martini, made with elderflower vodka and blossom sauce, apple butter, half and half; a Sassy Cider, served hot, made with a house blend apple cider, elderberry juice, infused with smoked sassafras wood; an Eldershine peach moonshine cocktail with bourbon-barrel-aged syrup, and the house Elderberry Relief spiced juice blend; and a Persimmon Old Fashioned, made with whisky, a dash of elderberry wine vinegar and a splash of pure elderberry juice.

And the wines are good! When you do a tasting, you will certainly find one you like; they have a range of styles, from sweet to dry. Dry is my personal favorite; you may find it rather tart, but I like it that way. They even have a sparkling elderflower mead called “Elder Bee,” which can go into some fun cocktails (such as this summer’s mango-pineapple “Meadosa”).

You can purchase snacks at the winery, but you are also quite welcome to bring your own picnic basket. We brought sandwiches (jack-and-cooked-kale on multigrain bread), which paired well with our refreshing elderberry beverages in terms of flavor and in healthfulness. Bring whatever food you like—just remember, though, that they want to sell beverages to you, so you’re not allowed to bring outside beverages in.

While we’re on the subject of house rules, here are a few more: don’t let your kids roam around unsupervised; don’t get in the lake (no matter how inviting it may look); and don’t bring your dogs. (Their dogs, Tulip and Aster, already live there, and they’re kind animals, so you won’t miss your own poochies.)

Background

Their story is on their website, but when you hear it, you’ll probably be jealous. John and Heather Uhlig, upon retiring from whatever it was they did, decided to transform stale pasture land into acres and acres of elderberries. Elderberries.

Common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a native shrub that you often see growing in thickets along roadsides and edges of fields. In May, June, and July, elderberry lifts up great, round, dense, fragrant clusters of tiny white or cream-colored flowers. In August, September, and October, these mature into big, flat-topped clusters of BB-sized, purple or black, berrylike fruits on the finely branching reddish stalks. The leaves, stems, and twigs are toxic and should not be eaten, but the berries and flowers are edible, given the proper preparation.

The preparation is painstaking. Each tiny berry must be liberated from the stem, and not all the berries mature at the same time. If elderberry anything seems kind of pricey, then it reflects the effort it takes to harvest and process the fruit.

If you’ve ever popped ripe elderberries into your mouth, you might have been disappointed; first, there are a lot of seeds (four) for such a small fruit. Second, the fruits are bittersweet or tart, so if you’re going to cook with them, you need to keep that in mind and sweeten accordingly.

If you use proven recipes, you’re in for a treat: elderberry jam and jelly, elderberry pie, elderberry muffins and pancakes, and elderberry wine are old-fashioned favorites. The flowers are also used in a variety of ways—for example, rubbed from the flowerheads and mixed into pancake or muffin batter, or made into an herbal tea.

So, for the next chapter of their lives, the Uhligs determined to grow elderberries and sell elderberry products. The name, ElderBlossom View, is a reminder of their retirement project: the blooming of something, well, old—them; the land; and the growing and culture of elderberries. Elderberry has an ancient history as a healthful food, and modern science is supporting it as a “superfood.”

The Uhligs grow several varieties (cultivars or strains) on their land, each with its own properties, flavor profile, harvest time, and so on. Their products, including the wines, are blends of what amount to different elderberry varietals. In addition to the artistry of blending the juices and turning these into tasty wines and other products, a lot of effort has to go into simply extracting the juice: remember, four seeds per berry.

The Place

EBV is much more than their products: it’s an event space. A big event space! Like everything else about EBV, it’s unique. Pleasant meandering walkways lead to lots of different benches, chairs, and picnic tables, accommodating different sized groups.

Throughout, there are lots of native wildflower plantings, which attract a variety of native pollinators and birds, even a little creek and pond system, where—the first time we were there—we saw a bunch of toad tadpoles swimming around.

The interest in native plants, birds, and pollinators is refreshing. The Uhligs get it! Everywhere you look, there are native shrubs and wildflowers, from milkweeds that give life to monarch butterflies, to the sumacs that turn brilliant scarlet in September, to the bluebird boxes that provide a home to our beautiful state bird, which no doubt feasts on the insects attracted by all the blooming native plants.

Tired old ideas still prejudice many fruit growers against frugivorous birds. Instead, EBV welcomes the fruit-eating birds, knowing that a certain percentage of the crop will be eaten by mockingbirds catbirds, robins, and others. They are enlightened enough to know that birds are an important part of nature. Likewise, plenty of insects make their living from elderberry plants, too, including the pollinators as well as those that feed on the leaves, stems, and sap. Insects are bird food, too, especially during nesting season. Again, these are the cycles of nature. Sustainable agriculture: How refreshing!

The theme of making old things new again is reflected in the big repurposed farm silo that, as of this year, forms the roof of the shelter that’s a focal point of the winery’s grounds. Sitting under its pleasant shade, you have a gorgeous view of their big lake. It’s spectacular at sunsets.

What are you waiting for? Oh, yeah, the weekend, when they’re open!

Where Is This Place?

The website says “New Bloomfield,” but for people in Columbia and Jefferson City, it’s probably better to think of it as east of Hartsburg. It’s about halfway between Hartsburg and New Bloomfield, as the crow flies. Most people will get to it from US 63. If you’re from Columbia, go south on US 63 about 15 miles. If you’re from Jefferson City, go north on US 63 about 12 miles.

From US 63, turn east on Zumwalt Road (it’ll be gravel for most of the rest of the way); it will soon veer right (south) and then wind around a bit, but continue on it about 3.7 miles. In the process, you’ll cross the bridge over Cedar Creek. (Who else remembers the longtime KOPN bluegrass music show called Cedar Crick Pickaway?) At that point, Zumwalt Road becomes County Road 398. Not too long after crossing Cedar Creek, you come to a T: the county road turns sharply left (east), while the drive to ElderBlossom View is the turn to the right. They have a sign; it’s not huge, but it’s there. Follow that drive through the woods and elderberry plantings to the winery.

The hours (starting in mid-October 2021) are Fridays and Saturdays, 4–9 pm, and Sundays, 2–6 pm.

The address is 208 County Road 398, New Bloomfield, MO 65063. Be advised that the road near ElderBlossom View can be flooded and impassable during times of high water, so if you’re unsure, call ahead: 573-268-8597.

They also sell their products at the Columbia Farmers Market.

Keep Your Eye On The View!

They’ve got lots of events planned. You should especially note their upcoming Samhain Festival, 11–4 on Saturday, October 23: a Celtic harvest celebration with merriment, elderberry refreshments, food, music, and art booths.

Follow EBV on Facebook or Instagram, and watch their website: EBV has been hosting live music, including some pretty good rhythm and blues and bluegrass bands. They’re proud of their good sound system, which enables them to amplify the music without blasting it from overly loud speakers.

As the weather gets nicer this fall, ElderBlossom View will be the place to be. It’ll compete with places like Cooper’s Landing, Les Bourgeois, Logboat Brewing, and Rose Music Hall. It’s where all the cool kids will be. I hope to see you there!