A Sisters' Passion: Edg-Clif Vineyard & Winery's New Twist on Missouri Winemaking Fun
Steffie and Cyndy, the passion behind the award-winning Edg-Clif wines.
The history of grapes and wine stretches back millennia, intertwining human agriculture, culture, and innovation. Wild grapevines once grew across Eurasia. The earliest clear archaeological evidence of intentional winemaking comes from Neolithic sites in Georgia, dating to about 6000–5800 BCE. Chemical analysis of pottery jars revealed tartaric acid residues, grape pollen, and other markers of fermented grape wine. Today, two sisters are putting a new twist on growing grapevines and making wine. Steffie and Cyndy, the passion behind Edg-Clif Wines, have been producing award-winning wines, have a charming vintage barn tasting room overlooking their beautiful vineyards and an amazing event-based wine club for happy sippers who visit the vineyard.
Edge-Clif's Hand Picked Wine Club takes part in the harvesting and observing the initial processing of the grapes.
What sets this winery apart is a true family legacy, where the universe seems to have aligned the moon and stars to create the perfect recipe for an extraordinary winery. In 2008, Steffie and her husband Stephen, alongside Cyndy and her husband Girard, planted 2,000 Chambourcin vines, rooting their grandparents’ legacy deeper. Those initial four acres expanded to seven, and by 2011, the historic Showbarn, once a livestock haven, transformed into a winery. It opened its doors to visitors, offering five wines and a new chapter for Edg-Clif. The winery has become a gathering place for weddings, reunions, and picnics. By 2015, a brewery joined the estate, serving craft beers brewed on-site, and three historic cottages—Vineyard, Clover, and York—were restored for guests seeking respite.
The Wine Club is a social club devoted to involving members in grape-growing and winemaking. Through the seasons, Edg-Clif shares the experiences and celebrations of creating uniquely good boutique wines. From pruning the vines in March and bottling wines in April, to harvesting in the fall and tasting the premium wines in the winter. The club has a small annual fee that includes four events a year, plus a free bottle of wine to take home from each event. Members can also attend two bonus events: June Brewery Day and The Holiday Vertical Tasting of premium wines. Giving members up to six events with food, wine tasting, entertainment, educational opportunities plus up to five bottles of wine and a free craft beer tasting.
Wine Clubbers get to learn about the harvest by doing.
The Wine Club in action.
Steffie's husband Stephen is in on the harvest.
Beautiful grapes soon to be tasty sipping Chambourcin.
After lunch, the Wine Clubbers watch the smahing of the grapes.
The Wine Club is learning, having fun, and tasting the fruits of their labor.
The grape tag team of Steffie and Cyndy harvest 2500 gallons of grape juice into award-winning wines.
Cyndy tells all in this explosive grape whistleblower interview.
Cyndy has been making wine since 2010, when Edg-Clif harvested their first four acres of grapes, and now turns up to 2500 gallons of juice into award-winning wines. She is involved in the Grape and Wine Institute at the University of Missouri and the Missouri Wine Technical Group. She finds "the crush" to be the most exciting part of wine-making, but the fermentation is still her favorite, getting to smell the fruits’ character mixed with yeast bubbling away and guide the changes it undergoes as it becomes wine.
Steffie has a B.S. in Agriculture/Horticulture, and a BA in Economics. She has served as President of Gateway Greening, Vice President/Treasurer of Gateway Professional Horticulturist Association (GPHA), and President of the Horticulture Co-op of Metro St. Louis. She has been a landscape designer for over 25 years, has taught classes on gardening and viticulture, writes a monthly article for Gateway Gardener Magazine, is a frequent speaker, serves on the Members Board of the Missouri Botanical Garden as past President, the Board of the Troutlodge YMCA of the Ozarks, the Missouri Wine & Grape Marketing and Research Council and the Missouri Grape Growers Association Board. After serving on the Washington County Chamber Board as President has been even more committed to improving and nurturing the local business community.
Harvesting begins at 7AM—winery, later in the day.
A rich Vidal Blanc grape harvest at Edg-Clif—box of goodness.
Cyndy and her husband Girard snip away at the motherload harvest.
You can spot the passion a million miles away.
Harvest is the major step in the winemaking process. Bringing in the grapes efficiently and at the right time depends on science, environment, and logistics. It starts with following the ripening process from the beginning by sampling grapes for weeks, while using experience and data to predict the best day to harvest. All the while, calculating how much to bring to make the different styles of wines, and preparing the winery with operational equipment and supplies to optimize the fruit and juice as it is processed at the crush and in the hours and days that follow. The cellar staff needs to be ready for many different scenarios to achieve the best outcome. Each harvest is never the same; there are always questions to answer and unexpected equipment failures to overcome.
The winemaking process is really a combination of science and art. It tests the winemaker's sensory and laboratory skills at the same time. Looking for the right colors and reactions, tasting for flaws and attributes, smelling the fermentations, feeling for the right temperature changes as juice turns into wine, and listening to the equipment and musk bubbling becomes a totally immersive experience. But at each stage calculations are made, data recorded, and ingredients researched and chosen to produce the correct outcome. There is no set recipe, because the ingredients differ with every harvest. The product must be treated like a living thing that changes and evolves during the process and continues to improve as it matures.
They even get awards for their bottle labels—stop. Ha ha. I want what they're drinking.
Award-winning wines are created through a combination of art and science—passion and love.
There are many different paths the winemaking process can follow. It’s the desired end-result that determines the path. Light and crisp or deep and rich. Sweet and fruity or smoky, spicy and peppery. These differences come directly from the winemaking process and are created through a combination of art and scientific techniques. We hope you can come and visit Edg-Clif sometime. ~ Steffie & Cyndy.
Edg-Clif Vineyard, Winery & Brewery
10035 Edg-Clif Drive, Potosi, MO 63664
573-438-4741 · edg-clif.com
GET OUT THERE!
Take a hike. Start a business. Collect something. Grow some grapes. Move. Do anything. Do something. Get out there, that sunken sofa won't miss you—time's a-wasting!
—Pics & Words by Supreme Leader T. Smugala.
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