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Congressman Roy Blunt got up close and personal with local farmers Tuesday as part of his annual Southwest Missouri Agriculture Tour. KSMU’s Jennifer Moore caught up with the tour at a local winery and has this report.
Walking through the rows of raspberries and blackberries at the Oovvda Winery in north Springfield, Congressman Roy Blunt did just what he does every year on his ‘ag’ tour: asked questions and listened. At this stop, he listened to winery owner Brian Overboe explain how much work goes into making one bottle of raspberry wine.
Overboe says he and his wife use locally-grown raspberries, blueberries, cherries and grapes to make their wines, which range from dry, to semi-dry, to sweet in taste. He said people are surprised to find that not all fruit wines are sweet, and that his blackberry wine tastes very similar to a red grape wine.
He’s particularly proud of the winery’s name, pronounced “Oovvda,” which lends a hint to Overboe’s Norweigian heritage.
That's an acronym for "Overboe's Own Viking Vintner's Distinctive Alcohols," and it sounds similar to the Norweigian "all-purpose" word: uffda.
He says if ever there were a family-run business, this is it. He and his wife pick all of the berries themselves. As for employees, there are none, but the Overboes get some help in the area of marketing from their sons.
The Oovvda winery is located just north of I-44 in Springfield. Also on his annual agriculture tour, Congressman Blunt went to another Springfield winery, a miniature horse farm, and a community-shared farm, as well as beef and dairy farms in Polk County.
For KSMU News, I’m Jennifer Moore.
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