The unique French toast offerings that are the hallmark of breakfasts at the historic Inns at St. Albans pose a very interesting challenge to wine-lovers. Most of the time, the simple egg-dipped bread fried in butter is the bastion of breakfast or brunch, meals where the drink of choice is more often a cocktail like a bloody mary or mimosa, or maybe a café au lait.

Back in the day, there was little crossover between restaurant cuisines. Italian restaurants served only Italian food and wine; French restaurants only the food and drink of that country, and so on. Any mixing of the cuisines was deemed suspicious, and the general consensus among gourmands was that chefs could not excel at dishes from more than one country.

Wine may not spring to mind when the menu features such dishes as fried green tomatoes, flaky Southern biscuits and a mouth-watering version of Southern fried chicken, with mashed potatoes, pan gravy and collard greens. Still, the many flavors in each dish, not to mention the acidic, savory, salty and buttery notes that one tastes with each bite, are actually quite compatible with a number of wines from around the world.

    In some quarters, especially among spelunkers, Missouri is known as “the cave state.” It has over 6,000 registered caves, and there are likely many more buried deep within the earth, primarily in the Ozark Mountains but even in Hannibal, Jefferson City, Springfield and around St. Louis.

In St. Louis, September signals the start of autumn – both in perception and reality. In the coming weeks, trees and bushes will move from luscious green to vibrant red, yellow, rust and gold.  There’s a pronounced crispness in the breeze.  Sweaters and light jackets might make a first appearance.  That is the way September goes in the northern hemisphere.

It was once common that the majority of smaller vintners were farmers whose grape vines shared acreage with orchards, olive groves and even fields with corn, wheat and vegetables. Horses, cows, pigs and chickens might be roaming the grounds. In other words, a working farm.