Dia Duit Friends and Family,
Dia Duit is “God Be With You” in Gaelic, a traditional Irish greeting!
It’s hard to believe summer is winding down and we are getting ready for harvesting grapes, beginning our second vintage of Shamrock Hills Wines. We started our summer with an amazing European trip with our friends at the Mercantile and travel tribe from Excelsior Springs. We went on a 7-day cruise along the Rhine River, ending with a few days in Lake Como, Italy to wind down our trip. Some of us went early and had a few extra days to explore Amsterdam beyond the Red-Light District and experience a taste of culture, a lot of history, and yes, even some authentic gouda cheese which they pronounce “Houda”.
We had our share of wines from where wines began along Germany and France and where a lot of our grapes, which we now grow in Missouri, came from originally. We had a few hiccups on our trip, like the government shutting the river down due to high waters, not just for the cruise ships but all ships. The river is their main form of transportation of goods. However, we didn’t let that stop us from having fun as we explored Düsseldorf and Cologne Germany, floating along the Rhine River Gorge where we played a game of “Here A Castle, there a Castle, everywhere a Castle”. Beautiful scenery and a little Rüdesheim coffee to take off the chill!
We ended our floating in Rüdesheim, from there on the rivers were too high to travel, so from there we took a bus to Strasbourg, France, which is borderline Germany and France, and did bus transportation to get to the rest of our excursions. However, before we left Rüdesheim we got to do one of our tours there—some of us went to the Music Box Museum and others followed a tour guide like little ducks to a family-owned winery that was down in a cave. We learned about their vineyard and the prominent grapes there, as well as tasted a few of their wines and bought a couple of bottles or a case to share with our travel tribe or to enjoy on our journey to Strasbourg.
But our wine adventures didn’t stop there. Instead of doing our last assigned tour with the ship, we decided along with Jim and Daphne Bowman to do a little exploring in the Alsace Wine Region with our tour guide. He showed us a little of the beautiful countryside, including some beautiful vineyards that Mike and Jim went exploring in, and to two family-owned wineries in the region. We learned how their region was different and how they had to get approval from the government if they wanted to grow something other than what the government would allow.
Then of course we ended our trip with Italy . . . aw Italy, where the wine flows continuously. It was truly a wonderful trip.
Shamrock Hills wants to continue the Travel Tribe of Excelsior Springs—because going on a trip with people from your community really makes the trip special and turns those lemons into Limoncello when those travel hiccups occur. That’s why we decided to host a custom Ireland Tour next summer from May 21 – June 3, 2025.
We will take a coach tour through the hills and valleys and countryside of Ireland seeing all of the big highlights of things you think of when you think of Ireland. We will be breaking the travel up with stops along the way and multiple days in the same town, doing day trips to nearby towns. While the wineries in Ireland are scarce, there is still much to see and do and experience in Ireland. We will be visiting the famous Guinness Store House and Brewery, a few big distilleries, Blarney Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Giant’s Causeway, Atlantic Sheep Dogs, and a night staying in the Castle—to name just a few of the highlights. In addition to group excursions, there will be time for you to explore many of these on your own as well.
For more information, please reach out to Anna Sue Spohn and Itchin’ 2 Go Travel, LLC at annasue.spohn@voyanetwork.com. Because this is a motor coach tour, we are limited to the number of people who can join us for this epic adventure. Who knows, you might even come home with your own kilt, or bodhran!
Sorry for the lengthy letter! It’s going to start getting busy here at Shamrock Hills and the Shamrock Ranch, so until next time! Enjoy our August edition!
Slainte,
Denise and Mike