Larry and Leslie Cox started making wine as a hobby - it was something fun they could do together.
Nine years later, the owners of Twisted Vine Vineyard are selling their own grapes to hobby vintners, enjoying the first fruits of commercial success and now are entertaining dreams of opening their own tasting room and store.
"It started out with a friend of ours making hobby wines, and he shared the recipes with Larry, and one thing led to another," Leslie Cox said. "It gives us something to do as a couple. On the commercial side, in the future we hope to retire and do it full-time."
The Coxes grow their own grapes, but Larry said those grapes primarily are used for his experimental wines as well as for sale to wine hobbyists. For their commercial wines, he said he uses only Missouri-grown grapes - some of them from local growers.