Yep, that's right, it's another little out of the way place. You may have heard of Altus. A few years back, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie invaded the town and it was the setting of the very first "The Simple Life."

Quite frankly, I've been to Altus a number of times, and I don't ever remember seeing a Sonic there (where they worked). I have a feeling, they went into either Ozark, Alma or Van Buren a lot.

However, there is one episode of the show where they go to a local restaurant. I recognized the place as the Scottish restaurant that used to be right on the main square in the middle of the town. When I went back, the restaurant is no longer there. I have no idea why. A lot of Scots settled this area, and it was my understanding that the restaurant had been there for a long time.

As we were leaving Arkansas, I dragged the kids into Altus, which is about fifteen or so miles off the I-40. They weren't happy, but I had to do what I had to do. I noticed a lot had changed about the town, and I have to wonder if that was Paris and Nicole's doing.

In Arkansas, the town of Altus is known for other reasons. Back in 1880, two European families settled in the Arkansas River Valley, attracted by its fertile sandy soil and moderate climate. The two pioneers of the American wine industry were Jacob Post, who came to America in 1872, and Johann Wiederkehr, who immigrated to Altus from Switzerland in 1880. Area conditions reminded them so much of the fine wine-making regions of Germany and Switzerland that they each established vineyards, which was the beginning of a wine heritage and viticulture in Arkansas.

As the story goes (as told to me by my friend's husband who grew up in Altus) the Post family owned Mount Bethel Winery. When the father died, he gave Mount Bethel to one son and gave the other son the rights to the Post name. The son with the Post name, opened his own winery, appropriately named Post Winery. The wineries are basically across the street from one another.

My friend's husband, Fred, is an amateur wine maker. Being friends with both the Post brothers, after they pick their grapes each year, they allow Fred to follow behind and gather grapes that weren't initially ripe during the first picking, and he also gathers the fallen grapes off the ground. He makes the best wine! (more on this later).

The picture above was taken next to the newest winery, called Chateau Aux Arc, (pronounced "ozark") established in 1998 by Audrey Houseand and the pink truck sits next to their "tasting" house. As you leave I-40, and take the winding road into Altus, this is the first winery you'll pass. On the way out of Altus, as I stopped to snap that pic, CC and I were all for popping into the the Chateau to do a little wine tasting....we were stopped by the whining from the back seat (z did not want to stop, he just wanted to get home, and besides, he can't drink wine anyway).

Below is the vineyard that was just on the other side of the pink truck.



As you go down the road, closer to Altus, you pass both Mount Bethel and Post. Wiederkehr's sits off the road and is by far the nicest of them all. They have a great restaurant there, offer tours of the winery, and have a gift shop. They have just the best munchies made from their wine. For instance, Cabernet Sauvinon hot fudge sauce...ummmmmm, it's sooooo good. And after you taste a few of their wines, you can also taste all their munchies. Each year, Wiederkehr's has a big October Fest.

I used to drink their wine all the time, and as a matter of fact, my very first DWI was courtesy of a half gallon of their wine (i was on my final glass out of the bottle when I was pulled over). My personal favorite....their Pink Catawba. I can't drink wine anymore. It wrecks my system. Both of my DWI's were after drinking wine.

The picture below is on the way to Altus. At the end of the road, you can see the tiny sign for a Bed and Breakfast. As we went by, the had a big sign proclaiming, "Bikers Welcome" The winding, tree-lined country roads are one of the things I love about Arkansas.



Each year, Altus is the home of the Grape Festival right in the town square. Local bands play in the gazebo(if you like country and/or bluegrass) and each winery sets up tasting booths. One guy confessed to us that the wines they use for the booths are overstocks or discontinued wines. However, you can taste as many as you want, as much as you want. One year, I was drunk by 11:30 am and we had to whip into the scottish restaurant so that Laurie could get some food and sober up.

Around the perimeter of the town square, arts and crafts booths set up.

If you get bored with music, tastings and shopping, the wineries offer free shuttles to each of their places where you can take a tour and do (even more) tastings.

The festival has an amateur wine making contest, and each year Fred places first in at least one catagory (his Plum wine is to die for!). The last year we went, Mark even made him personalized labels for his bottles (and we'll believe those lovely labels swayed the judges votes).

One of the other reasons why I wanted to go to Altus on the way home is because of a bar that used to sit on the other side of the square. When I wrote "Whiskey and Words" I envisioned a few areas of Arkansas for the setting. I originally used "The Copper Penny" as the bar's name in the story. The Copper Penny is in Ozark (i think, it's been a long time) and my friend and I had followed a band we were friendly with to The Copper Penny one night to watch them play. It was a wild night in a small Arkansas town. Who knew, but that's another story for another time.

I changed the name of the bar to the one in Altus. But when the editor of Dead Mule read the story, she said the name was over the top and unbelievable and asked that I change it. So I went back to the Copper Penny. But I wanted a shot of the bar so that she could see a place like that actually existed (she's from Arkansas). However, the bar is no longer there. The name? you ask....The Dead Pecker Inn...nope, you just can't make that shit up folks.

Another activity at the grape fest is a contest, ala LUCY, where you compete with others to see who can stomp the most grapes in a barrel, the fastest and with only their bare feet.

as you leave Altus and head back to the interstate, you get great views of the distant Ozark Mountains.



I miss the grape fest. No where else can you spend a warm summer day, listening to music, shopping for arts and crafts and getting a free drunk on tasty wine.

God Bless America! lol