Warm Up in Wine Country This Winter

When it comes to cozy escapes, it doesn’t get much better than this — a room with a view, indoor pool, restaurant, hiking paths and wine country. Use Mount Magazine State Park as your home base while you enjoy the great outdoors, shopping, and wineries this winter.

Mount Magazine – Towering over Arkansas Wine Country, Mount Magazine is the state’s highest peak at 2,753 feet above sea level. The state park located at the top of the mountain has long been a popular respite for campers, hikers and horseback riders. Now the exquisite lodge and cabins lure even more people. The Lodge at Mount Magazine, the park’s resort lodge, comprises 60 guest rooms, the Skycrest Restaurant, a conference center, a business center, an indoor heated swimming pool, a fitness center, and a game room. Set on the mountain’s south bluff, the lodge offers breathtaking views of the Petit Jean River Valley and distant Blue Mountain Lake. Forty-three guest rooms have balconies and 17 feature spa tubs. Thirteen fully-equipped cabins with deck hot tubs share the same bluff and panoramic view.

Shopping – Don’t underestimate the small town shopping opportunities available at the base of the mountain in towns like Booneville and Paris. You’ll find antiques and small boutiques, and even the parent company of the Warren’s shoe chain.

Wine Country – Several wineries operate in Altus and Wiederkehr Village – Chateau Aux Arc Vineyards & Winery, Mount Bethel Winery, Post Winery, Wiederkehr Wine Cellars, Cowie Wine Cellars & Vineyards, Neumeier Winery, and Dionysus Wine & Brew. Each offers tours and tasting rooms. Some offer extra amenities such as a gift shop, a restaurant, an RV park, or a bed and breakfast inn. Cowie also preserves the viticultural past of The Natural State with its Arkansas Historic Wine Museum filled with winemaking artifacts and biographical histories of winemakers. It is the only wine museum in the nation dedicated to the wine history of a state.

Dining – Nothing says romance like an evening meal at Weinkeller Restaurant at Wiederkehr Wine Cellars. Weinkeller serves excellent Swiss and other European specialties in charming, candlelit surroundings. The original wine cellar, hand-dug by Johann Andreas Wiederkehr in 1880, was converted to house the Weinkeller in 1967. The restaurant is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and for years has been voted “Most Romantic” and “Best Ethnic” by the readers of Arkansas Times magazine.