But the most intimate part of the experience is the conversation. Without crowds of guests to cater to, the vintners are eager to chat, sharing stories about how they turned a hobby into a dream job, about how they came up with label names like Sneaky Pete or about how a neighbor helped to capture their runaway Afghan hound by jumping from the back of a moving pickup truck to tackle it. Lost in a good story, a five-flight tasting can quickly turn into six or seven (“Just try this one for fun”).

These chats also yielded valuable tips.

Adrienne Lewis, a host at Valiant Vineyards, the winery and bed-and-breakfast in Vermillion where we stayed, directed us to a hidden oasis along the Missouri River. We wound through tall corn pastures and down a gravel road before finding the narrow trail that opened to a vast, sandy beach along the river’s banks with lush, wooded hills as a backdrop: a coastal paradise in the middle of the country. We plopped camping chairs down in the sand and enjoyed a bottle of rhubarb wine as the sun glistened off the rippling water.

It was a worthy detour in a tasting tour that started about an hour and a half north, at the Baumbergers’ winery, which epitomizes the upstart nature of the state’s wine scene.There were no signs on the highway alerting us to the approaching vineyard, and by the time I saw the canvas sign that said “Winery Open” clinging to a fence, I had already passed the first driveway. A second one looped us around the Baumbergers’ white farmhouse, past a few rows of grapes and pine trees in front of a sea of soybeans and up to the low-slung shed they constructed this summer as their tasting room.

The couple began selling wine three years ago; before building the small shed, which features a wooden bar and bland concrete floors, they offered tastings around their kitchen table. On this sunny afternoon, we had the place all to ourselves as Ms. Baumberger walked us through their offerings, from semidry to sweet, while Mr. Baumberger picked grapes with students from the local high school.

Taking a break from picking, Mr. Baumberger returned to the tasting room. With the fast-talking energy of a pitchman, he offered us a Sassy Rita, a frozen cocktail that mixes pink lemonade with Sassy Pants, one of their wines that uses black chokeberries. Not long after, when we inquired about a good place for lunch, Ms. Baumberger offered us some locally produced pulled pork that they were serving the students. We obliged, and it was a great choice: smoky and juicy, a reminder that while people around here might still be learning how to do wine, they’ve had smoked meats down for a while.

Our next stop, Tucker’s Walk Vineyard, was housed on the lower level of Dave and Sue Greenlee’s dark, wood-sided home in Garretson. We sat before a plate of delicious sausage and cheese, with a postcard-perfect view of a green slope lined with vines that include hardy grape varietals: St. Croix, Frontenac gris and Marquette.