In Memory: David Fansler- Stover Wine Pioneer

When Asher and I decided to start growing grapes and making wine in Missouri, we knew of two people who had previously tried it locally- David and Marschall Fansler. They owned Grey Bear Winery south of Stover near the Lake of the Ozarks in the early 2000s- complete with vineyard and winery. Our family enjoyed many great experiences at Grey Bear when they were in operation. Shortly after we ordered our first grapes in the fall of 2012, we reached out to the Fansler’s and a wonderful friendship quickly bloomed over a shared love of growing grapes and making wine.

Through the course of this friendship, we fondly referred to Dave as the “mad scientist”. He had an absolute passion for sharing the wine that he so deeply loved to make. Not only that, if you visited their winery back when it was in full swing, he’d come to the table and do “custom blends” for you in order to show the different flavor profiles of the wines he made. We always joke that we were self taught from all of our failures, but the truth is, the vast majority of what we learned in those earliest days were lessons from Dave.

He took us out into his vineyard and taught us to prune, he visited our “patch of paradise” when it was a field and helped us plant the very first vines. Given that it had rained so much leading up to that, we had to literally bucket out water from the holes to plant the vines and Dave made the sign of the Cross over his chest with every plant and said “these vines might need a miracle”. He had a wonderful sense of humor, I can still hear his laugh when I think back on all the times he was imparting his wisdom on us. He showed us step-by-step how to make wine in his cellar, the basement of their super unique round winery building, and when they were out of town he’d always answer when we’d call for help (which was often).

Dave had many interests during his lifetime and the love of wine making led him to obtain an education in it from UC-Davis. With this knowledge in hand, he and Marschall had a winery and vineyard in Colorado before making the move to Stover. They introduced the town to grapes varieties like Norton and Vignoles back when folks only knew names like Concord and Cabernet, and they were the true pioneers for a state on the local wine renaissance. You might recall the wine he bragged on the most, his beloved “Chicks and Tiggers”. It had an unmistakable sweet cherry flavor and was adored by locals and visitors alike. The Fansler’s were the ones who showed us that people could have a winery in Stover.

Most importantly, Dave had a strong faith and deep love for his wife, Marschall. We could see this most profoundly when we were sharing wine and laughs with them and hearing their many stories of travel and life together. We were saddened to hear from Marschall a few months back that David passed away on Aug 25, 2025. We will forever be grateful to Dave and Marschall for not only sharing their knowledge and passion with us, but for their friendship. Dave was quite simply an awesome dude and the kind of guy you wanted to share a drink with and hear his stories.

We will always be grateful for the lessons, the laughs, and the friendship.

Looking over the “prospective” East Vineyard back in Spring of 2013, just prior to our first planting. This field is now a full producing vineyard