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We left St. Louis on Saturday, July 1 heading for the town of Hermann and the Missouri Wine Country. Hermann is a quaint old town, along the Missouri River, settled by German immigrants in 1837. When they arrived, they (along with Italian immigrants) established over 60 wineries. By the 1880’s, they were producing over two million gallons of wine a year, second in the nation to New York. Of course, Prohibition proved catastrophic for the Missouri wine industry and it was not until the 1960’s that rebuilding began. Today, Missouri has 56 wineries that sell 3.5 million bottles a year. Fourteen of those wineries are located within 30 miles of Hermann.

Upon arriving in Hermann, we settled into the City Campground and decided to go downtown to see if there was any action. Of course, there was! We stopped in at the Hermanhoff Winery whose marquee promised live music on the patio. We tasted some of their offerings and selected a white wine made in the Gewürztraminer style, along with a Hermann-made summer sausage and a French baguette, fresh out of the oven. They even loaned us a knife and cutting board. We settled into our spot on the patio and quickly got into the German spirit with live music by Rich Cullen on his accordion, complete with taped backup orchestra music. It was a hoot! We loved watching the older folks dance and enjoy themselves, as we were.

We then decided to drive up to the highest point in Hermann to the Stone Hill Winery. The view of the village from that vantage point is quite beautiful. Inside the tasting room we found a beautiful sunroom and fountain that beckoned us to stay awhile but, instead, we had a glass of wine on the grounds overlooking the town and admired the beautiful vineyards. There is nothing any more beautiful to me that a vineyard loaded with fruit. We decided to stop off for dinner in town before heading back to Bubba for the night.

The campground was virtually full and that always offers great people-watching. Jerry, who seems to always be the social magnet of every campground, made a new friend. Dennis Boston and his wife, Virginia, were from Lebanon, MO. They were the nicest people. In fact, Dennis made homemade ice cream for everyone camped around him two nights in a row. It was divine and a vivid reminder there are still some really nice people in the world.

Over the next three days, we visited nine more wineries, including Adam Puchta, Oak Glenn, Sugar Creek, Montelle, Augusta, Balducci, Robbler, Bommarito, and Bias. Generally speaking, the climate in Missouri lends itself to the successful growing of white varieties of grapes, instead of red. We found what we consider the best white wines at Montelle. However, we found the best (really good) reds at Bommarito. The owner is Italian, not German – maybe that’s why! Stone Hill has pretty drinkable wines across the board. They also have a wonderful restaurant, we’ve been told by several, but we didn’t eat there.