History of Missouri Wine Production

Missouri’s vineyards at one time supplied the premier wine in all of the USA. The area of Missouri known as Hermann was regarded as the core of this young nation’s wine industry. Even now, this state boasts a flourishing business in bed and breakfast locales nestled in the state’s wine country, with vineyard tours a favorite of vacationers and wine enthusiasts – especially tours featuring Missouri’s Katy Trail.

Although “true” wine aficionados – or wine snobs – may smirk at the idea of this heartland state as a center of fine wine production, Missouri’s history dispels any doubt. The state first developed a name for itself as a wine-making center worth noting around 1830, with the arrival of settlers from Germany’s Rhine River region in Missouri’s Hermann area, situated to the west of the city of St. Louis. These expert wine-growing immigrants started conducting their own botanical trials with grape crops able to flourish in the state’s own fertile river valley, aided by Missouri’s climate which is fortuitously suited for wine-growing.

One of the state’s red wine vintages was named best in its variety at a Viennese competition. From the time of Prohibition in the 1920’s until the decade of the ’60s, Missouri’s wine industry was suspended. But gradually, wineries in the state are starting to spring back up and reclaim Missouri’s proud wine legacy. The state’s History Museum even holds an annual event celebrating this tradition. Called the Norton Wine Festival, it showcases the vintage referred to as “America’s Red”.

Now, the state once again is a center of wine production, with over 70 vineyards which yield three-quarters of a million gallons of premier wine annually. At Stone Hill and St. James visitors will find two of the most renowned vineyards in the state of Missouri, as well as a number of new wineries including our own Weingarten Vineyard.

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