Hermannhof Winery

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: May 02, 2017

Favorite Wine: Norton

Norton Wine Review: Six years ago I left an embarrassingly negative report on our downtown Hermann, MO wine tasting experience. I'm glad we went out of our way to revisit. Gone are the plastic sippy cups, replaced with generous stemware pours and a clean environment. The owners offer now their California vineyard vinifera wines at a separate tasting venue (Dierberg-Star Lane-Three Saints Tasting Room) and present at Hermannhof Winery fourteen Missouri grape & fruit wines. We were quite surprised with their refreshingly dry Vidal Blanc ($17), a Chambourcin ($20) aged only in stainless steel and a mature 2009 Missouri oaked $23 Norton (10% Cab Sauv). Often Norton wines are sold at too young of a vintage age, but Hermannhof has held this offering back nicely so that the public can learn of this grape's true mature deep flavors. Laurie, our hostess, was truly delightful and a great saleslady. Before she was finished with us she had zipped out cheese 'n sausage bits and convinced us that we truly did want Hermannhof's Norton Port ($30). Note that $6/5 sample tasting fees are not waived from bills, but a 15% discount is given for 4-11 bottles / 25% discount on 12 or more bottle purchases.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Feb 20, 2017

We prefer sweet, not many to choose from. So busy we could not get in acknowledged to do a tasting.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Jun 16, 2012

Favorite Wine: Norton

I normally agree with the Norton Travelers, but 100 percent disagree with their Norton assessment. There Norton is by far one of the best that I have tasted - a combination of power and taste. They must have had a bad batch. The staff was very enjoyable and probably the best in the Hermann Area. My wife and I really enjoyed the winery too - I didn't notice any uncleanliness. I also enjoyed their Chambourcin very well as well as their Germantown. I have a bottle of their '04 Norton and I'm letting it sit. Hopefully when I open this bottle it will please me as much as it did there.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Dec 03, 2011

Favorite Wine: Germantown or Stagswood Red

We visited during Oktoberfest and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. In fact, it was the only winery we visited twice that weekend. Didn't like all the wines, of course, but they ones we did are among our favorites. Highly recommended.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Sep 12, 2011

My favorite wine of all the 7 we went to in Hermann, love the vignoles, the staff very very friendly and knowledgeable.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Sep 08, 2011

Favorite Wine: champagne

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Jul 04, 2011

Favorite Wine: vidal blanc

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Jul 04, 2011

Favorite Wine: White Lady

We've been coming back to this winery for years. I will acknowledge, like the Norton Wine Travelers have said, the tasting room is not this winery's strongpoint generally. Just getting rid of the plastic tasting vials would go a long way. In the tasting room's defense, though, the sheer volume of visitors would make it difficult to keep that much glass clean and ready. With that weak point admitted up front, let me move to the strong points. If you get an chance to go on a Norton Wine Trail Tour Event, you will get a different tasting experience by being hosted in their cellar which is quite nice and you will get a personalized, educational experience. Even without the tasting room upgrade, the grounds are unique and attractive from the moment you park amid grapevines, walk up to the main building, encounter the expansive sausage case and then stroll outside to relax with a bottle of wine in the large biergarten to be matched by none anywhere else. (Relaxing on the grounds with bottle and some eats is a must. Plus they exchange the plastic vial with a glass when you purchase some wine by the bottle or glass to drink onsite. The wines. The dry reds are so, so. They have a very nice sweet Concord. Very deep rich flavor in addition to the usual sweetness. We're not white wine drinkers but we buy two whites from Hermannhof by the case. Germantown and White Lady of Starkenburg. They're not too dry with only a little sweetness. White Lady being the dryer of the two and our favorites. We also like their Vignoles as an occasional dessert wine.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Mar 08, 2010

Favorite Wine: 04 Norton

Maybe the owners of Hermannhof read the above comments and amended their tasting room. The half-California wine, half-Missouri wine tasting room was odd. I stuck with the Missouri wines. The Norton was actually quite nice, which makes me suspect that maybe the Norton Wine Travelers hit it on a bad day when the wine was old and dead? I liked the Norton aged in French oak...very different from the green white oak barrels most Missouri wineries use. The Chambourcin was elegant.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Apr 04, 2009

Neat place to visit. Didn't love the wines.