Missouri wine country: where American wine almost began

Ask most people where American wine began and they'll say Napa. But the first place the United States government recognized as an official wine region, an American Viticultural Area, was Augusta, Missouri, on June 20, 1980. Napa Valley got its designation eight months later.

A wine belt nobody remembers

German immigrants founded Hermann on the Missouri River in 1837, and the limestone bluffs reminded them of the Rhine. Within a few decades, Missouri was one of the country's leading wine states. A Hermann Norton won a gold medal at the 1873 Vienna World Exposition, and Stone Hill Winery grew into one of the largest wineries in the world.

Missouri's grape knowledge even helped save French wine. When the phylloxera louse devastated European vineyards in the late 1800s, American rootstocks that resisted it, championed by growers in Missouri and Texas, were shipped to France for grafting.

Then Prohibition arrived. Vineyards were pulled out, and Stone Hill's great cellars were used to grow mushrooms. It took decades for the region to come back.

The grape to taste

Norton is a native American grape and Missouri's official state grape. It's dark and high in acid, with wild berry and earthy notes you won't find in Bordeaux or Napa. As a sommelier, I think it's one of the most interesting wines in the country, if you taste it without expecting Cabernet.

A weekend there

Stay in Hermann, where the old wineries sit along brick streets above the river. Spend a day in Augusta, or bike the Katy Trail between tasting rooms. Fall is harvest season. Spring is greener and the tasting rooms are quieter.

I'm writing a book about the Midwest's lost wine history, and planning a Missouri wine weekend is one of my favorite things to do. If you'd like one built around your pace, with the right inn and the right tastings, tell me about it.