Hermann, MO Wineries & Civil War

We camped in the Hermann City park campground in an electric & water site.  As it turned out, it became a water site, but no electricity due to a power cord that allowed us to connect our 50amp motor home into a 30amp power post.  The cord was defective and we didn't have electrical power Friday night and Saturday.   We do have a large solar panel that supplies power to our 6 large batteries and they powered us fine, except for a/c and heat.   The generator supplied enough power for both of them and to also recharge the batteries when they ran down.  It's nice to have a self contained motorhome when you need it.

There was a Civil War reenactment today at 1pm.  Due to the electrical problem we missed most of the reenactment but did make it in time to see everyone in their uniforms and dresses.  They had camps throughout the town and were cooking in pots over open fires.  It was neat to see how they took it so seriously.

Saturday we managed to visit 4 wineries in Hermann and tasted the wine in three of them.  One winery wanted $5 for 4 tastings and the cheapest bottle was over $20.  Scratch that one from the list.  Gerry went to another tasting at the Hermannhof winery and bought a couple nice wines there.  They had a large outdoor area where you could enjoy a bottle of their wine.

The winery we enjoyed the most was the Adam Puchta Winery on the outskirts of Hermann.   It is located down a dusty gravel road and sits on a gently sloping hillside with nice views.  There was a large wedding party out on a part of the lawn and everyone was dressed in suits and beautiful dresses.  It was an upscale wedding to say the least.

 The wine tasting room had people two or three deep waiting for their turn.  It costs $5 for tasting of 14 different wines and we really liked four of them which Gerry proceeded to purchase.  We did get a 15% discount since we did the wine tasting, and they were reasonably priced.  

It also was a very old winery that has survived for over 157 years, including Prohibition when they were closed down.  They did find a way to continue to produce wine during the time and survived Prohibition.

The wineries are used for wedding showers & weddings.  There were a number of young ladies sitting in the grass and enjoying some vino as they celebrated wedding showers.  There was also a group of young "ladies" dressed in skin tight dresses and very drunk walking around.  It seems they had rented one of the trolleys for the day to travel between wineries and made full use of the wine tasting facilities.  One young lady was practically carried to the trolley and the driver had to help her aboard.  They were having a ball and at least they weren't driving their own cars.

The next winery tasting took place at the Stone Hill Winery and it was by far the busiest winery we have ever seen.  The parking lot was full and just as we got there 4 buses pulled up and disgorged their load.  What a mess.  We decided to eat lunch at the old restaurant there, but there was a 45 minute wait to get a brat sandwich.  Nope, not for us.  They did have a nice display outside of the entrance and actually had grape vines on the hillside near the winery.

Stone Hill grape vines

Nice photo backdrop

Downtown Hermann with church and courthouse

Hermann, Missouri

Slight change of plans.  We decided to visit Hermann, MO and take in some of the winery tours they have there.  There are a number of wineries in the area and we want to get an early start and visit the Stone Hill winery and then a couple more after that.  We made the 140 mile drive without incident and skirted around St. Louis, MO on I-270 along with thousands of others.  It wasn't as bad as driving around the Washington, DC beltway and we made very good time.

We are camped in the Hermann City park in the overflow area.  They have  a full hookup area, but it was full and we are in a large parking lot with water and electric for the unit.  Since we will only be here until Sunday morning, it will work out fine.  There are about 8-10 other units in the area, but they have room for 20 so it isn't crowded.

We got here early enough to explore the town for a couple hours and also do some geocaching.  Managed to pick up 6 caches in a short time period.

The campground is about 4 blocks from the Stone Hill winery, so that is convenient.  We drove by there this evening to check it out and hopefully we can get there early enough to avoid some of the crowds.

They are having a "generic" Civil War re-enactment this weekend and we chatted with one of the people who would be out there on the battlefield on Saturday.  It begins at 1pm and we hope we can make it, if we aren't loaded from all the wine tasting.  

As you may have noticed, I didn't have time to write a blog the last few days and thought I'd write one for each of the past 3 days.  Hope it doesn't confuse anyone.

Sunday we plan on heading down to Branson, MO and taking in some shows and checking the place out.  We always have a good time in Branson and find lots of things to keep us busy.

BTW:  Diesel was $3.75/gallon at a BP station today.  We filled up the tank and are getting around 8.8 mpg.  Not bad for a home.