Imagine biting into a chocolate chip scone with brie cheese and berry black reduction complimented with a sip of Berry Black wine at Adam Puchta Winery in Hermann, Missouri. Or how about reveling a Mexican Molé Tort, inspired by the tamale made with a Mexican Chocolate Molé, paired with a glass of Gabrielle's Blush at Rbller Vineyard in New Haven.
Is your mouth watering? Now, expand that palate even further with five additional chocolate infused culinary creations from different, neighboring vineyards, all paired with their original wines. This weekend, 1,200 visitors did just that as they took a tasteful tour on the annual Chocolate Wine Trail.
Since it premiered as a Hermann Missouri Chamber of Commerce event, the Chocolate Wine Trail has become a romantic Valentine's Day tradition for many couples and others, often selling out weeks in advance like it did this year. The first event's success inspired participating wineries in the Hermann area to join forces, showcase original dishes and carefully selected wine from their cellars and promote tourism year-round to the historic, riverside town in the heart of Missouri wine country.
The Hermann Wine Trail, which started in 2004, has continued the Chocolate Wine Trail event and added many others to entice visitors throughout the year. With their five regularly scheduled wine trail events already seeing ticket reservations, organizers are excited to add a new one-day wine trail experience to the mix this spring.
On April 7, the Farmers' Table Wine Trail includes food and wine pairings along the Hermann Wine Trail, with each stop highlighting a different important Missouri agricultural commodity. For example, Hermannhof Winery will highlight dairy with a French yogurt cake paired with Vignoles and Stone Hill Winery will create a cashew chicken salad on pita paired with a Steinberg White wine to showcase poultry.
"Visitors will also be able to meet local farmers behind the food as they taste their way through the seven delectable wine and food pairings," said Patty Held, director of Hermann Wine Trail. "We are very excited to be working with Missouri Common Ground to host this new event, and our winery chefs have created some wonderful dishes using these Missouri commodities. We can be very proud in Missouri all that we have right here and be able to showcase that to visitors."
The buzz for the newest and next Hermann Wine Trail experience has lit up the organization's Facebook page with comments of "oh that one sounds good," "we should go" and "want to go again in April." If Missouri Common Ground and the Hermann Wine Trail organization see success and potential growth with the event, they will consider making it a two-day affair like their other five wine trail experiences.
"We didn't always have five events. We tried various things such as the Norton Wine Trail and Wine 101. We found not everything was popular. However, when we zeroed in on bacon, berries and barbecue, holiday foods, cheese and, of course, chocolate, we found our niche, and they all have been successful," Held said.
With tickets available for remaining 2018 Hermann Wine Trail events, visitors can also attend the Wild Bacon Wine Trail May 5-6, Berries & BarBQ Wine Trail June 28-29, Holiday Fare Wine Trail Nov. 17-18 and Say Cheese Wine Trail Dec. 8-9. The trail is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday during the event, and begins with visitors 21 and older starting the event at any of the participating wineries.
"You go at your leisure during the event, visiting any winery in any order. You can visit some on Saturday and some on Sunday or you can do them all in one day," Held said. "At the very first winery you visit, you receive your logo wine glass that has our Hermann Wine Trail logo. You take that with you to each stop."
At each wine trail, visitors will stop by a variety of Hermann's top vineyards including Adam Puchta Winery, Bias Winery, Dierberg Star Lane Tasting Room, Hermannhof Winery, OakGlenn Winery, Rbller Vineyard and Stone Hill Winery. Even though the annual themes remain the same, the dishes created are new each year.
"We also will include the recipes for the pairings at the wine trails on our website, and the recipes are one of the top three clicks on our website and in our monthly e-newsletter," Held said. "I think the creativity the wineries present with their food and wine pairings is what draw people back to experience each wine trail. For instance, with the Chocolate Wine Trail you would think sweet and dessert, but this year, we had OakGlenn showcase a red pasta and chocolate paired with a Norton, which is a dry, red wine. Our visitors expect creativity and look forward to that creativity the wineries share. It is so much fun."
Held said the wine is often a classic, a new vintage or even an original concoction, such as a spring wine punch Bias Winery is pairing with a fresh veggie pizza with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots at the Farmers' Table Wine Trail in April. Each is a generous pour, receiving at least 1.5 to 2 ounces with each pairing.
The Hermann Wine Trail ticket is also important as well. The staff at each winery will punch the name of their vineyard on the ticket at each stop, allowing wine trail participants to enter a drawing for a large prize package.
"At the end of your trail, you drop your ticket stub into a jar and we have a drawing where one person wins a one-night stay in Hermann at a B&B and a $30 gift certificate from each of the seven wineries. It is quite a package," Held said.
Couples, parents and children, and friends on a weekend getaway are repeat visitors to Hermann Wine Trail events, and Held said they often explore the many other sites, stores and activities available in Hermann. With knowledgeable guides leading guests through the Deutschheim State Historic Site, a walk through the beautiful downtown filled with novelty, artist and unique shops, and embarking on ample outdoors activities such as zip lines, biking and fishing, a Hermann Wine Trail weekend is packed full of food, wine and fun.
"Hermann is just beautiful. If you drive or walk around, it is clean, you are treated with respect, you engage in the German heritage. We have the cutest shops and stores, and we keep getting more," Held said. "There are several wineries that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as many other buildings in town."
Held said the Hermann Wine Trail has a varied group of wineries from small to very large. From Stone Hill's beautiful underground cellars to Bias Winery's gorgeous country setting where the winemaker is often out pruning before graciously attending to her visitors, they are all very different but all very beautiful in their own way, she added.
"Many of our visitors come back and become repeat wine trail guests because they know that our wineries prepare wonderful foods, do it efficiently, service it efficiently and it is a wonderful time," Held said.
Tickets for each wine trail are $30 per person, include a souvenir wine glass and entry into the drawing for a Missouri gift basket and one night's stay in Hermann. Transportation and lodging is not included. Tickets can be purchased in advance online or by calling the Hermann Welcome Center at 800-932-8687. For more information and pairing menus of upcoming wine trail events, visit hermannwinetrail.com or facebook.com/HermannWineTrail.