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is a city designated in 1842 as the county seat of Gasconade County, Missouri, United States. It is near the center of the Missouri Rhineland and south of the Missouri River. The population was 2,674 at the 2000 census.
This was an area of vineyards and wineries established by German immigrants during the mid-19th century. After Prohibition shut down the industry, it was not until the 1960s that it began to be revived. Officially designated in 1983, the Hermann AVA (American Viticultural Area) was one of the earliest recognized by the federal government. The seven wineries in the AVA produce one-third of the state's annual total of wine.
the first four weekends in October. In addition to its wine industry, Hermann is called the sausage-making capital of Missouri.
The city was founded by the Deutsche Ansiedlungs-Gesellschaft zu Pennsylvania (German Settlement Society of Philadelphia) in the 1830s. It was promoted by the enthusiasm of Gottfried Duden, who wrote about the area in his
). An early party of settlers was led by George Bayer and Edward Hermann, who bought the land and is considered by many to be the founder of the town. The town was platted after the society sold shares in the 11,300 acres (45.73 km²) of Gasconade River valley land it had purchased.
The society had almost utopian goals of a "heart of German-America" where it could perpetuate traditional German culture and establish a self-supporting colony built around farming, commerce, and industry. The town is named after Hermann der Cherusker, a Germanic leader who defeated the Romans in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in the year 9.
In the 1960s people began to rebuild the wine industry in the Hermann area. The vineyards and wineries contribute both to the agricultural and heritage tourism economies, with winetastings and visits related to the wineries increasingly popular.
The Hermann area is known for wineries: Stone Hill Winery, the largest winemaking business in the state, and Hermannhof Winery are in the town. Two miles south of town off Missouri Highway 100 West is Adam Puchta Winery, the oldest continuously family-owned winery in the nation, under direct family ownership since 1855. Bias Vineyards is less than eight miles east near Berger on Missouri Highway 100. Also included in the Hermann AVA are Oakglenn Vineyards and Winery, 2 1/2 miles east of Hermann; Bommarito Estate Almond Tree Winery; and Röbller Vineyards and Winery near New Haven.
The Katy Trail, a 225-mile-long bike path, passes through McKittrick, a town on the northern side of the Missouri River across from Hermann.