The Region
Italian immigrants settled in the St. James area in the late 1890's. They prospered in their new home, now known as Rosati, planted vineyards and established a post office, a church and a school. Grapes became a big business in the region with eventually over 2000 acres of grapes planted in about 200 vineyards.
The St. James Winery logo, a schoolhouse, honors the Italian settlers who first planted grapes here. The original schoolhouse built to educate the immigrant's children still stands today and is adjacent to the winery's vineyards.
In 1987 our region became an official American Viticulture Area (AVA), the Ozark Highlands. The area is also known as "Little Italy of the Ozarks" thanks to the Italian settlers who originally planted grapes here.
The Winery
Jim and Pat Hofherr moved their young family to St. James, Missouri and opened St. James Winery in 1970. Eight thousand gallons of wine or about 3,400 cases were produced that first year, including customer favorites Velvet Red and Velvet White. All four Hofherr kids grew up working alongside Mom and Dad at the winery, helping establish the business and watching it grow.
After college and work outside of Missouri, sons Andrew and John rejoined the family business in the late 1980s. Andrew had studied viticulture at the University of Arkansas and returned to manage the family vineyards in 1987. John earned a winemaking degree from California State University, Fresno and worked at Jekel Winery in Monterey, California for five years before returning to St. James Winery as head winemaker in 1988. Both brought up-to-date winemaking and viticulture techniques to St. James Winery, which boosted quality and production, which in turn fueled growth.
The second generation officially took the helm of St. James Winery after the death of Jim in 1994. Son Peter joined the winery in 1995 as general manager armed with a BS in microbiology and a Master's in Business Administration. St. James Winery experienced phenomenal growth during this period as their wines began to consistently win major awards and brand awareness and customer demand grew.
To accommodate growing demand for St. James Winery wines, the winery underwent several major cellar, warehouse and vineyard expansions in the late 1990s and into the 2000s and became one of the most modern and best-equipped wineries in the state. Expansion brought new challenges as well as new opportunities. Peter left day-to-day winery operations in 2001 to answer the call to public service as Deputy Director and, eventually, Director of Agriculture for the State of Missouri. Andrew Meggitt was hired in 2002 as assistant winemaker and eventually became head winemaker when John returned to California to make wine and open his own bottling line business. In 2004 Dean Chalem joined the winery team as vice president of sales and continues to manage the winery's wholesaler network. In 2007 Peter rejoined the family business and now heads the St. James Winery team as chief executive officer.
Today St. James Winery makes more than 200,000 cases of wine annually, which is distributed in 14 states. The winery farms approximately 300 acres of vineyards planted with Catawba, Chardonel, Norton, Concord, Seyval, Vignoles, Chambourcin and Rougeon grapes. There are approximately 50 full-time, part-time and temporary employees working in the Administrative, Cellar, Shipping, Tasting Room and Vineyard departments of the winery.
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