OakGlenn Vineyards & Winery — Attraction in Missouri

My friends and I had a terrible experience at Oak Glenn this past weekend - several of us were repeat customers who now have no intention to return after how we were treated. Sorry in advance for this absolute novel of a review - the TLDR is that the owner treated us horribly and stole our property, and there are several other reviews documenting similar behavior that I wish we had seen prior to visiting. If you’re looking for a winery to visit in the area, we had great experiences at Stone Hill, Adam Puchta, and Hermanhoff.

I want to preface this by saying that I have debated on whether or not to post about my experience because I truly do not want my negative feedback to reflect on the hardworking staff members - I’ve worked several customer service jobs in the past and completely understand that misunderstandings happen, and during this visit (and all of our previous ones) we have had nothing but positive experiences with the staff. Our frustrations lie solely with how the owner chose to conduct herself during what was clearly a misunderstanding.

We were winery hopping in Hermann when we lost track of time and showed up to Oak Glenn a few minutes after they closed the bar - there were a few parties still sitting outside in the gazebo area, so we decided ask the staff if we could do the same even though we had just arrived. Before our party even left our car, my boyfriend went to the bar to ask for permission - he said that he initially approached an older lady who did not acknowledge him, but he didn’t think much of this and he approached a staff member who was closing up behind the bar instead. He said that we had just arrived and asked if we could bring outside wine and food to the gazebo area and hang out for a bit. The staff member told him that there was no problem with this and we were free to hang out until they finished cleaning, so we brought our wine and snacks from the car and settled in at a bench near the gazebo. The bottle of wine that my brother brought was almost empty, so he poured the final glass into his cup and put the empty bottle underneath his jacket (which was laying on the table) to prevent it from rolling off the table or being knocked over. Very soon after this, the same older lady that initially ignored my boyfriend walked over to the table and grabbed an almost-full bottle of wine off of it, and then started angrily rifling through my brother’s jacket to get the empty bottle. Several of us expressed confusion and tried to ask what was going on, but she started yelling that we were disrespecting her as the owner, and that she could lose her liquor license over outside wine being brought onto the premises. We all completely understand this concern and never would have brought the wine onto the property had we known this, but this was an absolutely unacceptable way to handle the situation. Had she simply told us that there was a miscommunication and that we could not have the wine at the gazebo, we would have immediately put the wine back into our car and come back another day. Instead, she thought it was appropriate to rifle through our personal belongings and steal our property.

I have also included a photo of a coozie that one of my friends purchased during a previous visit here. She said that she asked the bartender at the time if they sold coozies, and the bartender said that they were $10. She paid $20 for two of them, and the bartender took out a gold sharpie and wrote the name of the winery on two blank coozies right in front of her. Needless to say, this is a complete rip-off and not...

I have been to Oak Glenn a handful of times and have never been that impressed with any of their wine selection. They do have a very nice patio area with live music, so the atmosphere usually made up for the mediocre wine. However, after our experience this past weekend, I will never waste my time here again.

We came to Oak Glenn on the wine trolley and bought a bottle of wine to drink on the patio. We had several bottles with us from other places we visited that day, and decided to open up one of those as well. In hindsight, this was not a good idea as it turns out that Oak Glenn prohibits outside food and drinks. At the time we did not think twice about it, did not realize we were doing anything wrong, and were not attempting to be sneaky or hide it. As we were sitting there, an older black-haired woman, who I later found out was one of the owners, walked by and snatched the outside bottle of wine off our table without a word. At first we thought it was a joke and we sort of laughed, thinking she would bring it back. When she didn't, I went inside to see what was going on. She proceeded to chew me out for having the nerve to drink a bottle of wine on her patio that we didn't buy from her winery. I was very taken aback by her rudeness but I apologized, agreed that it is a perfectly reasonable rule to have, and that we honestly didn't realize we were doing anything wrong. However, I told her the way she handled the situation was completely ridiculous -- A reasonable and mature person would have approached us, explained the rule, and either asked that we put the wine away or leave. Instead, she snatched our property off the table, offered no explanation for her actions until we confronted her about it, and then proceeded to rant about how disrespectful we were and how she doesn't need people like us in her winery.

To be very clear, I am not trying to argue that it was okay for us to open the bottle of wine. As I said, it is a perfectly reasonable rule and we acknowledged that we were in the wrong. But for a grown woman and business owner to think she is justified in treating people that way because they broke a rule is embarrassing. I have never seen someone in the service industry be so lacking in basic civility and communication skills. She completely ruined the little appeal that this winery had for our whole group, and none of us has any desire to ever come back. There are far better and friendlier wineries in Hermann (shoutout to Juanita at Hermanhoff and Kay at Stone Hill!) and I would strongly discourage anyone from giving your time or money to a...

This winery has the most fabulous piece of land I have come across in Missouri. The view is phenomenal.

That being said, as we drove up we noted that their "Live music today" sign was bolted to the signpost meaning that they must always have live music. As we drove up, we noticed the umbrella advertisements for mass marketed beer products. This was even before they advertised their own wine.

The staff was very polite and courteous and ensured we got the samples we wanted.

The wines were tasty, but unoriginal. Not the best we've had, but decent. With a huge wine selection and given the list of wines offered, it was apparent to us after visiting many Missouri wineries that they probably do not produce many of their own wines. A purchase of an over priced bottle confirmed this as it was clearly bottled by Oak Glenn in Altus, AR. It is likely that they have their own blends from Le Bourgeois. For example: Trolley Red likely = River Boat Red.

A visit to the gift shop revealed something that resembled a cross between a storage room and gift shop.

The wine glass offered by them with their named on it is a cross between a wine glass and a bill board. After many Missouri wineries this is the first time that I received a wine glass with an address and phone number on it. This will stay up on the shelf.

Overall, this winery could be such a fantastic place with just a little more work. It's too bad that the owners clearly are focused more on commercialism and a party atmosphere than a winery.

$$$...