Our Story — The Winery & Vineyard

For three generations, our Hindelang Berger family has been working the land in the fertile Lower Illinois River Valley. That is where we created the Mary Michelle Winery and Vineyard. The name of the winery, vineyard and farm, Mary Michelle, pays tribute to our founder’s mother, Mary, and his wife, Michelle.

Our Mission Statement:  To produce and bottle wines our customers want to drink for the rest of their lives.

At Mary Michelle, we are proud of our world-class winery planted with 100 acres of grapes that help us produce premium wines for an outstanding price. In addition to our estate grown grapes, we also source the very best juices from around the country. Custom blending our fruit with the best of others, has allowed us to create award-winning wines we know you will love.

Our specialty is hand-crafting easy drinking wines that cover the full spectrum of tastes from sweet and semi-sweet to deliciously dry. One of our top sellers is our Velvet Red wine. Customers and reviewers have called this “perhaps the best sweet red wine made in the United States.” Another favorite is our award- winning estate grown Norton wine. Our Norton won a Gold Medal for all Norton wines entered from the United States.  If you’re a fan of crisp, dry wines we recommend you give our CA Premium Red wine a try. The Winery that makes the CA dry wine that Mary Michelle uses to blend with the wine Mary Michelle makes has been sold as house wine in CA for over 40 years in some of the best restaurants, bars, and hotels.  It features a mouthwatering blend of CA Central Valley grapes.  You get all the quality of a fancy Napa Valley label wine, at a fraction of the price. We also have a new CA Rosé that you have to experience. This is blush-colored dry wine that’s soft and smooth and perfect as an aperitif, or enjoyed with most foods.  If you are craving a semi-sweet wine our Velvet Rosé won the Best in Class at the Long Beach CA Wine Competition. Not too dry, not too sweet, this wine pairs great with a wide variety of foods.  

If you are a white wine lover, we offer our dry CA Premium White, as well as a semi-sweet Moscato. While some Moscatos can be overly sweet, this one makes for a very good dinner wine.  For a delicious sweet after dinner wine, we recommend our Velvet White wine. This tasty varietal won a Best of Class award at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.  It was the first wine to run out in the VIP room.  People stood in line to taste this wine. Try it and you’ll see why.

If you want to shake up your palate with some new flavors, we offer a variety of fruit wines. Our Apple Wine is made from fresh juice from New York or Washington State.  Our Blueberry Wine is made from fresh blueberries grown by a CO-OP of farmers from Argentina to Maine for Walmart.  This semi-sweet red wine is good and good for you as blueberries have been called a super-food. What we know for sure, is this wine is super-delicious.  

For special occasions, we offer a low-alcohol CA Sparkling Wine. Very smooth, with just a slight sweetness, this pale bubbly is perfect for celebrating birthdays, the holidays, or sipping on a hot summer day.

Looking for aperitifs and cooking wines? We have those too.  We offer a classic Ruby Port that has a rich body and deep red color.  Our Madeira, Marsala, and Sherry are all made in the traditional way for exceptional flavor. First, the grapes are baked in the sun, then they are fermented to create a 17% alcohol by volume Aperitifs and Cooking Wines.  Chefs and wine aficionados have been selecting these wines for over 40 years. They are 17% Alcohol by Volume and do not contain salt.  Some cooking wines add salt to be taxed at a lower tax rate.  We do not add salt.  We pay the tax so you can enjoy the best at no extra cost. Give them a try and add some extra flavor to your life. 

If you are local, we make it easy to buy our wines by having a Search Feature to find the store closest to you in Illinois and Missouri.  If the store you visit does not have the wine you want, ask the store to order it from our distributor in IL, Breakthru Beverage, or in MO, Southern Wine & Spirits). (Stores normally order a wine when customers make requests, and then they are delivered to their store for purchase).

Shipping Wines:  FedEx ships Mary Michelle Wines. FedEx requires someone to be at the address to receive the wine that is 21-years-old to sign and accept the wines.  Mary Michelle sells online to CA, FL, IL, MO, VA, Washington DC.  

Tasting Room:  Mary Michelle Winery has a Tasting Room at the Pere Marquette Lodge 5 miles north of Grafton, IL.  It is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon sampling wine.  Many weekends there is live music.  It has a very good restaurant, as well as cabins and rooms if you decide to spend the night.  Pere Marquette is noted for its hiking, bike trails and access to the Illinois River for water sports.   

 Please go to our Shop and read more about our wines.