Sugar Creek Winery

We love the beautiful view and delicious wine. Their tasting is affordable with a signature glass included. Also you can bring your own food which is so nice for value tasters.

The wine is good and the facility is nice but if you’re under 40 the service might just be terrible.
I was here for a surprise birthday party and decided to try some of the wine. I ended buying a bottle and two of their glasses. I was told I would get 3 free wine tastings for purchasing a glass. I walked up to the tasting table and was ignored. A older man walked up and was standing directly behind when one of the workers acknowledged him. He had to even look around me to address the 50+ year old man. Other older people walked up and were served before me. I was a paying customer, was prepared to leave a generous tip and was passed for what I can only guess to be because of my age. Or maybe it’s my purple hair and witchy attire? All I know is I spent $ 30 and was prepared to spend more but was deliberately ignored. Will not be returning. There are many wineries in Missouri, I’m sure there’s a lot of competition. Why would you shut out customers?!
Also all of their glasses were dirty.

I went to Sugar Creek for a friends birthday celebration. I was really glad I could bring in food but surprised that I couldn’t bring in water. I suppose I understand but it was a little shocking to pay $ 2 for a water bottle. The wine tasting was $ 3 for 3 wines and my experience has been free wine tastings but I’m told that $ 3 isn’t outrageous. The wine itself was ok. I enjoyed the LaRustica Red (sweet wine) and the Sunset red (semi-​sweet) but everything else was meh. The atmosphere was really fun but its casual. I’d go again if asked but it won’t be my go to winery.

Wine was ok but the people pouring the tastes were surly. Who needs that?

I am tempted to give a one star review, but since I bought one bottle I will give them 2 stars.
We stopped in to see when they closed and they said 5:30pm, so we said okay we are going to grab a late lunch and be back. They only had sausage and cheese and we needs real food. We went down to another winery to eat. We got back to Sugar Creek with 15 mins to spare. They had already started to pack up early and we asked if it was ok to still taste. They replied only if we had cash, which we did.
The nicer woman went inside and left the cranky one with us. She asked what we like and we all have different taste. We paid $ 3 each and got to keep the glass so that was fine. I told her my taste we all over the board so I needed a minute. She said okay you will sweet and poured a semi sweet and hated it. She said okay try this one a sweeter one and hated it. I said again my taste are all over the board I need a minute to look at the list. She replied «Well we are not all over the board!» Then she walked away.
After given me two to taste I didn’t ask for, I finally asked for the 3 I wanted. I only liked one and bought that one.
My cousin was so upset at the rudest she walked away and my husband was just aghast at the way we were treated.

Sugar Creek goes down from 5 stars to 4 stars. I was disappointed to see that they require payment for tastings now. For $ 3.00, you get three tastings and a glass to keep. That is probably a good deal, but I don’t need any more wine glasses. I have probably 20 or 30 wine glasses from MO wineries.
I know which of their wines I like (the entire fruit section), so I don’t think I’ll get a tasting in the future. After reading another Unilocaler’s review, I think I will just buy their wine at Dierbergs and not mess with tasting there unless I’m taking someone new to the Defiance/​Augusta wine trail.
The wines are good, and it’s a nice place to spend an hour or so, but the parking situation behind the winery leaves something to be desired… like a widened road to the lot.

I’ve visited many wineries in this area. This is one of the very few that charge for tastings and institute ridiculous policies, which include, among other things, confiscating the water of patrons. There are far better choices in the area… you would be wise to exercise those options!

Arrogance, dictatorial behavior, and we «we don’t give a sh– attitude prevails as their core values set by the management./owners. The terrific view, and great setting coupled with their moderately decent wine is immediately trumped by the unwelcoming and condescending attitude of the owners. I traveled from Lee’s Summit Mo to be with 21 family members, some of which are senior level executives at major corporations in St. Louis, only to experience the above. We were so turned off we left in shock how grown adults were treated like 7 year olds. Looking at other reviews going back several months, this appears to a common theme. After this, the only recommendation I would make would be to the Gestapo to use Sugar Creek Winery as their benchmark if they wanted to open a Winery in that area. If I were the owner, I would fire the owners. Sad.

The service here has imploded. I’ve never been treated so rudely by a proprietor anywhere.
We planned to take a group of family here for Mother’s Day. I called twice the week before to make a reservation, left messages, and they did not return my call.
So I made sure we were there when they opened, expecting crowds. We walked in at 10:40 and were the first ones in the place. A man there barked at us saying that they don’t open until 10:30. We pointed out that it was 10:40, which seemed to really annoy him.
Then he started explaining that some of tables were reserved. We acknowledged that, noting that the reserved tables had signs and he said that all the signs had been posted.
So, we find open tables. without signs. and sit down. I go in and buy a bottle of wine and we start enjoying the day. A few minutes later, the place is still empty, and a couple walks in. We overhear the woman explaining to the Becky, the owner, that they have a big group coming. Becky starts rattling off rules and says that they can’t save seats without paying a reservation fee.
The couple agreed to pay the reservation fee, and Becky walks over to our table and tells us to move, so that the people who just paid the reservation fee can have our table. The place was empty! There were tables all over the place. Who does that???
Clearly the owners of this place have lost all sense of customer appreciation. We stood up and left. Never going back there again.
We moved down the road to The Augusta Winery Garden and had a wonderful rest of the day.

Décor? Nice. Music? Nice. Wine served in little plastic cups? Not so much. Maybe it’s just me but that was a turnoff.

We went from having a great experience at Balducci down the road to a poor experience here, which made it all the more lackluster in comparison. We were on a bus with about 18 friends for a 40^th birthday. When we pulled up, the proprietor came on to the bus right away to tell us that there were some «ground rules here». Oh goody, this sounds fun, tell us more! As expected, we could bring food, but no drink. Bags were then searched with TSA like scrutiny on the way in. The band was on break and 70’s light rock (why?) was softly playing as we walked in, so we made quite the impression. We beelined it to the back to get out of the spotlight.
Once settled, we went inside for samples and to order. We were met with grimaces and minimal service levels. As they told us, «we weren’t the first bus of the day». Why this wouldn’t make a business happy is beyond me. Aren’t you there to draw crowds and business? We were a big group, but respectful and also, um, BUYING A LOT OF WINE! They then opened bottles of something different than what we ordered, and when we said that we ordered chardonel and not chamborcin, said that we were wrong. I heard our friend order and so did everyone else. It was definitely chardonel. More grimaces from the staff. Once outside, the band started up, we started drinking, and everything faded away. That is, until another manager came up to tell us that we weren’t sitting in our chairs properly. Hmmm, that was a new one to me! We had pulled them out and some were half on the patio and half on the grass. The birthday girl was making her rounds to chat with everyone and sitting on the arm of that person’s chair to visit.
That was the last straw, so instead of buying another round of bottles like we had planned, we left and went to the biker bar for a final round of drinks before heading home.
This was a late fall trip and it wasn’t even that busy, or I would have better understood their being overwhelmed by a bus. Also, a bus means a sober bus driver, which should also be a plus for them. Overall, an unpleasant experience and I won’t be back with so many great options close by.

One of my favorite stops on the Weinstrasse. I have read some of the negative reviews for Sugar Creek and it absolutely baffles me. I have never had a bad experience here, and have always felt welcome. They even helped us celebrate my wifes 40^th birthday. They set us up under the pagoda and made sure that we were taken care of, my wife said it was one of the best days of her life. I find the wines to be better than average, and the wines have gotten better over the years. During the spring and summer on most weekends they have live music. To me it’s a great place to sit back, relax, listen to music, enjoy some wine and Friends. We make it a habit of stopping by a couple of times a year.

Loved it here! I don’t agree with the back reviews. We were there on a very lazy Friday afternoon, which likely contributed to our good experience, but we tasted the wines for free and enjoyed several of the dry reds and the dry white we tried. Since not fans of sweet wines, we tried the port nonetheless and enjoyed it as well.
We bought a of the dry red blend bottle (~$ 18), walked around the vineyard, which was beautiful, and then sat at a table in the shade and enjoyed the lovely weather and views. My only complaint is that the winery is located at the top of a very, very steep hill, which was challenging to push our bikes up from the Katy Trail, but other than that, we really enjoyed it. They did post signed about ‘no outside liquid of any kind allowed’ so they likely had issues in the past, but we had a great time here and will stop by again if we are in the area.

I tend to go wine tasting for the experience. In other words, I like a long tasting where they explain their wines and talk about the unique qualities of their winery. You can virtually serve me any glass of wine so long as you fulfill that requirement. Unfortunately for me, this place was far from anything I like about a winery. I’m assuming that the people who like coming here are those who bring a picnic basket and sit outside listening to music. When we arrived, we were ushered into a tasting room with a giant line. I guess I’ve gotten more pretentious over the years because I was horrified that they were serving wine in little cups (like the ones people put in their bathrooms to rinse after brushing your teeth) so I bolted for the door. I felt like cattle getting ready for slaughter; you basically follow a long line until you take «shots» of the wine out of the plastic mouthwash cups (the horror!). Granted, I never tried the wines because I bolted out of there as fast as I could once I saw the presentation of the wine. More than half the reason I go wine tasting is for the ambiance and presentation. If I was there strictly for the wine, I’d buy a bottle and skip the 45 minute trip out there.

Many have requested it but Unilocal doesn’t let us give less then 1 star no matter how bad the place is.
We decided to stop here because it was close by and we just wanted to enjoy the afternoon with our friends… HUGE mistake.
Last Year we celebrated a close friend of ours birthday by hiring a bus and taking all the friends and family on a winery tour. When we arrived at this first stop we were patted down by some very rude person who we I assume was the security guard. They saw that we had about 40 or so people coming in to celebrate all together. After we were frisked and they made us take our water back to the bus (which had to be parked as far back on the property possible) they wouldn’t let us put tables together because we did not make a reservation. Coming from the industry I can understand where they are coming from but the place was deserted and no tables were reserved for that day at all. But we did all sit together we just couldn’t pull tables together.
Then from that point on it was one thing after another that the Nazi kept harassing us about everything and anything till we just couldn’t take it anymore and had to leave. It was embarrassing and rude the way they stood around us and every time someone would do something they didn’t like they would come over and ask us to stop doing whatever it was. All we knew is that is was Ridiculous! We were a group of doctors, lawyers and educated professionals being treated like children. Some may have been enjoying themselves before arriving here but we did have some non drinkers helping in case some of us may over indulge but it was our first stop!
Yesterday we stopped there again (accidentally) and I say that cause the person driving was not with us on the prior trip. But we said what the heck lets give it a try! BAD decision! The Nazi was there checking bags and looking in purses and making sure we weren’t trying to sneak any contraband in. What a crap place! if the owners are so hard up for money sell the joint and let someone who knows what people are really looking for… a great place to hang out and enjoy friends and fun atmosphere.
This is a warning STAY AWAY from this shit place! The wines suck and so do the people that work there. They don’t want you bringing water in but they want to rob you and make you buy over priced products with their names all over it. Don’t buy any of the t-​shirts either because they have put the name of the winery in the most ugliest place any one could do this, on the sleeve. (should I roll my cig pack in the sleeve too)?
After our first horrific experience I thought it would be positive to let the owners know what was going on, maybe they weren’t seeing the activity of the staff. I thought wrong, never even received any type of response. Take waring from all these negative reviews they are all TRUE! This place is the WORST place to go in St Louis so if you are traveling and not sure where to go… DON’T go here!

NOT biker friendly at all. They have a man in a cowboy hat making sure no one brings in water even on a 100+ day on the trail and he won’t even let you fill up on their well water. Speaking of well water, thats the same description that I would give the quality of their wine, make that unfiltered well water. I still spent plenty of money there, bought myself a nice summer sausage and crackers, «Do you have something to cut this with» I ask. Their response «we sell picnic kits over there» which consisted of two napkins, Styrofoam plates, plastic knives. Talk about nickel and dimming people.
Bottom Line: My least favorite winery in the state.

I mean, the wine is decent enough — you can find at least one bottle that you wouldn’t mind throwing down your parched hatch (if biking along the Katy Trail).
Katy Trail = Bikers
Don’t tell me «no outside beverages» when I am walking in with an empty water bottle and my wallet… Needless to say, I did a few tastings, and kept my wallet closed.

Admittedly, their wine isn’t the greatest. It may be among the worst of all of the wineries that find themselves along 94 between I-​64 and Hermann. But, there are two reasons that bump up their rating.
First, they have a pretty decent selection of wines. Perhaps only Montelle has a wider selection (that I am aware of). Plenty of choices for those who like either dry or sweet wines. I prefer sweet, but I just didn’t find anything that was very tasty.
Secondly, every employee and/​or owner that we encountered while there today, was hammered (I don’t know if we encountered any owners, but if they were there, they were also drunk). I’m not talking as though they had a glass during conversation with customers, but it was glasses of wine all day long. We arrived late in the afternoon, and it was clear that every employee was drunk. Nothing bad came of it, and they were quite comical during conversation and the like, but it isn’t exactly putting your best foot forward when all of the employees are drunk.
Since it was raining, we didn’t check out the outdoor seating areas, but they seemed pretty decent. It seemed like a good place to chill and hang out if the music that would be playing is any good.
It is one of the first wineries you encounter as you head out 94. It certainly is worth a stop, but I didn’t find anything I liked. Travel down the road a bit more and you will find many, many more wineries.

Cute place, but not my favorite. The wine «tastings» were pretty pitiful, we probably got even less than a swallow with each taste. Makes it pretty hard to decide which wine to buy with that kind of tasting.
We bought a bottle anyways, and spread out on a picnic table. Nice big area, and the workers were very friendly. You can bring your own food, too, which is always a nice touch.
If driving out here, I would check it out, but wouldn’t really stay and linger. Too many other wineries that are a little better.

Methinks the reviews for Sugar Creek are a tad harsh. Perhaps it’s because this was one of the first wineries I’d ever been to or this once Missouri gal still feels close to her roots, regardless it’s definitely worth a visit.
And here’s why…
1) It’s about a 30 – 45 minute drive outside of St. Louis. Pretty dang close and a straight shot out of the city.
2) There’s plenty of room to bring a group, spread out, drink wine and listen to the band they have playing.
3) The view of the fields isn’t too shabby. Quite beautiful on a sunny fall day.
4) You can bring in Sugar Creek Wine — it’s cheaper if you buy it at Dierberg’s and you can keep it chilled in your fridge for a few hours before you head up there.
5) Yeah, so the wine isn’t that great. It’s not terrible, either. Especially for what you pay. And when you go to a winery, it’s about the entire experience, not just the vino.
After moving to California, I’ve definitely been to classier wineries with much higher quality wine. However, I like the fact that Sugar Creek doesn’t try to be something it’s not. It’s a simple, down-​to-​Earth Missourah (yeah, I said it) winery.