Call me a wino

[chris_gerrib]

I just returned from the Midwest Wine Expo, a large tasting in Oak Brook sponsored by Binny's Beverage Depot. They had over a hundred tables, all with at least five different wines to taste, plus food from various restaurants. It was a nice time, and I've ordered my usual six-month supply of wine from them.

I'm not a vintage / appellation snob - I drink what I like. I do like sweet and semi-sweet wines, especially with summer grilled food. At this event, I found out about Fox Valley Winery, a local wine-making and grape-raising operation here in the Chicago area (Oswego). Now, even in Southern Illinois, the winters are too hard for your typical grapes, like Cabernets, so the winery grows various hybrids. Having said that, they make a selection of wines from sweet to dry, including a white Cin (White Zinfandel clone) and a very nice red blended wine which is a Cabernet clone. About the only "name" type of grape that will grow this far north is Riesling, so of course he's got that. I ordered several bottles from his selection.

One of the things I like about the wine expo is that I get to try various wines I wouldn't otherwise. So, at this outing I got to sample Amontillado, which is a sweet wine similar to port. At $25/bottle, I'm not buying it, but I could see why somebody would go into a cellar to sample a cask. The lady manning the table smiled gamely when I mentioned that, but I wonder how many times she's heard that line.

Comments

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

Bravo! So there are at least two of us in the world. I don't know Fox Valley Winery, but it sounds like they have some interesting stuff. I was given a bottle of Amontillado not long ago, and it's very much a tawny port, drier than your typical red port, and extremely intense. Alas, as with most ports, I think the high level of alcohol interferes with the taste, so I don't have that sort of wine very often.

I don't know if you've heard of the Glunz winery up near Grayslake. They make a very good May wine that will be out in a couple of months. It's a sort of "herbal Riesling" that's worth trying, though like anchovies on pizza, I think I like it about once a year, and then next year is soon enough. (I feel that way about other things, like Drambuie.)

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Fox Valley just opened a couple of years ago, and I think this is their first outing to the wine expo. I've not heard of Glunz.