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Central Illinois Wines
Jun. 2nd, 2011 12:05 pmYes, Virginia, we do grow grapes and make wine in Illinois. Actually, not just in central Illinois, but throughout the state. We actually have a long history in winemaking, starting when the French settled what is now Peoria in 1778. Prior to Prohibition, most Americans got their wine (and beer) from relatively small and local sources.
Alas, Prohibition killed off most of these small and poorly-capitalized operators, leaving a huge gap that is just now getting filled by craft wineries and breweries. One of those craft operations is Sleepy Creek Vineyard, which is near my parent's house in Central Illinois. I visited the vineyard over the weekend (discovering that they have live music on Sundays) and bought a few bottles. (You can too - they ship to a number of US states.) Consider this my wine-review article.
Although we've been making wine in Illinois since before we were a state, the "name" grapes like Cabernet don't handle our winters very well. This has forced a lot of work creating hybrid grapes, which then force the winemakers to blend for taste. Still the results are (usually) very good. I bought a bottle of each of these on my last trip:
Sour Puss - billed by Sleepy Creek as a semi-sweet white / Riesling clone, to me this is more like lemonade. Very nice in summer.
Bashful Ewe - a blush wine / white Zin clone, this is also good, and made with Frontenac grapes.
Sleepy Creek has two sweeter wines, the red-Rhine-equivalent Hen Pecked and the dessert-wine Three Amigos.
They were out of my favorite dry red, their Little Woody. It's a three-grape blend that's a Cabernet clone. They had plenty of their signature dry red, Bull Headed, but that's too dry for me. They make it from one grape, Chambourcin, and it's got a bite to it.
Central Illinois wines - they're not a joke.
Alas, Prohibition killed off most of these small and poorly-capitalized operators, leaving a huge gap that is just now getting filled by craft wineries and breweries. One of those craft operations is Sleepy Creek Vineyard, which is near my parent's house in Central Illinois. I visited the vineyard over the weekend (discovering that they have live music on Sundays) and bought a few bottles. (You can too - they ship to a number of US states.) Consider this my wine-review article.
Although we've been making wine in Illinois since before we were a state, the "name" grapes like Cabernet don't handle our winters very well. This has forced a lot of work creating hybrid grapes, which then force the winemakers to blend for taste. Still the results are (usually) very good. I bought a bottle of each of these on my last trip:
Sour Puss - billed by Sleepy Creek as a semi-sweet white / Riesling clone, to me this is more like lemonade. Very nice in summer.
Bashful Ewe - a blush wine / white Zin clone, this is also good, and made with Frontenac grapes.
Sleepy Creek has two sweeter wines, the red-Rhine-equivalent Hen Pecked and the dessert-wine Three Amigos.
They were out of my favorite dry red, their Little Woody. It's a three-grape blend that's a Cabernet clone. They had plenty of their signature dry red, Bull Headed, but that's too dry for me. They make it from one grape, Chambourcin, and it's got a bite to it.
Central Illinois wines - they're not a joke.
