Art and Wine: A Marriage Made in Heaven

Art and wine seem to go hand in hand and local wineries are making sure to capitalize on the friendship.
At Blue Sky Winery in Makanda, art objects and photography by Keith Cotton, as well as local crafts, grace the gift shop along with the wine and gift baskets featuring the wine. The winery itself is a work of art, featuring hand-painted murals, and the labels on the bottles are Cotton's artwork as well.

In Mount Vernon, at GenKota Winery, the wine sales are helped along with specialty labels and gift baskets created by Ina Rae Drake, the winery manager. And, at Shawnee Winery in Vienna, Annet Lofton is encouraging local artists and craftspeople to bring her work to display and sell on their behalf.

"Right now, we have the 'Spirit of the Vines' collection, some pottery and photographs and hand-crafted jewelry," Lofton said. "I have some local crafters bringing in more for the holidays."

The Spirit of the Vines collections is a series of relief sculptures featuring faces hiding in the grape vines. The photos on the wall are by Vienna's own Larry Mizell.

"We knew Larry was an amateur photographer and had some really beautiful shots of the area, so we asked him if he would be willing to bring some things in for us," Lofton said. "We've been able to sell a few prints for him."

The winery also features jams, jellies and salsa from Leepy's Foods in Jonesboro and barbeque sauce from 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro. "Since we are so close to the Interstate [24], we act as a sort of unofficial welcome bureau and tourist center," she said. At that point, making other Illinois products available just made good sense.

Other wineries through the region feature artist receptions throughout the year and community theater in the form of murder mystery dinners.

In addition, the wineries have themselves become a form of entertainment. It's not unlike cocktail parties or martini bars in other parts of the country, Lofton said. "People seem to be happy coming out to the wineries for music and relaxing on the weekends," she said.