Illinois Wine and Wineries Offers a Variety of Tastes at Low Prices

Wine snobs and wine collectors will probably never appreciate the joy that is Illinois wine. The wines are not meant for serious aging and most sell for less than $30 a bottle, about half of them for less than $10.

And, the newly-indoctrinated wine drinkers who only know the words "chardonnay" and "merlot" will likely be very disappointed here. The wines in Illinois are generally made from cross-bred grapes, like a chardonel, which has some properties of the chardonnay but has been specifically bred to grow in the American climate zones.

Some of the wineries would like to age their wines a little bit more before sending them to the table, but Manager Annet Lofton at the Shawnee Winery said it's just not possible. "We would like to age some of our reds for two or three years to see how they do, but we have such demand that we have to bottle and sell it much sooner than that," she said.

The reality is that many Illinois white wines came off the vine only about 4 months before being bottled and are immediately ready to drink. And, Illinois fruit wines are also not meant to be aged.

So, the question is, what does Illinois wine have to offer?

1) Taste. Many Illinois wines are created simply to taste good. That means at one winery the chambourcin grapes are processed without their skins, to make a sweeter, more mellow wine without as many tannins. It also means the dark red grape becomes more of a blush when processed that way.

At Pheasant Hollow Winery near Whittington, one of the newest wines available, and selling out at local wine shows, is "Midnight Medley," a wine with hints of cherry and black raspberry along with the overwhelming strawberry base.

One of the most popular wines at Pomona Winery, near Alto Pass, is "Kir," a black currant-based wine. The sweet reds made from fruits other than grapes are like a cross between a traditional dessert wine and a red wine.

The sweet whites are generally grape-based, using the Chardonel and Vignoles grapes as the primary base. One of the best in southern Illinois is "Tiffany's Gold," at Lofton's Shawnee Winery near Vienna.

Shawnee also makes a blush which combines some of the sweet grapes used in "Tiffany's Gold" with the chambourcin red grapes.

Another extremely popular "red" wine in the southern Illinois region is the "Concord" made by Blue Sky Winery in Makanda. This wine uses the grapes that most American's have come to associate with grape juice and Smuckers' jam. It is like drinking liquefied jam with just a hint of alcohol to keep it from being too sweet.

2) Variety. Illinois winemakers are relatively new tot he task, with many of the state's 65 wineries opening within the last decade.

So, the wineries are competing to stand out in the crowded field. That led to Pomona's "Orchard Spice," an apple wine reminiscent of warm apple cider. The winery calls it "Christmas in a bottle" when trying to describe the flavor and that comes very close. There is a hint of cinnamon or apple pie spice or something along with the sweet apple flavor and enough alcohol to warm you up as you drink it.

Von Jakob Winery, which is just down the road from Pomona, went with the other fruit southern Illinois is famous for, peaches. They created a peach blush that has a little kick for those not expecting it from a fruit wine.

Owl Creek Winery in Cobden offers a more traditional white wine in their "Water Valley White" and Pheasant Hollow's "Red & Blue" is made from local strawberries and blueberries.

3) Price. Illinois wines are generally very inexpensive. Kir, from Pomona, sells for about $10 a bottle. "Dreamweaver" , the blush from Shawnee Winery, retails for $15. And, just about every southern Illinois winery offers a discount for wine bought by the case. It's not as inexpensive as some of the imports, like Australia's "Yellow Tail," but the flavor is generally better and the price is reasonable.

Most Illinois wineries are also too small to have large distributors, so the prices are fairly uniform. And, most of the wineries have to sell direct to the consumers because they are so small. that means most Illinois wine is available for purchase on line.

Illinois wines will probably never reach the critical acclaim of some California wines, but for new wine drinkers wanting to try something different or for those willing to experiment with new tastes, Illinois wines offer a new option.