Shawnee Winery: A Cooperative Effort for Grape Growers

"You can grow grapes where you can't grow corn or [soy] beans," said Annet Lofton, one of the 13 grape growers who banded together two years ago to form Shawnee Winery.

"So we had people with small vineyards, just an acre or two, who had grapes and no consistent market for them," she said. "A lot of these growers are retired people or people just looking for another way to save the family farm and grapes was a new option. But they didn't want to go to the hassle of finding a big winery to sell to."

The group, which has small vineyards from near Benton into Pulaski County, got together and founded Shawnee Winery in Vienna. They will celebrate their second birthday later this fall.

They are part of the burgeoning Illinois wine industry. In the last decade, the state's wine industry has grown for less than a dozen wineries to more than 60 across the state. "A lot of times we have people get off the Interstate [24] and ask if this is the wine trail. We tell them nope, show them around and send them on the Shawnee Wine Trail," Lofton said.

That may change though in the next few years. With Cache River Winery and Hog's Hollow Winery already close neighbors to Shawnee, and two more wineries scheduled to open soon in Creal Springs and Muddy, there are preliminary plans for developing a secondary wine trail in southeastern Illinois.

"We decided we'd talk about it after we get through the busy season," she said.

And, it is busy season at the winery. Between grape deliveries and bottle deliveries, Lofton said it was a challenge to get through the winery. "Really, our building's just too small," she said.

Actually, for a winery started by grape growers, it is also discovering a lack of grapes, Lofton said. "We would really like to keep some of red [wine] and barrel age it for a year or two, but we keep running out and having to bottle all we have," she said. With a smile, Lofton acknowledged it was a good problem to have. "But I still wish we could sell more."

The young winery is doing well in competitions, with its "Dreamweaver" a semi-sweet blush, winning Best of Class at the Illinois State Fair this year. Lofton said many of the kudos and much of the credit for that goes to Denny Franklin from Pheasant Hollow Winery.

"Our first year, Denny came down and showed us how to make wine," Lofton said. Some of the wineries most popular sellers, like "Tiffany's Gold", were his creations. "That's really one of the best things about Illinois wineries. They are always ready to lend a hand or a grape bin to one another," she said.

Now, the winery has hired retired state police officer Loudene Lemme as its assistant enologist, that's the fancy word for winemaker, but all the growers take a hand in the creation of new wines.

"Our Frontenac Part was the first one we createdourselves and it's doing very well, so we very proud of it," Lofton said. She, Lemme and several other growers are taking classes so they can design their own wines more efficiently.

"It's really a matter of learning what to expect when you blend grape varieties," Lofton said.

And, they have some new ideas in the works. "If we could get our hands on some Concord [grapes], we would like to try a Concord Port," she said.

They also have a not-so-secret project already beginning to ferment. "If you're an Illinois winery and you want to make Chardonnay, you have to import the juice. Chardonnay doesn't grow in Illinois," she said.

Or, so everyone thought. Veteran grape grower Scott Obourn of Vienna proved them wrong. This year, his three-year-old Chardonnay vines produced about 800 pounds of grapes, believed to be the first Chardonnay grapes grown in Illinois.
The 800 pounds will make only about 60 gallons of wine and Lofton said the winery is planning to baby this wine. "This may be the one we finally barrel-age for a year or two," she said. "Whatever we do with it, it will be a very limited edition. We will have an Illinois Chardonnay made completely with Illinois grapes."