Illinois' Grape Expectations

A look at this season's grape expectations

September 19, 2007
Naperville Sun Times

Autumn is the time of year when grape growers all over the world lovingly harvest their crops and celebrate their bounty.

However, the recent adverse weather could put a damper on much of the merriment. Our world's shifting weather patterns have made it challenging for grape growers across the globe. Locally, with the recent rainstorms and flooding, I was concerned about its impact on Illinois wine production.

Harvest forecast

Overseas, it has been very difficult for grape growers. France experienced a cold, wet summer and had widespread attacks of vine mildew, translating into lower production this year. South Africa and Argentina also have repeated poor harvests. Parts of Australia have suffered from a very hot, dry growing season and fires. The resultant ash will dominate their grape juice with notes of smoke and bacon.

On the other hand, California experienced ideal growing conditions. Grapes love warm, sunny summer days, cool nights and light rain. Winemakers check the grapes pH, acidity and brix (the amount of sugar, which is available to convert to alcohol) levels. When right, the growers rush to pick the crops before any heavy fall rains occur. Grape growers prefer a drier, warm summer as it creates some vine stress (resulting in better wine) and allows a grower to add, through irrigation, the amount of water the crop needs. You can always add water, but cannot take it away.

Locally, our Illinois winemakers had a more challenging year. Kori Faltz of the Fox Valley Winery reported the early summer provided weather the grapes love. The heavy rains in August adversely affected the grape pH, acidity and brix, so more time was needed on the vine to hopefully restore the grapes to the proper levels. The recent Labor Day sun helped. Assuming some fall sunshine, our wet August will delay the harvest and only affect the winemaker's production schedule.

Andres Basso, the Director of Winemaking at Lynfred Winery of Roselle informed me they source some grapes in Illinois and Michigan, but the majority of grapes come from California and Washington. Given the West Coast's good harvest conditions, they are confident in the quality of their 2007 vintage.

Wine festivals

This past weekend, there were three separate festivals celebrating the fall harvest. The Naperville Wine festival was held at the Naper Settlement. Your entrance ticket included a souvenir wine glass and 10 tastings from more than 200 wine selections. Geneva celebrated the 25th anniversary of their Festival of the Vine. Twenty local restaurants offered their signature dishes along with 14 wines to sample. Local merchants offered Festival specials and horse drawn carriage rides were available. The Fox Valley Winery offered grapes in large vats for stomping, and participants received a complimentary shirt with space for their grape stained footprints. One of the state's largest wine festivals was held at Starved Rock State Park. This festival featured wines from 20 award-winning Illinois wineries. Both days featured Illinois grape seminars.

There's still time to enjoy this fall tradition. Coming up, there are two local wine festivals that are well worth checking out:

• Harvest Fest When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Held at the Faltz Family Vineyards, 2714 N. 4251st Road, Sheridan.
Who: Fox Valley Winery
What: This fun day includes vineyard tours, wine tastings, a vintage baseball game, grape stomp and grape spitting contests and musical entertainment.
For more information: www.foxvalleywinery.com.

• Lynfred's Annual Oktoberfest, Pig Roast and Grape Stomp
When: 3 to 9 p.m. Sept. 29 and noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 30
Where: 15 S. Roselle Road, Roselle.
Who: Lynfred Winery.
What: Lots of wine, food and fun are guaranteed at this annual event. Activities for the whole family with German sing-a-longs, grape spitting, grape stomping, cork tossing and barrel races! Plentiful food with roasted pig, warm German potato salad and all the fixings plus bratwurst and "heavenly" sweet corn. Tasty desserts are also available.
For more information: www.lynfredwinery.com.

Bill Garlough is a Level One Master Sommelier. He also is an owner of My Chef Catering of Naperville, the 2007 Recipient of the US Chamber of Commerce's Small Business of the Year Award. He can be reached at www.mychef.com or winepairings@mychef.com.

Illinois Wine Trails Getting Attention

Northern Illinois wineries received some nice press today as the food section’s lead story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Illinois uncorked
Considering a trip to wine country? Skip the flight and head to one of our area's wineries

August 1, 2007

BY CHUCK SUDO

When people talk about planning a daytrip to a vineyard, the regions that come to mind first are obvious: Napa, Sonoma, Oregon, Washington, even Michigan and New York.
What about Illinois?

It isn't so far-fetched. According to the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association, the state's grape growing and wine industry is growing by leaps and bounds. A January study by the association and MKF Research, a valuation firm specializing in wine business, counted 68 wineries and 450 grape growers in Illinois. Of the wineries, 10 have opened in the last two years. Two-thirds of Illinois' 450 counties have at least one vineyard.



Last November, the Downstate Shawnee Hills region was designated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as an American Viticultural Area for the distinctive climate and geographic characteristics that make it suitable for grape growing. Wineries in the region can list the Shawnee Hills designation on their labels when 85 percent or more of the wine they produce comes from grapes grown in that region.

But wine snobs, fans of the movie "Sideways" and folks just looking for a quick day trip to a winery don't need to pack up the car and head Downstate. For Chicago area residents, getting to a winery can be as simple as hopping on a Metra train -- or even a bus to the South Side.

Roselle, about 25 miles northwest of Chicago, is home to the Lynfred Winery, the oldest and largest operating winery in Illinois. Situated on one acre, Lynfred produces more than 50 varietals and 25,000 cases of wine a year, according to marketing director Christina Anderson-Heller, who works closely with founder and president Fred Koehler to raise awareness of Lynfred Winery and Illinois wine in general.

"We ship all of our grapes to the winery, with about 90 percent coming from the West Coast -- California, Oregon and Washington state," Anderson-Heller says. "We also bring in some grapes from Michigan, New York and Downstate Benton and Ava."

Lynfred Winery's winemaker, Chilean-born Andres Basso, is a veteran of Concha y Toro, Napa Valley's Merryvale Vineyards, and Gordon Brothers Family Vineyards in Washington. Basso's wines have clean, prominent fruit flavors and tangy finishes. Lynfred's wines were recently awarded two double golds at the Amanti del Vino festival in Mystic, Conn., and a "best in show" award for its rich, jammy Cabernet/Shiraz blend. Lynfred's Petite Verdot recently earned a double gold from the prestigious Tasters Guild.

Lynfred Winery has two "Tasting deVine" tasting rooms in Naperville and Wheaton. A four-suite bed-and-breakfast is located at the winery. Each room pays homage to the world's classic wine regions -- France, Italy, Germany and America. Guests are treated to elegant meals prepared by Elk Grove Village native Chris Smith. His fresh-baked bread from a wood-burning oven is not to be missed.

Lynfred wines can be found at Shaw's Crab House, Tin Fish in Tinley Park and Oakbrook Terrace, Rooster's Barn and Grill in Bloomingdale and Pilot Pete's at the Schaumburg airport.

The seven-year-old, family-owned Fox Valley Winery has three tasting rooms in Geneva, Oswego, and Sandwich. The winery cultivates 27 acres of grapes at the Faltz Family Vineyard in Sheridan, near the Sandwich tasting room. The grapes are harvested and shipped in refrigerated trucks to the Oswego location for venting.

"The grapes grown at our vineyard are in varying stages of maturity," says general manager Kori Faltz, "so we bring in different grapes from the Shawnee Hills region to compensate."

Fox Valley's wines have hearty fruit overtones made from chambourcin and chardonel grapes. Folks interested in pairing food with Fox Valley's wines can do that at Emmett's Ale House in Downers Grove and Oswego, Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora and Stockholm's Vardshus in Geneva.

Tours of the Faltz Family Vineyard are held throughout the year. A harvest festival is held every September, complete with grape stomping and re-enactments of baseball as it was played in the 1800s. This year's festival is Sept. 22.

Urban dwellers who prefer to stay within the city limits can head to the Wild Blossom Meadery & Winery in the Beverly neighborhood on the South Side.

Located in a wine- and beer-making supply store on the dry side of Western Avenue, owner Greg Fischer and vintner/meadmaker Kazys Ozelis, produce an amazing array of fruit wines and meads. Meads are fermented wines traditionally made from honey, but may also be made from some fruits.

The selections at Wild Blossom range from the light and dry blanc de fleur, a wildflower wine; "Sweet Desire," a traditional mead aged in bourbon barrels and teeming with dark fruit flavors, and a very dry sparkling cran-nectar.

Wild Blossom also offers winemaking classes. Classes range in price from $95-$185 and yield up to two cases of wine or mead. The winery also sells supplies for making wine or mead at home.

Chuck Sudo is a Chicago freelance writer.