Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, part two

After our friend left, we hit the wine trail again, this time starting at the eastern end of the trail. As we'd visited Blue Sky the day before, we headed south of there to Orlandini Vineyard in Makanda. This is a newer winery to the trail, and the owners are currently rehabbing their facilities. The tasting room was sparse (most likely due to the construction upgrades), but with pretty tapestries and frescos on the walls that are reminiscent of Italy. Orlandini offers only a small variety of wines, eight total, so you know they're focusing on their quality and not quantity. Sadly, the wine we enjoyed the most was their Concord, the only wine made from non-local grapes. Oops. E enjoyed their Rosso Gustoso as well, though it's surely their Saluki Red that keeps the locals coming back again and again—the Salukis are the mascot of Southern Illinois University in nearby Carbondale. Smart marketing on Orlandini's part.

Orlandini Vineyard

We traveled on to StarView Vineyards in rural Cobden. A wedding was taking place at StarView that afternoon and so the place was packed, with wedding guests in a private room and outside on the grounds while regular patrons stayed in the tasting room. The winery has a cafe of sandwiches and salads (in which we did not partake), as well as a gallery featuring local artists. The wines themselves are named with a star motif, such as Supernova and Red Giant. We enjoyed the wines here, though due to the sheer number of people we tore through the tasting rather quickly. We also didn't explore the winery at all, simply because we didn't want to wander in to someone's wedding celebrations.

StarView's tasting room

Next we drove to the exact opposite side of rural Cobden, this time to Inheritance Valley Vineyards. This winery is the smallest on the entire trail, with their entire facility the size of a small barn. While the decor is sparse, the wines are good. The Ruvanesque was a particular favorite, and the Big Deisel Whine and Blackberry Boogie were both tasty. We were hoping to try their Cobden Cream, as this is the only winery on the trail to feature sherry. However, they were sold out at the time with a waitlist of 30+ people hoping to get bottles of the next batch. It must be good!

The addition to the barn is the Inheritance Valley tasting room

Hedman Vineyard was next on our list, nearby in Alto Pass. Hedman has a large amount of property for its vineyards, with a large gray barn acting as tasting room and restaurant, and a farmhouse for a B&B. Everything here has a Swedish motif, from the gift shop to the restaurant menu. The actual bar in the tasting room is tiny, though the staff on hand was friendly enough to make up for the close quarters. E particularly liked the chandelier over the bar, made up of wine glasses featuring the logos from every winery on the Shawnee Hills trail. Hedman's wine list consists of just over a dozen wines. The ones we liked the most were their Tucker Hill Red and their Peach wine.

Hedman Vineyards knows how to advertise

At this point the day was wrapping up, and we had to go back to Carbondale to grab food for dinner. We decided to stop by Rustle Hill once again in the hopes that we'd get to try their wines this time. The winery was still crowded, though not as bad as the evening before. When we did make our way to the bar, we were told that they'd sold out of nearly half of their wine selection. Of the five of eight wines available to taste, one was a "premium" tasting which cost extra money. What we did try was, to put it bluntly, a disappointment. E bought one bottle just to have at least one from each winery, but we left Rustle Hill with a bad taste in our mouths once again.

We spent the rest of the evening back at our cabin, grilling steaks in celebration of M's birthday. Later there was scary movie watching and s'mores over the fire, followed by another dip in the hot tub with glasses of wine in hand.

The next morning we packed up the cabin and headed into Carbondale to kill some time before the wineries opened. We had one last winery to visit: Owl Creek Vineyard in Cobden.  We arrived to find the place almost completely empty, which wasn't a surprise on a Sunday morning. The tasting room is upstairs in their facility (so it's a no-go for people unable to climb stairs, unless there's an elevator hiding somewhere). The large bar offers plenty of room for guests, and a large deck on the back of the building offers lots of outdoor seating under the trees. The wines here were flavorful and tasty across the board. We left with a bottle of ChardonOwl and one of their dessert wines, ZenGeist. Also in hand were "complimentary" glasses with the winery's logo, which come free once you pay for a tasting. However, these have come in handy plenty of times since we came home, so we won't complain.

Owl Creek had each row of vines labeled by grape type

Overall, it was a great trip touring the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. Almost all of the wineries were a hit.  We visited 15 wineries in less than three days and almost all of them were a good experience, so those are good odds. Also, the scenery in the area is gorgeous, all rolling—and sometimes steep—hills, lots of lakes, and thousands upon thousands of trees, thanks in part to the national forests. We'd definitely recommend visiting the trail for a long weekend getaway.

Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, part one

Our home base for the weekend

Upon arriving in Carbondale, we made a beeline for our rental cabin on the outskirts of town. We booked one of two cabins at Devil's Kitchen Cabins, which was phenomenal. The cabin was isolated in the woods on private property, located at the top of a steep hill. It had two separate bedrooms as well as a futon in the living room, a full kitchen, a hot tub on the screened-in deck, and a grill and fire pit behind the cabin. A friend met us a half hour after we arrived, and we set off in search of the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail.

Evening was on its way, so we headed towards one of the few wineries that we knew would be open late on a Friday night — Blue Sky Vineyard in nearby Makanda. Blue Sky is the most grandiose of all the wineries on trail. It was built to resemble a Tuscan villa, and you can tell the owners put a lot of work into making it feel as if it's in Italy and not southern Illinois. The building is gorgeous, complete with frescos on the walls of the tasting room, antique doors from old churches, and huge chandeliers. Outside, a large patio offers seating for guests, as well as chairs on the immense lawn overlooking both the vineyards and a pond with a waterfall feature. As for the wines themselves, Blue Sky offers a large variety across the board. Our personal favorite is the Misterioso, a fruity rose with great flavor, as well as the Rocky Comfort Red. If you happen to visit Blue Sky, I'd highly recommend you follow our lead: get a pitcher of their sangria to split amongst friends, and then take it outside and relax while the sun sets. We were lucky in that a nearby group had to leave and offered us their half-full pitcher as well. We definitely got our money's worth that evening.

Looking across the lawn to Blue Sky

From here, we decided to head over to the other winery that was open late in the evening, Rustle Hill Winery in Cobden. After winding our way through the country roads and back onto one of the local highways, we arrived to find Rustle Hill packed with people. There may or may not have been a wedding reception taking place on one side of their immense lawn; either that or there was a free buffet that wasn't advertised. Upon entering the tasting room, we were quickly shushed, as a string quartet was playing in the small space. People were jammed shoulder-to-shoulder, and we were informed that no tastings would occur during the concert. (We surmised that the quartet was playing indoors and not on the ampitheater stage outside because the humidity would interfere with their instruments, but that's unconfirmed.) We made our way outside and to a lower patio, where we hoped a waiter would take drink orders instead. However, not even these orders could be placed—there was no food or drink service until the concert ended, and upon asking we discovered that the concert would continue until the winery closed that evening. My biggest complaint with Rustle Hill is that their "no service during the concert" rule wasn't public knowledge; not on the website, not posted anywhere on the premesis (that we saw). As people who drove over 200 miles to visit their winery, we were a frustrated that we couldn't taste any of their wines during the last two and a half hours that they were open on a Friday night.

A view of Rustle Hill from the lower patio

At this point it was too late to visit anywhere else, so we headed back to the cabin for dinner, a movie, the hot tub, and a bottle of Black & Blue from Pheasant Hollow. 

The next morning we hit the wine trail before eleven, hoping to hit as many wineries as possible. We started at the northwest corner of the trail, first visiting Kite Hill Vineyards in Carbondale. This winery was nestled in the middle of farmland, and it looked as if they were constructing a new building on their property. A small lake sat in the middle of the vineyards, around which were the bed and breakfast as well as an outbuilding which serves as the winery. Inside, a very nice college kid served up our tastings, including a slushy drink made from their chardonnel and their port. We purchased a bottle of the chardonnel and headed on to our next location.

The vineyards, pond, and B&B at Kite Hill

The next winery was one of the highlights of our trip: Pomona Winery. This was a favorite of one friend making the trip with us, and she couldn't wait to buy more wine from them. Pomona focuses solely on fruit wines, and all of their wines come from locally-grown fruit. We've had a lot of fruit wine, but much of it has a grape base to it. The flavor that comes from Pomona's full-fruit wines is exceptional. All of their wines are good, but we especially liked their Orchard Spice and Peach Dessert wines. Our friend mentioned that the Kir (a black currant and apple wine) tasted different than she remembered, and the woman at the tasting bar informed us that depending on the growing season, the flavor of the fruits will change, altering the taste of the wines from year to year. As for the winery itself, it's a huge building nestled into a hillside in the middle of the woods. Trees tower over the winery on all sides, and you can go out onto the decks and stand eye-to-eye with the branches. Inside, a huge square bar seats plenty, while the pillars in the center are covered in all the awards Pomona Winery has won over the years.

Pomona's awards, including two Governor's Cups from the state fair

Just down the road was Hickory Ridge Winery, one of the smaller wineries on the trail, but one with the most impressive view. A large retriever roamed the grounds, so extra points for them just for having a dog. The winery itself appeared to be a converted cabin, complete with a loft area upstairs. The bar is tiny, able to fit only a handful of people at one time. However, it is intricately carved with a Central American motif which, while not necessarily fitting with Southern Illinois, is quite beautiful. The wine itself was good, and here we purchased bottles not only for ourselves, but for a friend back home who wanted a "robust, dry red." Had more time been available to us, it would have been great to have drinks on the deck. It hangs off the side of the hill and over the vineyards, with a gorgeous view of the valley below and the forest beyond that. This was quite possibly the most scenic of all the wineries on the trail.

The hillside at Hickory Ridge, overlooking the Shawnee National Forest

From this point we weren't exactly sure how to get to the next winery on the trail. Thankfully, Von Jakob Vineyards has two locations, so no matter which road we took we were in luck. We visited the Pomona location, which was the original location where the vineyard started. (The second location in Alto Pass, which we did not visit, features orchards as well as vineyards and a bigger tasting room.) Von Jakob has over twenty varieties of wine for tasting, so we had a lot of options here. Wines we enjoyed were Cave Creek, Little Grand Canyon Gold, Kroshenfeler, and their port selections. The fact that the port was served in little chocolate cups made us like it even more. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time here, as our friend had to leave and wanted to hit up on last winery before she departed. We'll have to make another trip someday and visit their other location.

Von Jakob's tasting room and a fraction of their vineyards

Our final stop with our friend was to Alto Vineyards in Alto Pass, Illinois. Alto is the oldest of the wineries in the area, opening in 1984. The owners of this winery, along with the owners of Pomona and Owl Creek, spearheaded the movement to create the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. (As an aside, this area has now been designated as an official American Viticultural Area by the ATF, the only one in the state of Illinois.) Needless to say, Alto Vineyards has the longest tradition of winemaking, and it shows in their product. The wines we enjoyed from them were the Weiner Dog White—one of our first reviews on this website, Rosso Classico, Rocko Red, and Shawnee Gold.

Grape-themed stained glass at Alto Vineyards

We drove back to our cabin on the opposite side of Carbondale so that our friend could head home. After a brief rest, we hopped back in the car and ventured out to see the second half of the trail. Up next, more wine...

Illinois Wine Trail

Earlier this summer, we took a mini-vacation to downstate Illinois to visit the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail.  After several months of planning, we had our game plan in place and started the drive from the Chicago suburbs down to the Carbondale area.  The drive down I-57 was surprisingly easy, but this was surely due to the several stops we took along the way.

Our first detour off the highway was to the town of Stewardson, home of Vahling Vineyards.  Vahling is part of the Heartland Rivers Wine Trail, which is in the south central portion of the state.  We've tasted wine from Vahling at several different festivals, and we've alrways been pleased with their variety.  Their wines are crisp, flavorful, and pleasing.  Best of all, they're well-priced, which makes it even easier for us to support this winery.  We had a good time sampling the different wines and chatting with the owner.  So many of their wines are good: River Fizz, Leon Millot, Prairie Mist, Friar's Favorite, and Moonlight Bliss are all great.  After purchasing several bottles, we headed back towards the road.

Vahling Vineyards

We met back up with the highway in Effingham and went south to the town of Mt. Vernon.  Even before leaving the highway, we could spot GenKota Winery from the road.  The winery's huge wraparound porch is stunning; several rocking chairs and hammocks were put to test while we ate cheese and crackers.  Inside, GenKota has a small tasting bar, and less than a dozen wines on the tasting list.  One of their best sellers in their Three Dog Night, though we were all amused by the name of their apple wine: Thunder Chicken.

GenKota Winery and its huge porch

Approximately 20 miles north of Carbondale, we made another pitstop.  This time, it was Pheasant Hollow Winery in Whittington, Illinois.  This winery is located relatively close to the highway, but due to the dense forest surrounding it, we couldn't hear any cars at all.  The dense canopy of leaves kept the huge building well-shaded, as did the large porch on the front of the building.  Off to one side was a platform where they stomp grapes, presumably during festivals at the winery.  Inside, a large tasting bar lined the wall, and a stone fireplace loomed over the seating area.  The woman staffing the bar was quite nice, offering us tips on which wines were the best to try.  Their Black & Blue is a fruit wine created from blueberries and blackberries, and is one of their best sellers.  We also enjoyed their Gunn Creek White.  We purchased a few bottles, and then headed on to our destination...

Pheasant Hollow amongst the trees

Next up, the wineries of the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail!