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...