Like its neighbors in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, Illinois offers several attractive destinations for wine lovers. Grapes grow well here, and Illinois winemakers show their creativity by a tempting variety of wines that appeal to the national press.
Since late 2008, Illinois has about 60 wineries. You are never far from a great wine experience here in Illinois! We booked the service roundtrip Amtrak Illini line and enjoyed the idea of relaxing with a good book and enjoy the scenery on the way to the land of wine from Illinois Illinois, the Shawnee Wine Trail.
Day One On The Wine Trail Shawnee
The next morning, fresh from a delicious breakfast and a challenging ride Giant City State Park, we headed to our first exploration of wine for the weekend with a stop at Owl Creek Vineyard. Immediately we found out why the Shawnee Hills region is ideal for wine travelers.
There are 10 wineries in the Shawnee Wine Trail, a little math problem and told us we could visit them at 2 1 / 2 days. A good breakfast, plenty, followed by a late morning visit the winery. Then stop for lunch and enjoy the scenery, and two wineries in the afternoon.
And yes, our day consisted of visits to a calendar Owl Creek Vineyard, Blue Sky Vineyard, Orlandini Vineyards, vineyards and finally Estrella Vista. Owl Creek is a true taste of Southern Illinois, as all the wines made with grapes grown in this area.
To begin, we find ChardonOwl, white toast and style Chardonnel Chardonnay grapes. The red side, try to jump the owl, great style Chambourcin wine with hints of clove and anise. Every wine here is full of depth and intrigue. This winery is one of the best institutions in this or any wine trail.
Our favorite was infinite, a semi-dry white made from Geisenheim grapes. The result is a wine of almost blush color with spicy fruit all styles of good Chambourcin.
Later Friday afternoon, we visited the winery last day, Star View Vineyards. This is another ideal place to enjoy a glass of wine outdoors.
We visited on a beautiful fall day, so I decided to buy a glass of wine and enjoy a deck. The two stars of the wines we tasted were the Silver Star, one white, and Norton, one red.
The second day on the Road
Saturday we took the western part of the visit Shawnee Wine Trail.
Open since 2003, Heritage Valley offers a pleasant taste and free tasting of six wines. If you stop here, turn the port wine to try when a house specialty.
Our favorite was the wine heritage of the Valley Two Worlds. This dry red wine, a blend of two grapes very well here, Cabernet Franc and Norton.
Next on the agenda was the unofficial wine center in Southern Illinois, Alto Pass. Here are three wineries – Hedman Vineyards, Alto Vineyards, and Von Jacob Winery. This pioneering winery was the first commercial plant grapes for wine production in the 1980′s.
We especially enjoyed the white wines here, perhaps because we have focused on red Hedman.
Saturday afternoon was the last winery Jakob von Winery, where you can relax by the fireplace indoors or outdoors and shows each of its 20 wines. Wine lovers tend to look over his shoulder to the wines of Apple, but we were always fans.
Pomona offers nine different wines, including some interesting dessert wines and port styles.
The Shawnee Hills Wine Trail is ideal for a weekend getaway.