Midwestern Wine and Spirits

Hi,

I am seeking recommendations on Midwestern wines. I found one topic on making wine in Missouri. I found a post commenting about a Wisconsin winery founded in the 1840's.

Years ago, Culinary Historians had an Illinois wine tasting where elderberry wine was served. Not having eaten breakfast, I was tipsy before lunch. I felt like a character straight out of Arsenic and Old Lace.

Any thoughts on Midwestern wine and spirit sources are appreciated.

Regards,
CAthy2

Subject: Making wine in Missouri

Subject: $10 Wine Finds ???

Diannie wrote:Hubby and I spent a couple of days taking the kids to Devils Head just after Christmas. We side tripped to Wollersheim winery in Prairie du Sac. We had a nice tour of a great old building and looked at the vineyards from the relative shelter of a porch. In good weather the tour visits the vineyards and an aging cave. The tour ended with tastings of about a 1/2 dozen wines. Many price at near $10 a bottle. We were quite impressed with several varieties and then in today's Tribune, three of their wines were mentioned as good bargains. I was quite impressed with the Chardonnay and the estate grown Domaine Reserve.

They can mail order to Illinois and their wines are distributed in a few Illinois towns.

On New Year's Eve we made white Sangria with the Prairie Fume, a semi-dry white wine. I don't care for semi-dry wines to drink straight but it made a lovely sangria.

Wollersheim Winery

Who knew there was a winery in the Midwest that dates to the 1840s?

I know you're not asking because you want to drink them yourself....

I'm not sure which Midwestern wines are available from sources other than directly from the wineries. Some of the bigger Michigan wineries may have distribution. Some others may ship. Missouri also has a fairly well developed wine industry. Wisconsin is perhaps a better source for fruit wines. Ontario produces exceptional ice wines.

Illinois wineries

Locally, Charlie Trotter serves wines from Lynfred, a pretty good endorsement. However, though Lynfred makes wine in Roselle, they don't grow their own grapes, and I believe many of their sources of grapes are beyond the Midwest. Valentino in Long Grove is a vineyard and estate bottler; I'm not sure about other Northern Illinois wineries; there are more vineyards downstate. Wild Blossom (correct URL) is the only winery in Chicago city limits; they make mead from local honey.

Booze giant Diageo has a huge distillery in Plainfield. Alas, Peoria, once a major gin-making capital, doesn't have a distillery left.

North Shore is a local spirits distillery. Here's a thread. Clearheart is made in Iowa.

One could make a case that Kentucky, being just south of Illinois, is Midwestern, in which case all the bourbons become fair game, but it's stretching a bit.

if you're looking for wineries and spirits makers to cooperate in an event, this should give you a start. if you just want to buy some Midwest-produced wine or booze, your best bet is likely to go to Sam's or Binny's and ask.

Cathy-

This is a really broad topic. By wine, do you mean wine made from grapes? A lot of Midwestern "wine" is made from fruit other than grapes (apples, plums, etc.). So if you're including those, there's a whole host of apple wine producers dotted around Wisconsin and Michigan.

Here is an article that was recently published in the Miami Herald, which states, among other things, that the Midwestern wine producing region is the biggest in the country. Is there a way to narrow your focus?

Personally, I think some of the best wines in the area are being produced on the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan. That would include the locally grown and produced L.Mawby sparkling wines, which are generally well-regarded and available at various wine bars here in Chicago.

Cathy - this could be a good resource for Illinois wine and winery information:

http://www.illinoiswine.com/trail-heartland.html

It looks like wine is now made from stem to stern in the Prairie State!

If a recommendation is what you seek, I enjoyed a bottle of Harbor Red (Zin/Syrah blend) from The Grafton Winery this summer. I believe the grapes/juice are sourced in California, but the wine is blended and bottled locally in Grafton:

http://thegraftonwinery.com/wines.html

I'm not a fan of sweet or fruit wines (except for a good tawny port, mind you) so I can't share recommendations on those varietals.

Davooda

A while ago I found Appellation America, which follows the appellation designations across the country. This page lists all of them, including Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa (!). Ohio appears to be the newest designation. There is a $5 subscription fee to get past the list itself.

You might contact Doug Frost, he's a KC-based wine authority who has quite a bit to share on Midwestern wines: http://www.dougfrost.com/

Here's something I posted a few days ago on the KC site:

Local wine--we have a winner!

And by that, I mean a Missouri or Kansas red wine that just tastes like good, normal, drinkable wine. I've found plenty of whites--chardonels and seyval blancs--that I like just fine, but reds and pinks have been a disappointment.

Last year, we made the trip to Hermann and worked our way through the two walkable, in-town wineries (we took the train): Hermannhof and the ubiquitous Stone Hill.

We sample a lot of wine at each place...blech. For the most part. I'm sure there were one or two that could have been drinkable in another setting, outside their awful brethren.

Geo chided me by email recently for expecting the wrong things from local grapes, looking for a Cabernet, I guess, rather than appreciating the beauty of Missouri's own. Maybe. But I'm a pretty equal opportunity drinker. I like green chile-tinged carmenere, funky Rhone varietals, effervescent vinho verde, and regal German rieslings.

The above chiding came on the heels of my low expectations for an Adam Puchta Norton. Puchta was the winery I most regretted missing in Hermann. Norton is the central and eastern states' supposed answer to the imperialist tendencies of the noble grapes. Maybe just a bad bottle, but my low expectations were met.

I had my hopes raised by a recent Cellar Rat email raving about Montelle's Chambourcin. I'd never heard of Montelle, and I took that as a good sign. It's in Augusta, just beyond the western burbs of St. Louis.

Here is what they had to say:

The Cellar Rat's weekly email wrote:The color was brilliant, the nose intense, focused & highly aromatic & the palate was bursting with juicy fruit, beautifully integrated use of oak, bright acids & just enough tannin.

...

You will be blown away by the intensity of the bright & inky color. The purity of fruit in the aromatics and on the palate are beyond impressive. A big nose of blueberry nectar, bing cherries, creamy vanilla and chalkboard dust lead to a juicy, mouth coating & fruit filled palate. The acidity hits you on the front side and helps accentuate the fruit then chalky tannins fill out the finish.

Now, I don't know about all that; my wine vocabulary isn't that good, but I really enjoyed this wine. I'd been searching halfheartedly for months for an affordable, tasty local wine to showcase when all the out-of-towners arrived, and was glad to have found one. (It didn't get much notice, due to several different Turley vintages and some other assorted goodies from the cellars of those in attendance; on the plus side, I have a couple bottles left.)

Still, I'm pleased to have a local red that I can happily drink and serve.

A week or two ago, they still had a bit left at the Cellar Rat. I also saw a bottle at the Midtown Gomers just last week ($10.69).

I liked some of the wines I tasted at Sleepy Creek Winery, and the place is worth a road trip just for the beautiful grounds and very interesting scarecrows among the vines:

Hi,

You're right, LAZ, it is not so much for personal consumption. I want to get some Midwestern wines for October's Greater Midwest Foodways program on Beef. At least one of the people involved are pretty certain there are no good Midwestern wines.

I know people here are pretty well versed on what they like and don't like. If they like a Midwestern wine (grapes or other fruits), then I can comfortably serve them knowing it will pass muster.

Any and all information is appreciated, because you know this is an area where my depth of knowledge is the kiddie pool.

Thanks!

Regards,

A couple of Midwestern distilleries in addition to North Shore:

Death's Door
Washington Island, WI

Templeton Rye
Templeton, IA

Cathy2 wrote:I want to get some Midwestern wines for October's Greater Midwest Foodways program on Beef. At least one of the people involved are pretty certain there are no good Midwestern wines.

Well, normally, you'd serve a big red to go with beef, and due to a variety of factors, not the least of which is climate, the Upper Midwest at least, is not ideal for growing red grapes that go into big reds like cabernet sauvignon or merlot.

I'd stick with L.Mawby to show an example of a Midwestern wine that is quite good, IMHO.

HI,

I figure there may be wine served after the event, whether it is paired with beef or not. I can always use the information going into the future. I will definitely check into L.Mawby.

It seems Aaron may have found a good red in Kansas, which might fit the bill for a beef course.

Thanks!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:It seems Aaron may have found a good red in Kansas, which might fit the bill for a beef course.

Yeah, it's pretty food friendly, actually from a bit outside of St. Louis, so they may distribute in Illinois too. Not sure what state shipping laws are in.

Aaron Deacon wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:It seems Aaron may have found a good red in Kansas, which might fit the bill for a beef course.

Yeah, it's pretty food friendly, actually from a bit outside of St. Louis, so they may distribute in Illinois too. Not sure what state shipping laws are in.

It's close enough to be picked up, if need be.

Regards,

aschie30 wrote:Personally, I think some of the best wines in the area are being produced on the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan. That would include the locally grown and produced L.Mawby sparkling wines, which are generally well-regarded and available at various wine bars here in Chicago.

This is what I was going to say as well...just last summer I bought a Riesling by Silver Leaf Vineyard and a "Tall Ship Chardonnay" from Leelanau Cellars, both from the Meijer in Michigan City, IN. I thought both were quite nice, comparable in taste & quality to any other wines I've enjoyed in the $10-15 range.

Lynfred has some good reds, even if they are bringing in the grapes to make them, and the winery has been doing a fair amount of marketing lately, so they may be interested in cooperating in an event.

I had some of the Mawby wines and they were good (sparkling and red). Plus the owner is a nice guy and works really hard. When we visited there he was doing the thing where you get rid of the yeast cap in the sparkling bottles alone, by hand, one at a time.

I had some fruit wines from Iowa, and for the most part they tasted like sweet-tarts. The cranberry was the one that most tasted like what it was made of. I don't know the winery name that we had, though... sorry.

Without a doubt, the best wines coming out of the Midwest are those from Wyncroft.

If you're looking for wines from Missouri, those made from the Norton/Cynthiana grape would be the best choice since the variety is native to Missouri and has been made into wine there for more than 150 years. The best renditions of Norton I've tasted have come from Stone Hill.

Norton/Cynthiana is neither Vitis vinifera nor Vitis labrusca, it's a separate species named Vitis aestiva. This species was the backbone of wine production in the Midwest in the 19th century, a time when Missouri and Ohio were the top two wine-producing states.

Wow. We visited the Stone Hill winery last year, sampled nearly the whole line, and what we sampled ranged in quality from undrinkable to not very good, norton included. They did have some higher end or different vintage nortons that we didn't sample, but I was really disappointed in Stone Hill's wines. And the winery restaurant, for that matter.

Oh, I wasn't making a blanket recommendation of Stone Hill. They make a Norton that used to be called a reserve, now it's vineyard-designated, that is excellent and ages very well. I can only assume it was something you didn't taste.

Nor did I recommend the restaurant. My own experience is that winery restaurants are overpriced at best and disgusting at worst...and I would never dine in one again.

[quote]Without a doubt, the best wines coming out of the Midwest are those from [url=http://www.wyncroftwine.com/]Wyncroft[/url].[/quote]

Mark -

Good call; I totally agree. For some reason, they slipped my mind upthread.

Yes, Wyncroft is the one that doesn't come with a qualifier. It's not "good, for the Midwest." But I doubt Cathy can buy any. It's pretty much sold out to restaurants and friends before release, no?

JeffB wrote:Yes, Wyncroft is the one that doesn't come with a qualifier. It's not "good, for the Midwest." But I doubt Cathy can buy any. It's pretty much sold out to restaurants and friends before release, no?

I don't know if I can, though it will be great to offer it as a recommendation to some who do qualify regional wine as "good, for the Midwest." I know a few who don't believe good wine is even possible from the Midwest.

I appreciate solid recommendations like Wyncroft.

Thanks!

Regards,