Delta Grant to Improve Access to Walker's Bluff

Walker's Bluff likes to advertise they're the region's premiere entertainment destination, but actually getting there has never been easy.

Today's Southern Illinoisan notes that one of the new grants just announced from the Delta Regional Authority includes funds to upgrade the county line road that leads to the property.

Delta awarded more than $100,500 for improvements to Meridian Road in Williamson County as part of a $340,470 project for tourism asset expansion expected to create and retain 111 jobs.

The article doesn't name Walker's Bluff, but it's the only tourism asset in that area.

Inheritance Valley Vineyards Closes Doors

I just found out tonight that the owners of Inheritance Valley Vineyards, Tim and Kendell Wendell, decided to close down at the end of last fall. They were the smallest producer on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. They wines will be missed.

For fans of their product, Rustle Hill Winery in Cobden bought out their remaining stock.

For now, watch and see what will be missed on the wine trail. The winery opened in 2003 after producing their first wines in 2002.

Chicago Man Pushing for Urban Winery in Windy City

The Illinois wine industry that for the most part remains nestled in the hills at the edge of the state, whether up near Galena or down in the Shawnee Hills, may soon its first urban competitor.

Chicago redeveloper Bill Lavicka wants to take an 19th Century country mansion in the Washington Park neighborhood of Chicago and turn it into a winery, complete with locally-grown grapes planted on what's now city-owned vacant blocks. The Chicago Tribune has the story.

 

Senate Memorializes Father of Illinois Wine Industry

The Illinois Senate passed a resolution today honoring Guy Renzaglia for his role in developing the state's modern wine industry. State Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Nashville, introduced Senate Resolution 35 Tuesday.

Renzaglia died three months ago on Nov. 4, 2010, at his home in Mahomet, Ill. He was the founder of Alto Vineyards at Alto Pass, the oldest of the modern-era wineries in Southern Illinois.

The Senate resolution includes the following history.

WHEREAS, Guy Renzaglia enlisted to serve his country during World War II and finished first in the Officer Candidate School in the Army Air Corps; he served with distinction during five years in uniform, and, like many of his peers in the Greatest Generation, he returned home and attended college on the GI Bill; and

WHEREAS, Guy Renzaglia, the son of Italian immigrants, was an accomplished athlete and scholar and a member of the George Washington University Hall of Fame; he earned his bachelor's degree at GWU and his master's degree in physical education at the University of Minnesota; he subsequently earned his second master's degree in psychology and his doctorate in counseling psychology; and

WHEREAS, Guy Renzaglia had a vision to provide support to underserved persons; he applied his determination and wisdom to develop the Rehabilitation Institute at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, making it one of the few universities in the country at the time to provide services for the blind, deaf, and persons using wheelchairs; and

WHEREAS, Through Guy Renzaglia's strength and charisma, the Rehabilitation Institute became a nationally acclaimed program which trained more than 1,000 professionals in rehabilitation and mental health services; and

WHEREAS, Guy Renzaglia retired from SIU-C after 23 years of service; at the age of 60, he started a partnership with two friends, Ted Wichman and Skip Cosgrove, and began a vineyard and winery later known as Alto Vineyards; and

WHEREAS, People from across the globe have come to southern Illinois to sample the brilliant wines and warm hospitality of Alto Vineyards, seeing and tasting for themselves the labor of love which Guy Renzaglia passed along to his son, Paul Renzaglia, as well as a love for life and people which is evident in every delicious sip; and

WHEREAS, Alto Vineyards has served as the model for dozens of other wineries and as the birthplace of the wine industry in Illinois, which now boasts some 90 working wineries and hundreds of acres of vineyards, and brings Illinois national respect as a wine-producing region enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year; and

WHEREAS, Our hearts are heavy with his loss, but we rejoice in the time he shared in our lives; we are comforted by the knowledge that Guy Renzaglia's heart will never leave the fertile and beautiful rolling hills of southern Illinois, the wonderful people of southern Illinois, and the SIU community; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family, and friends, the passing of Guy Renzaglia; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we affirm that his spirit remains a living part of us all and that his family and friends will love and forever miss him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Guy Renzaglia as a symbol of our sincere sympathy.

State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, filed a similar resolution, HR51 in the Illinois House yesterday.

Bradley, Bost Introduces Bills Affecting Tourism

UPDATED with additional bills

Two Southern Illinois lawmakers have introduced four bills that could impact tourists and the area's tourism industry should they get lawmaker approval and the governor's signature.

State Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, has introduced the first three, and state Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, the fourth one.

House Bill 1154 would exempt the Red Cross from paying bed tax at local hotels when the rooms are used for official purposes during disaster relief. The Red Cross isn't named directly, but is referenced as a distaster relief agencies incorporated by the United States Congress.

House Bill 1389 is a short appropriations bill authorizing $300,000 for the Illinois Department of Transportation to prepare a study for a new interchange on Interstate 57 just north of Benton at Petroff Road. This bill most likely won't pass as written, but the language could be added to one of the main appropriation bills later in the session. These aren't fully developed until the end of the legislative session.

The third bill isn't tourism-related directly, but would benefit tourists and local residents alike. House Bill 1392 would prohibit local units of government from issuing ticket quotes for law enforcement officers. Communities such as Cairo and Ullin, and even Williamson County, are becoming notorious for speed traps along I-57. I'm not saying that those agencies are using quotas, but Cairo especially could use more law enforcement inside their city limits rather than harass interstate travellers crossing the bridge from Missouri.

Bost's bill, House Bill 303 would amend the State Finance Act to create the Grow Illinois Jobs Fund that would allocate 2 cents per gallon of any existing tax on wine (other than cider) to be deposited into the new fund to promote the grape and wine industry in the state. The money would be split between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity home of the Illinois Bureau of Tourism which has supported wine promotion in the past.

Bost's 115th District includes the largest concentration of wineries in the state, including the dozen wineries on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and at least another half dozen in Union and Jackson counties. State Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Nashville, has introduced Senate Bill 1285, a Senate version of the same legislation.

Over on the senate side, state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, has co-sponsored Senate Bill 1337 introduced by John M. Sullivan to create a hunting season for river otters.

State Sen. John O. Jones, R-Mount Vernon, has introduced Senate Bill 77 that would amend the criminal code to exempt military re-enactors from restrictions prohibiting the sale, manufacture, purchase, possession or carrying of specified vintage weapons under certain conditions.

Walker's Bluff Expands Management Team

If anyone still had any doubts as to
The complex reopens after their winter's break on Feb. 10, just time time for Valentine's Day.

Another Winery Opens North of Route 13

View Wineries North of Routes 3/149/13 in a larger map

There's the makings of a new wine trail in the region with the opening of a fifth winery in northern Jackson County just south of Elkville.

Lyn-Nita Vineyards opened Nov. 19 at the intersection of U.S. 51 and Coal Road, according to the Southern Business Journal. Anita Eckhardt is the proprietor.

Eckhardt said the winemaking community in Southern Illinois has been helpful and welcoming to her on her new venture.

"All the wineries down here have been just wonderful," she said. "They don't view it as a competition; they actually view it as something good for the business.

"Right now nobody feels like the market is over-saturated just yet," she added. "They feel like it's good to have more wineries here."

Jackson County is better known for the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail which runs south of Carbondale and Murphysboro and has previously decided to limit themselves to south of Route 13 and west of Interstate 57.

Twelve wineries operate on that trail, the state's first. Two more wineries have opened in the last year or so in their territory and may soon qualify for membership - Lincoln Heritage in Union County and Honker Hill in Williamson County.

New Winery Opens in Union County

The Southern Illinoisan today has the story on the new Lincoln Heritage Winery in Union County operated by Homer and Bonnie Cissell. The winery opened last week on Oct. 15.

In planning and designing their winery, the Cissell's said they wanted an atmosphere that reflected their personalities.

"We don't want a frenetic or party-like atmosphere," Bonnie said. "The great thing about the wine trail is every winery has its own personality."

"So if you want that party atmosphere, you've got a couple places you can go, and if that's not for you, you can come here," she added. "We wanted it to reflect what we enjoy when we go places."

Homer said it's important for each winery to have its own persona, both in its atmosphere and in its wines offered.

The winery is located at 772 Kaolin Road outside Cobden. They're open noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and from noon to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

You can find them on Facebook and it appears that they're still working on their website, which will be at www.LincolnHeritageWinery.com when it's up and running.

Millennium Developers Meet with Wineries

Representatives from the Millennium Development coming to Marion, state Reps. John Bradley and Mike Bost, and area winery owners met together to discuss how they could work together.

Today's Southern Illinoisan has the story.

If they could have only invited the regional tourism director to the meeting. Oh, we don't have one due to the state's budget crisis.

Two New Wineries Starting to Advertise

I picked up a copy of Carbondale Times last week for the actual purpose of checking out the ads. As a journalist I'm shocked that I did so. People are only supposed to pick up the paper for the news (or comics), not the ads.

One of the reasons I do is to check out what's new in some of the smaller tourism attractions and amenities in the region. They (and their sister publication Nightlife) seem to get to unveil the first ads for many of these establishments in Jackson and Union counties.

Last week I noticed ads for two new wineries that actually opened last year, but are now just getting into the swing of things.

The Bluffs Vineyard and Winery hosts live music on the weekends at their location just off Illinois Route 3 at 140 Buttermilk Hill Rd, outside Ava on the west side of Kinkaid Lake.

The second is Lucas Bros.' HonkerHill Winery southwest of Crab Orchard Lake at 4861 Spillway Rd, less than a mile north of the intersection of Grassy Rd., outside Carbondale.

Another site advertising is somewhat of a surprise, at least compared to past years. The new concessionaires at Little Grassy Lake Campground and Marina are advertising as well with specials for camping and boat rentals. It's been more than a decade since I rented a boat there, but they now offer canoe and kayak rentals as well. Something else is new as well, you can now buy my books there too.

'Foodies' Target of SIU Tourism Project

Monday's Southern highlights another tourism project underway in the region, this time targeting the distinct culinary delights of Southern Illinois.

Carbondale Tourism Director Debbie Moore talks about the project with the Southern's Karen Binder. She's mentioned it before in tourism meetings and quite frankly it sounds delicious!

"What better way to understand an area's culture if it means understanding the food," Moore said. "The natural start for destination dining here is a perfect pairing with Southern Illinois wine and our Southern Illinois dishes. We want food and wine to the primary focus to this initiative."

While culinary tourism development opportunities are as varied as menu choices, Moore said developing partnerships with key food communities, such as restaurants, wineries and food producers, could tap the region's German, Polish, Italian, Hispanic and black historical roots.

Also, the team cited potential for a barbecue trail, promotion of locally grown products, turning farmers' markets into travel attractions, production tours, food safety and hospitality training, tourism business planning and more. Work is already under way on a regional cookbook.

Next step for the team is rolling out its Web site around a Southern Illinois Food, Family and Fun logo against a checkered tablecloth and continuing planning to launch the concept.

"Our hope that this entrepreneurial spirit can be leveraged with state money and we can see this happen," Moore said.

Karen ends her story with Debbie's rhetorical question, "How simple does it sound to serve apple pie made of Southern Illinois apples?"

Yet, it's not that simple. It's getting harder and harder to find locally-produced pies, let alone locally-produced pies filled with locally-grown fruit.

It came up at every tourism town meeting we conducted last year this issue of where tourists can go to get a "true taste" of Southern Illinois.

I call it the rhubarb test. I'm not a big pie eater, but I grew up on my grandmother's rhubarb and occasionally gooseberry pies. To me that's Southern Illinois. That's a distinctive taste that I associate with the region.

It's like knowing where the best barbecue can be found, or knowing that if going to Herrin - the best Italian beef.

Not all tourists stay overnight in the region, but it's almost guaranteed that if they spend just two or three hours here they'll eat at least one meal.

Whatever we can do to make that meal more memorable the better down the road for us.

Another part of Debbie's grant would pay off even more immediately as it would connect local food growers to local restaurants.

Wine Trail Updates

Since the designation last week of the Shawnee Hills American Viticultural Area I've been learning a lot about the local wine industry in Williamson County.

According to one report we have eight vineyards in the county, though I have not actually been able to identify all eight.

As for the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, it will be extending into the county in 2007. Plans are to take a spur north up Rocky Comfort Road from Blue Sky Winery to Grassy Road and from there east to Route 148.

Travelers coming up the interstate may have noticed that Blue Sky Winery is advertising at I-57 interchange with Route 148 at Exit 45 (Lake of Egypt). Look for Owl Creek Winery to do the same.

Also last week a local developer called me looking for partners for winery project in the Marion area. He has the property and location. Interested parties should call me here at the office at 618-997-3690.

Napa Valley Watch Out

The Southern Illinoisan reported today that the U.S. Treasury Department just gave wine makers in Southern Illinois an important new marketing tool according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello's office.

The agency approved the petition of the Shawnee Hills American Viticultural Area which allows "vintners and consumers to attribute a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of a wine made from grapes grown in a area to its geographic origin"

Parts of Williamson County are included in the 2,140 square mile area as are portions of Randolph, Jackson, Union, Alexander, Pulaski, Johnson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, Hardin and Pope counties.

The article didn't describe the boundaries, but a check of the Federal Register notice did.

The northern boundary of the AVA in Williamson County runs along Route 13 where it enters from Jackson County east to Interstate 57 in Marion, then down the interstate to Exit 45, then down Route 148 to Route 37, then down to Pulley's Mill and the South Fork of the Saline River. The boundary follows the river downstream to the Saline County.

Basically, the southwestern quarter of the county is in the designated area as well as the Lake of Egypt and Creal Springs area in the southeastern corner.

The designation was made according to several criteria, including historical evidence supporting the boundary, distinct geographic features, and that the area is locally and/or nationally known by its name. There are eight wineries with 51 vineyards in the Shawnee Hills AVA.

"This is an important distinction for winegrowers in Southern Illinois and the entire Illinois wine industry," said Costello in his news release. "The AVA designation will boost the popularity of Southern Illinois wines and help bring more tourists to our area."

With today's article I started looking around for what grape growers we had in Williamson County. This morning I caught up with Bill McCartney, executive director of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association, while he was driving to a meeting.

His website lists four vineyards, with one at least using "winery" in its name:

• Cana Vineyards, Inc.
  
• Pecan Garden Vineyard
  
• Richey Farm & Vineyard, and
  
• Stone Hall Farms Vineyard & Winery

A fifth site, Naurie's Vineyard, wasn't listed, but was one of two I knew existed in the county. I've been told of another possible vineyard near Hurst but haven't found out any more about it.

Cana Vineyards off of Cana Church Rd, and Stone Hall Farms along Wolf Creek Roads are definitely in the designated area. Richey Farm & Vineyard off of Dykersburg Road is north of the Saline River and wouldn't be, though I assume Pecan Garden would be in the area, but don't know exactly though it has a Creal Springs post office box for a mailing address.

McCartney agreed with the Congressman about the impact the new designation will provide to the area's vineyards and wineries.

"It's really important when you start marketing that wine," explained Bill McCartney, who compared it with California wine makers marketing their product under the "Napa Valley" label.