Category > Wine Punk
Judging for this the 2009 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition occurred in our humble Urbana this week. Twelve judges tasted around 300 commercial wines produced from all over Illinois. I've had the pleasure of judging this completion for the last several years. As a whole, these wines possessed the highest overall quality of any set yet. The full results are available soon at illinoiswine.com. The following wines ended up with top honors decided by modified consensus of all the …
| Once upon a time, wines bore the name of where they came from, and perhaps a vintage. Producers, single vineyards and types mattered less than the all-important place. This labeling system cemented the reputation of wines we all know: Chianti, Bordeaux, Champagne. Each of these regions built around their style, with the best wines expressing the place. It's not that a sparkling chardonnay/pinot noir blend isn't good; rather, ordering a bottle of Champagne is way sexier. When you buy …
With respect for the time-honored tradition of end of year naughty/nice lists and all those pesky resolutions, I present my own list of several wines I enjoyed drinking in twenty-o-eight. These are in no particular order and range in flavor. Take these as a shopping list for next year. Nort Noir NV Kickapoo Creek Winery, Edwards, Ill. Illinois may develop a reputation for producing top-flight dessert wines. This port-style wine really makes that a reality. It beautifully combines power …
Warning! Querciabella Chianti 2004 only got 91 points from Parker. That’s only an A-minus. Only an A-minus! Never mind that reviewer Antonio Galloni said, “…[it] offers outstanding overall balance…setting a new benchmark for elegance in Chianti Classico.” Does this mean that Chianti is doomed to be just a successful, albeit barely honor roll, wine forever? If 9 out of 10 defines the benchmark for this classic Tuscan appellation, should they just rip out their vines and plant almonds? What …
Most wineries in Illinois moonlight as something else. Winery/pie shop. B & B and tasting room. Wine shop/coffee house. Whatever the arrangement, these conjoined operations offer some insight into the mind of the winemaker. My experience is that good wine usually accompanies a good secondary (or tertiary) product. So the absolute value of one’s Chambourcin = the absolute value of one’s fudge, etc. This brings us to Kickapoo Creek Winery. Their model is Winery/nursery/wedding hall. Sometime back, a friend …
For those of you who missed the trip to Matthiessen State park (one that may remain open even if Blago has his way) for Vintage Illinois this weekend, here’s the wrap-up. Funny, even pithy, t-shirts told wine wisdom. Lots of Harley guys who aren’t really Harley guys but fall into the tax bracket that allows for buying a ‘renegade’ lifestyle. Sunday was a totally chill atmosphere ripe for drinking good wine under a tree with a picnic all day …
For those of you who don’t mind crowds and want get your Illinois wine on, Vintage Illinois pours next weekend, September 20-21, at Matthiessen State Park. And while entry is only ten bucks, you must buy $1 tickets for each pour. This gets pricey fast. However, pours usually are more than enough to get a good taste and then share with a friend. (Hopefully my companions won’t mind sharing more than just my witty company.) And kids, remember a …
I realized that my childhood came full circle watching my critter run around the U-Pick grapevines at Mackinaw Valley Vineyard in Mackinaw, Ill., yesterday. My mother took me on seemingly endless trips each summer to pick fruit for that year’s jellies and jams. Memories of hours spend romping through Willamette Valley strawberry and blackberry fields still color attitudes about what food and wine ought to be. So standing in a long row of beautiful fruit watching my daughter cram …
Last summer, I made my family take a two hour detour to Genoa, Ill., so I could snag the perfect wine for our concert date. Chambourcin, like so many grapes, offers a spectrum of styles, depending on how the vintner crafts the vintage. Our double bill of k.d. lang and Lyle Lovett needed a classy, yet country summer red (we were only eating saucisson after all) that we could drink chilled at the hot outdoor venue. I made my …
Years ago, a Father’s Day gift led Matt Schulte to join his brothers and father as a home winemaker. Once he realized that local fruit made the best wines, he took the family green thumb and planted some vines: first Norton, Chambourcin, Chardonel and then others. Matt produced the first vintages in his basement. Guests brought blankets and chairs and sat on their hill overlooking the Mississippi lowlands. Everyone drank delicious wines from nearby. Thus Spirit Knob Winery began. …
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Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
“more beer is drank” Awesome. Way to go “editors.“
You left out the best part—you have to REMEMBER your number after the beer chugging! Yeah, I’m a member.
Great article, man. Like you, I didn’t really know Daniel all that well, but I felt the impact of his death. I too was inspired by him and it pleases me to see that he continues to live on in the spirit of the community.
Thanks you guys…I love living in a community that can connect, share, and create through food. It’s inspiring…
<div> A beautiful recap of the evening and thank you for sharing why you find what the Fund is doing is inspiring. I haven’t been able to write too much about my feelings about the community’s loss of Dan yet either, but Dan has also inspired me…
Seth and Justine, thanks so much! Through your writing and your photos, everyone can get at least a taste of what was served up Sunday night. Dan would very much have liked that! As you say, our community is very much “fertile ground,“ and Dan had such…
That is perhaps the best article you have ever written… a love letter to Champaign-Urbana and the people who call it home.
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Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…