Great Wines are Made in the Vineyard

Owl Creek is deeply committed to creating the highest quality wines by starting with the highest quality grapes. Most of our grapes grown in the Shawnee Hills are French-American hybrids and native varieties. The story of the wonderful hybrid wine grape goes back to the 1880s, a dark time in the history of wine.

For centuries, New World wine pioneers such as Thomas Jefferson attempted to grow European varieties of grapes (Vinifera). The vines would only survive long enough to produce a small crop and then wither. In the 1880’s, this problem came to the Old World. It turned out that a nearly microscopic root louse (Phylloxera) carried from America on grapevine cuttings was ravaging the vineyards of Europe.

Two solutions materialized: Cross-breeding beloved Vinifera vines with American vines thus creating French/American hybrids and grafting Vinifera vines onto American rootstocks. Today, most wine grapes worldwide are grown on rootstocks that can trace their beginnings to humble Midwestern native grapevines. In return, the Midwest received wonderful French/American hybrid grape varieties that thrive in our climate and make exceptional wines.

• Read about our red varieties.
• Read about our white varieties.