Shawnee Hills AVA Gets Federal Nod

November 29, 2006

Southern Illinois' wine industry is coming of age with the approval of the Shawnee Hills American Viticultural Area by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau. The AVA designation – like Napa Valley or Sonoma - is a marketing tool that allows consumers to know where wine grapes are produced.

"Wines made from the same grapes will take on very different characters depending on the growing region," said Owl Creek Winemaker and Owner Brad Genung. "Especially with the red wine grapes such as Chambourcin, Shawnee Hills fruit produces wonderfully robust wines."

The Best of Show wine in Illinois for 2006 – Owl Creek's Bald Knob – is produced from Shawnee Hills Chambourcin grapes. The wineries within the AVA in 2006 were awarded over 100 medals in various wine competitions.

Owl Creek founder Ted Wichmann led the way to differentiate the great wines coming from the Shawnee Hills region. In 2001, he applied for the AVA designation after exhaustive research into the character of Shawnee Hills soils and microclimates with the support of Dr. Imed Dami – the then Illinois' Viticulturalist housed at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Over the years, Wichmann and Owl Creek staff worked with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau to nurture the AVA's creation. "It proves that nothing happens quickly with the federal government, but I am really glad we got it through," said Wichmann. "I think this is going to benefit both the wineries and growers in the region."

The Shawnee Hills AVA, set to go into law on December 27, 2006, encompasses the fast growing Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and the great majority of the Shawnee National Forest Purchase Area.

Area wineries and vineyards will be coming together to promote Shawnee Hills grown and produced wines with the creation of the Shawnee Hills AVA Association in early January. The group is in the process of seeking grants to get the marketing ball rolling and keep up the strong growth of the wine industry in Southern Illinois.

The new viticultural area lies within portions of Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Union, and Williamson counties. The area covers about 2,140 square miles or 1.37 million acres between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and is approximately 80 miles long east to west and 20 miles wide north to south. The Shawnee Hills encompasses a region of hills and ridges untouched by glaciers that flattened the rest of Illinois' landscape. The Shawnee Hills are from 400 to 800 feet higher in elevation than the flatter, glaciated Mt. Vernon Hills to the north and the Cairo Delta flood plains to the south.

People have raised grapes in Southern Illinois and the Shawnee Hills since 1860, according "Grape Culture" by W.E. Gould (1891). The region contained 1,250 acres of vineyards and vintners produced 19,750 gallons of wine in 1891. Currently, there are 18 wineries and 55 vineyards with approximately 300+ acres.

The Shawnee Hills region gets its name from the Shawnee Indian Nation, led by Chief Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, which occupied the Southern Illinois hill country in the early 1800s in an attempt to stem the flow of white settlers from the east.