The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Bittersweet Rewards

Fall comes onto the scene of Southern Illinois in a profusion of color. Crimson red, sunbeam yellow, bight orange and shades of purple paint the skyline.

It is October, the time of harvest. The corn gets shucked, the beans are removed, the apples are picked out of the tree, and the grapes have been harvested from the vine.

While grapes might not be a traditional part of Southern Illinois agriculture, vineyards and wineries in Illinois' southern tip make up half of all the wine producers in the state.

When the idea of first planting and growing grapes came to Guy Renzaglia, founder of Alto Vineyards, everyone laughed.

Alto Vineyards was born in 1981 by Guy Renzaglia and a group of partners and sold its first batch of wine in 1989.

"Most people that came just said what is that crazy Italian doing up there on that hill," recalls Paul Renzaglia, son of Guy Renzaglia and now proprietor of Alto Vineyards.

Alto Vineyards was the first vineyard in the Southern Illinois area and paved the way for others.

"The irony is of all those people that laughed and thought it was a silly venture, now are thinking it was a great thing to do, and why didn't they think of it," said Renzaglia.

Don't be fooled though, it is not any easy job growing grapes in a vineyard.

Grapes are integral part of the wine process.

"You can't make good wine from bad grapes," said Paul Renzaglia.

Wine making process

Nine months of the year are dedicated to the actual vineyard. It all starts in January, February and March.

The vines must be pruned for the upcoming growing season. According to Renzaglia, it takes about 15 minutes per vine and with his 10-acre vineyard with about 6,000 vines, that is 1,000 hours of hands-on labor.

After the vines have been prepared, they must be continually pruned in order to keep the canopies open in the growing season, and fruit must be continually trimmed to preserve an overall higher quality at harvest.

But the Southern Illinois climate also poses another problem.

Fungus

The grapes must be sprayed on average every 10 days a year to prevent fungus such as black rot or French rot from destroying the crop.

"If you miss a spray in a wet period, you can literally lose a crop," said Paul Renzaglia. Even with all the pruning and spraying, the job is still not done.

Hands-on harvesting takes four to six weeks, and a fine knowledge of when to harvest the grape is key. If it rains too much, the grapes may retain too much water and will not be sweet enough to make a good wine. But if it rains too little, the wines will be too sweet and dry and could upset the taste of the wine.

Unlike Paul Renzaglia, George Majka, owner of Pomona Winery, does not believe he must grow his own fruit to have a good wine.

While Majka does not use grapes in his wine making process, much of the same is involved.

Determining what balance of acids and sugars in the fruit is the first step of wine making. Then, according to Majka, it is just a matter of small calibrations to get the right balance. If the wine is not fermented long enough, it tends to be low on sugar and too acidic making it sour and aggressive.

But if the wine is fermented too long, it tends to be a flabby wine with too much sugar and an acidic zing. It is striking that balance that is essential to this Southern Illinois wine connoisseur.

An average of seven months fermentation is needed to make white wine, while a dry red wine will take two years in storage. The entire time, adjustments are made to control the overall quality.

For some, wine tasting is a critical part of the business.

"I have a hard time drinking my own wine. I'm too critical. I know there is nothing more I can do because it is in the bottle, so I tend over analyze my own wine, I let the other people tell me if it is good," said Paul Renzaglia.

Overcoming a stereotype

Once the wine has been bottled, it must be sold.

One hundred years ago, Illinois produced 25 million gallons of wine each year, making it one of the largest producers of wine in the nation. But prohibition in the 1920s demolished the wine industry.

Wine production in Illinois is just now starting to renew itself.

In 1997, Jim Edgar appropriated $200, 000 to fund the reemergence of the wine industry in Illinois.

Illinois now ranks fifth in the nation for wine consumption, but produces less than 250,000 gallons of wine each year.

Alto Vineyards sells about 60 percent of their wine at the vineyard and 40 percent in the retail market.

However, marketing wine in the retail market Southern Illinois is not easy, according to Paul Renzaglia.

"You can even make good wine and still have a hard time selling it," said Paul Renzaglia. "There's an attitude out there that, 'Illinois, how can they make good wine?' But you have to overcome it."

While overcoming the stereotype of Illinois being an unconventional place to grow and make wine is a "daunting task," Paul Renzaglia says the obstacles have been surmounted.

Starting a Winery

In Southern Illinois, the allure is to start a winery is irresistible to some.

Tim Waller, owner and proprietor of Inheritance Valley vineyard and winery, started his vineyard in 1997 and is now only in his second year of making wine.

Waller started by selling grapes to Alto Vineyards, but was convinced to go into making wine during a dinner conversation with Paul Renzaglia and his family.

Inheritance Valley is only in its second year of production, so it does not have the same resources as other wineries.

Waller's days are long.

Waller says he does 98 percent of the work by himself and works an average of 12 to 15 hour days.

His average day starts at 6:30 a.m., when he starts working in the vineyard by taking care of the many agricultural aspects of the business. At 11:00 a.m., he takes a quick shower and returns to work in his winery, trying to sell his wine until close at 5:00 p.m. When the stores closes, he heads back outside to get everything prepared for the next day.

Waller has less than three acres of grapes and says he can't keep up.

"Everything starts out it in the spring great, but by the end of the summer, I'm behind on pruning, weeding. It just really requires a lot of time," Waller said.

 

 

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