Article by Will Buss of bnd.com
Jody and Allen Justus have long enjoyed a bottle of homemade wine. Their good friend Arnold Schorr had always made it. But after he died seven years ago, the couple wondered how they would quench their thirst for sweet fruit wine. Jody decided to learn.
“I had to learn a lot about chemistry and do my homework,” she said. “I came up with what I think are some good recipes.”
Like a good wine, wine making takes time to perfect. Jody has spent the past seven years learning how to make sweet fruit wine from peaches, apples and blackberries.
In March 2009, she retired from the Belleville Post Office after 31 years. That July, she started making what would amount to 5,000 gallons of wine.
Now a year later, the Justuses have just opened their Jo-Al Winery and gift shop. Although located in a former mechanic’s garage on Illinois 177 at the east edge of Mascoutah, where the city meets cornfields, Jody and Allen Justus are seeing fellow wine lovers blazing a trail to their quaint confines.
“Those who walk in are pleasantly surprised,” Jody said. “We’ve had a steady stream of customers coming through. Just from one sign on the street, one of those stick-in-the-ground types, and one on the interstate. Some folks come in from the interstate.”
This new business, which held its grand opening last week, is another sign that wine making is thriving throughout metro-east and the rest of the state at a time when Illinois is struggling to pay bills, much less support its viticulture. Funding for the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association has steadily fallen from the $550,000 that once was allotted to the nonprofit organization about five years ago.
The 2011 fiscal year budget finds the wine-making group on tap for only $150,000. Association external relations director Megan Pressnall said the latest squeeze came a year ago when full-time enologist Bradley Beam was cut.
“It’s tough,” Pressnall said. “We’re becoming more diversified with our funding sources. We’re turning more to festivals to do some fundraising.”
But these cuts have not shriveled Illinois’ wine country. “It grows incredibly each year,” Pressnall said. “We now have 90 wineries in the state. Ten years ago, there were just 14.”
Even facing increasing state liquor taxes, wineries and vineyards are flourishing.
Judy Wiemann bought the Piasa Winery in Godfrey four years ago and moved it to Maryville last October. She reopened it under the same roof as her Villa Marie Vineyards and Winery, which she opened in November 2008.
“Our business is good,” Wiemann said. “We sell a lot of wine. Our wine is very good. We get a lot of traffic from Missouri.”
But as a winery, Villa Marie-Piasa Winery must file a form by the 15th of each month. This lets the Illinois Department of Revenue know the inventory on hand at the beginning of the month, what is manufactured, what is sold and the tax rate paid per gallon on what was sold. Last September, this tax rate increased from 73 cents to $1.39 a gallon.
“Things are tight, and the additional laws they have put in place, in my opinion, makes it harder for the small business person,” Wiemann said.
Jody Justus, whose husband’s cousin in St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus, has a larger vision for her winery. Aside from the craftsmen and artists who sell their creations in her gift shop, Jody envisions becoming a link in a chain of businesses in her hometown that would promote commerce and tourism in the area.
“It’s all here all in our own backyard,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is everyone succeeds. We would really like Mascoutah to have more business, hire more workers in real estate and promote everyone here that we can.”
Jo-Al Winery has seven different wines made from fruit purchased from local orchards, like Braeutigam Orchards in Belleville, and the blackberries come from Hawkins-Schwartz Orchard in Dix, Ill., located near Mount Vernon.
Jody and her workers make it in the back of her 2,200-square-foot building in a space that is kept between 68 degrees to 71 degrees and at 50 percent humidity. Many state wineries like Jo-Al do not grow their own fruit but make in on site. The new Mascoutah winery cuts and crushes the fruit, and the juice is fermented in large polyurethane tanks. Jody and two employees have turned out as many as 600 screw-cap bottles in 10 hours.
“It’s a labor of love,” she said.
I just stumbled on a nice article writen by Amy Anderson who writes for suite101.com.
Article like this and I find more and more of them these days is telling me that fruit wines and increasingly so tropical fruit wines are really gaining in popularity. People everywhere are really looking for something different. Something new to talk about of a wine that will match some of the exotic cuisine they are eating a little better. A perfect example of this are the tropical wines from Radee Wines that are available in many parts of the USA. A great addition to the wine world I’d say….
This is all good news to me and adding to the wide array of choice we have today.
Here is a brief excerpt:
Some of the delicately sweet or tangy tropical wines become an acquired taste after enjoying the sophistication of red wines or subtle whites. Some tropical fruit wines sparkle like champagne. Some are citrus and tart tasting such as grapefruit wine. Tropical fruits used in wines come from warm sunny places around the world but can often be purchased online.
Read more at Suite101 here.
If you have the chance to get hold of some tropical fruit wines in your area. Go ahead, you won’t be disapointed and its the perfect time of year for it!
The Indy International Wine Competition is about to start. The 2010 version is by far the largest scientifically organized & independent wine competition in the United States.
More than 3,000 commercial entries from 12 countries and 39 US states will be evaluated by 80 distinguished judges who are wine writers and winemakers, winegrowers and enologists, chefs and sommeliers.
It is open to both commercial wineries as well as amateur winemakers. They have two competitions going on at the same time and the judging is all done by professionals.
This competition has a lot of “weight” and winning something from this large contest actually means something. Another major bonus is that the competition provides professional feedback from leading wine experts! So you will know where your wine stands among your winemaking peers.
The great thing about this is that there is a large fruit wine and cider category which you do not always find in other competitions. So this certainly gets my vote.
If you are a serious fruit wine maker, whether as a hobby or you make fruit wine commercially, I encourage you to check this competition out for yourself.
A hot sunny long weekend, a fourth of July weekend at that. What better way to enjoy it than with great friends and some ice cold American fruit wines?
Quality fruit wines are made in every corner of America; so there is no excuse not to taste and enjoy some over the weekend. Fruit wines are a true expression of the bounty of what we find in this country and its not only attributed to grapes!
Here is my list of great fruit wines found in many parts of the US that would make this weekend that much more special.
Florida Schnebly Winery Florida Passion Fruit Wine
For tropical fruit wine fans, this is a great crowd pleaser. Has great passion fruit aroma and delicate finish. Its smooth and refreshing. I would have it ice cold.
Pennsylvania Oak Spring Winery Peach Wine
Oak Spring’s Peach wine has been awarded many medals including “Best of Show” in Pennsylvania fruit wines. The wine is made from peaches that have been crushes and pressed to release their juice. We make the wine as sweet as the original juice. It is crisp and fruity as well as sweet. Serve this wine ice cold to bring out the peach aromas. It would be great with any light deserts and mild cheeses.
Vermont Boyden Valley Winery Blueberry
This blueberry Wine is made from low bush Vermont blueberries in a process just like a fine red wine. The result is a remarkable semi-sweet, full bodied after dinner wine that is much like a Port. A perfect complement to a variety of desserts, and, just for some added fun, comes in a in a unique cobalt blue collectors bottle, yumm!
Michigan Black Star Winery Cherry Wine
The state is very well known for its cherries. This is a fine example. They produce cherry wine in a ripe, fruity, semi-dry blush style. Made from a combination of cherry varieties that are both estate-grown and harvested from neighboring orchards, this wine is enjoyable as an aperitif, a luncheon wine, or with fresh seasonal fruits.
South Dakota Prairie Berry Winery Red Ass Rhubarb
This very popular winery makes a “kick ass” rhubarb wine. I had it recently at a wine show in Pennsylvania where it was featured and I was really impressed what can come out of the prairie states! Huge aroma and a finish that never seems to end!
California Casa de Fruta Pomegranate Wine
California doesn’t just make grape wines. Its fruit wines are really starting to get known and enjoyed all over the US and abroad. This soft, sweet, smooth tasting, gourmet dessert wine with a hint of tartness. Pomegranates are grown in their Madera, California orchard.
Texas Bruno & George Winery Strawberry Wine
It is deliciously perfumed with pure, sweet strawberry fruit. It is crisply balanced and super flavorful. Light and lively in the mouth with medium sweetness, the intense but balanced strawberry fruit makes it a lovely aperitif wine.
This is a fraction of the great wines available throughout the US. Go out there, enjoy the weekend and festivities. Just make sure you have some great American fruit wine with you to make it that much more special.
Cheers!
