Sleepy Creek Vineyards – Fairmount, IL
We have been wanting to visit Sleepy Creek Vineyards for a
couple years now. One of our favorite
bands has played there twice and will be appearing again in August. Hopefully, we can make it out to see them
this time!
Sleepy Creek starting growing their vines in 2002 and will
be celebrating it’s fifth year of business on May 17th. This beautiful establishment feels quiet and
secluded, sitting on a pond surrounded by trees and vines, but is easy to find
and not too far off the highway.
During our visit Joe Taylor expertly led us through the
wines. Joe and his wife are the owners
of the winery and are both incredibly knowledgable about their products as well
as other wines. Joe told us that he may
be the only person to go into wine making because he wanted to design the labels. Joe is graphic designer and created all of
the unique animal themed wine labels.
The label for their Sour Puss wine is even fashioned after one of the
cats you may see at the winery. One an
interesting note, the Scapegoat label is designed to look like William Taft
with a goat head.
The Wine
We had the opportunity to try all of the wines and wine
products at Sleepy Creek .
Here are the descriptions and our thoughts on a couple of
our favorites. (Sleepy Creek’s
descriptions in italics)
Sour Puss – An aromatic, citrusy semi-sweet white wine
made from Sleepy Creek’s LaCrescent grapes.
Serve chilled. This is an
intense, flavorful wine that leaves your tongue tingling and your mouth
watering. Not as sour as the name might
sound as it has that sweetness to it as well… much like their cat.
Bull Headed – An unfiltered dry red wine, made from
Chambourcin, it’s our only barrel aged wine.
Try with a hearty meal. Great for
grilling! Best served at room
temperature. We could really see
this wine being paired with some red meats like steak, lamb, and pot roast. This
wine really stood out for Chad. He isn’t
usually a fan of Chambourcin wines, but found this one to be quite delectable. We
won’t share the secrets to the success of this wine, but you can certainly ask
the owners.
Little Woody – A semi-dry wine aged with oak, made from
Sleepy Creek’s Leon Millot and Marcheal Foch grapes. We had the pleasure of being the first people
to try the new release of this wine. It
has been missing from their wine list for about a year. Though not completely mellowed yet, Little
Woody already stands out as a superb wine.
At first taste it seems rather simple but as it sits on the pallet, it’s
complex layers appear, making it a wine you will not soon forget. We were the first to buy a bottle of this
delicious wine and cannot wait for it to be ready.
Both the lemon and grape wine slushies are incredibly tasty
and would be wonderful on a hot summer day.
Wapatulli, their version of Sangria, is made with their Plonk wine. Plonk is Dutch for cheap wine. This is made
to be a mixing wine and not generally served on it’s own. We bought a bottle of this wine to mix with
our wine smoothies we make at home out of frozen fruit and wine.
Sleepy Creek hosts several events and concerts throughout
the year including weekly events such as Wieners & Wine every Friday from
5-8 pm. They also recently opened a beautiful B&W (BED & WINE) above their tasting room. It is a gorgeous 2 bedroom suite with a full kitchen, living room, and deck, as well as a lofted area with two small beds. You can find information about booking this suite on their website!
We highly recommend you visit
this vineyard!
For more information please visit
or follow them on Facebook at
(one of the cats you may find on your visit)
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