Friday, May 4, 2012

Sleepy Creek Vineyards


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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