Husband-wife team learns what it takes to cultivate a winery
The last five miles on the way to Ridge View Winery, you drive up a narrow, hilly, gravel road in the rural backwoods of Brown County. But follow the signs and you'll suddenly come upon central Illinois' newest winery, a 10,600-square-foot lodge perched on a ridge so high that guests can view the timber-covered terrain in all directions for up to four miles.
"We decided if we were going to make a winery, we'd have to make it a destination so people who come here would be amazed," said Larry Hanold, who owns the winery and adjacent vineyard with his wife, Phyllis.
Ridge View Winery, near Mount Sterling, is a combination reception hall/concert venue/tasting bar/wine store/vineyard. It's been open just a few months, but its gestation took quite a bit longer.
Larry was a full-time employee of the Illinois Army National Guard at Springfield's Camp Lincoln in 1986 when he opened Hunting Unlimited in Brown County, a lodge that provides guides for deer and turkey hunting. Three years later, the lieutenant colonel retired from his military job in emergency planning.
He and Phyllis, a former hotel manager, started thinking about using the farmland next to Hunting Unlimited to grow grapes. For many years, they made a point to visit wineries when they traveled.
"I've always loved wine and wineries," said Phyllis, 67.
In 2000, they planted their first crop, which they sold to a winemaker in Missouri.
"It's labor-intensive," said Larry, 69. "You're out there every day - spraying, pruning, doing canopy management. I thought about all the work I was doing and how much I was making and said, 'Something is wrong with this picture.' "
So the couple decided to make and sell their own wine. Larry started drawing designs for a building.
"This is what I came up with," he said, gesturing to the 60-by-40-foot, light-filled tasting room with 17-foot-high vaulted wood ceilings, a massive stone fireplace, a horseshoe-shaped tasting bar and a dance floor. "I call it my Bavarian-Tuscan-Brown County thing," referring to the blend of styles in the lodge.
An adjacent banquet room of similar size seats at least 160; there's more seating outside on upper and lower decks that wrap around the building. An outdoor bandstand is newly built on the terraced hillside, and the Hanolds now are working on landscaping.
The wine is made in the refrigerated basement, which holds a fermentation room, tasting lab, bottling-and-corking area and a barrel room that holds one dining table that can be reserved for romantic dinners.
Because Ridge View Winery is so new, there's not enough wine produced to sell it in retail stores or through the Internet. It's only available at the winery.
"Kendall Jackson doesn't have to worry yet," joked Larry.
Reds produced under the Ridge View label are Frontenac (semidry), Ridge View Reserve (dry), Corot Noir (dry) and Ruby Sunset (semisweet). Whites are Edelweiss (semisweet), Vignoles (semidry), Traminette (semidry), Chardonel (dry), Ridge View White (sweet) and Spring Mist (semisweet). Prices range from $10 to $29 per bottle.
Generally, Larry is in charge of the grape growing and winemaking, while Phyllis handles events and marketing.
The vineyard has 3,000 vines on 5 1/2 acres. Some grapes have to be purchased from other farmers to meet the winery's production of about 7,000 gallons a year.
"Basically, grapes are nothing but a cultivated weed," Larry said. "It doesn't take much to grow them, but it does take work to produce a quality crop."
Largely self-taught in the art of winemaking, he had some experience working on the farms of his grandfather and father-in-law.
In 2005, Ridge View's Chardonel took a gold medal at the Illinois Department of Agriculture's annual amateur winemaking competition. This year, the label's Traminette and Vignoles both won bronze medals in the state's commercial competition.
Live music is offered every Sunday afternoon at the winery. Upcoming events include an Octoberfest celebration this weekend, a masquerade ball on Nov. 3, a candlelit Christmas dinner on Dec. 1 and a New Year's Eve dinner-dance on Dec. 31. So far, there have been more than a dozen wedding receptions held there and several murder-mystery productions.
The Harnolds used to live in Springfield, but moved to their property near Mount Sterling 20 years ago.
Said Phyllis: "Before we opened the winery, we didn't know a lot of our neighbors. Now it seems like we know everybody. We love it here. It's relaxing to be nestled in the hills of Brown County."
State Journal-Register
Kathryn Rem can be reached at kathryn.rem@sj-r.com.
WANT TO GO?
Hours at Ridge View Winery are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Directions, an events guide and other information are online at www.ridgeviewwinery.com.