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Furrow Winery to close in March

Posted January 15, 2008 10:00 pm

Steve Tarter

There will be one less vineyard on the central Illinois wine trail following the announcement that Furrow Winery in El Paso will close.

But another area winery will open an outlet in Downtown Peoria next week when Paul and Diane Hahn, owners of the Mackinaw Valley Vineyard in Mackinaw, open Water Street Wines, Cafe & Coffees at the corner of Water and State St.

The Furrow vineyard and winery operated six years. It included a 10,000 square-foot building on Illinois Route 251 that housed a gift shop and wine bar as well as winemaking equipment. The building and contents are for sale, said owner Wayne Furrow.

The final closing date for the Furrow operation will be in March, when the last of the Old Barn Red will be served. "It will be the last wine that we'll produce here," he said.

Furrow, who will raise corn and soybeans on 400 acres in the area, said there just wasn't enough traffic to justify winemaking. "We sold about 8,000 gallons of wine a year. We really needed to sell between 12,000 and 15,000 gallons to be profitable," he said.

"We just didn't get enough new people. We had a lot of great repeat customers but we weren't attracting enough business," said Furrow.

Being 35 miles from Peoria might have also hurt the vineyard in the long run, he said. "It might have helped to have been closer to a larger town," said Furrow.

He said competition might also have been a factor as three more wineries opened in central Illinois since the start of the El Paso operation. They are Indian Creek Vineyard in Toulon, Kickapoo Creek Winery in Edwards and Willett's Winery in Manito.

But Hahn, who started growing his own grapes in Mackinaw in 1997, doesn't think it hurts to have multiple wineries in the same area.

"People will come from Chicago or St. Louis and try to hit two or three wineries in the same area," he said.

While Furrow cited a lack of customers, Hahn said the local wine business was improving. "We've been doing real well. It's a wonderful business to be in," he said.

"Winemaking has grown tremendously in Illinois. When we started in 1997 there were only 12 wineries in the whole state. Today there are 77," said Hahn.

In addition to serving his own Mackinaw Valley wine, Hahn said California and French wines would also be served at the State Street location that formerly housed the Big Easy Cafe. Hahn said formal approval of the cafe's liquor license could come next week.

Meanwhile, items are going fast at the El Paso winery's gift shop, said Furrow. "We still have wine but there's not much else left," he said.

The closing leaves gift shop operator Judy Stimpert, Furrow's sister, looking for work. "I'm going to need to find a job now," she said.

Steve Tarter can be reached at (309) 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com.

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