SPOTLIGHT: Illinois wineries more than just wine

SPRINGFIELD — In the garden of an old house where insurance once was sold are dozens of people enjoying the pairing of bocce ball and wine in what's now part of the Walnut Street Winery plus Saunas in Rochester.

Bocce ball and wine are a likely pair because that's how it's done in southern Europe, says winery owner Loren Shanle. Plus, bocce ball offers one more activity to draw customers.

As Michelle Maher of Springfield waited for her turn on a recent Thursday to play bocce ball — a game of Italian origin similar to lawn bowling — she explained the appeal.

"I played (bocce ball) in our yard before for years, and so, I thought it sounded great that they would have a court," Maher said.

Days later and some 40 miles northwest near Oakford, between 550 and 600 people turned out for the second annual Chicken Wing Cook-off at Hill Prairie Winery. People enjoyed wine, beer and the culinary talents of 10 cooks in a rural setting with rolling hills, ponds and the winery, a renovated, 100-year-old barn.

Bree Schmulbach enjoyed the cook-off, her first, but she's not new to the winery. She's been to Hill Prairie for wedding receptions and "always liked it."

"It's a nice place to come out to enjoy the music and the atmosphere," said Schmulbach, who lives in Cantrall.

A historic barn and an old house both are seeing new life as destinations for people who enjoy wineries that are more than just all about wine. Hill Prairie and Walnut Street are examples of wineries in Illinois that are offering wine, song and more for customers' money.

Creating a destination winery isn't a new concept, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times in California. And wineries have become more popular in Illinois. There are 90 in the state, up from 12 in 1997, and Illinois now has 450 vineyards, according to the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association.

Incorporating activities wasn't far from the initial business plans of the Walnut Street and Hill Prairie wineries.

"I knew that in my travels you see what works and what doesn't work, how people are doing things. (I was) pretty confident you couldn't just be a wine shop out in the middle of the country," said Mark Lounsberry, who owns Hill Prairie Winery with his wife, Connie, and his parents, Lloyd and Nancy.

"You need to do some things that are going to pique people's interests and bring them here. We need all the trappings and entertain folks and then they come and buy your product."

Before Hill Prairie became a vineyard and winery, it was a grain and livestock farm. Lounsberry's ancestors came to the area west of present-day Oakford from Pony Hollow, N.Y., in 1832, 40 years before Oakford was established. Some of the ancestors moved to the Hill Prairie location in 1887, building a farmstead and working the land with large draft horses.

A structure built in 1911 to house work animals was renovated into Hill Prairie Winery (horses were kept in the barn until the 1980s). Renovation of the barn into a winery began in 2002.

The barn's loft where hay was put in the mid-1980s now is a banquet room for activities such as the Murder Mystery Theatre.

"It seems very strange to be putting people in here instead of hay," Lounsberry said.

The winery also features music on Sunday afternoons and a new Wednesday Wine Down, where customers are served a meal that includes steaks and barbecue ribs. Hill Prairie books weddings, showers, class reunions and more. And it's become a destination for residents who are hosting out-of-town visitors.

Customers have come from every state and several foreign countries, including France, Germany, Spain and Australia to enjoy the rural atmosphere.

"I think part of the attractiveness of it now is that the economy has kind of been in the tank for a couple of years, and it's a good alternative to that seven- or 10-day vacation where you can take a weekend trip or a day trip a couple of times during the summer and still get away, but not spend as much money," Lounsberry said. "It's an entertainment option."

Lounsberry invited Shanle to Hill Prairie to help him see how "some things were done." Like Lounsberry, Shanle is self-taught in the winery business.

"I would describe ourselves as a fully bonded winery with a lot of activities such as bocce ball leagues and live music all the time. We also offer food," Shanle said.

Walnut Street Winery's building has been transformed since Shanle bought it in 1994 and operated an insurance agency in it from 1994 to 2006. After Shanle sold his agency in 2006, the building was vacant for nearly three years until it was renovated for the winery.

"I kind of kid people. I say, 'Since 1979, I sold a product that nobody liked, nobody wanted, nobody could understand, but they had to have it.' Now, I sell a product people thoroughly enjoy and ask for more of," Shanle said.

To help draw people to his new business, Shanle implemented bocce ball leagues because "bocce ball and wine go together in southern Europe."

"My wife (Karen) is actually from Denmark, so I've lived in Europe," Shanle said.

Walnut Street, which has a wine garden, also offers a host of musical entertainment, including open mic nights and live music. There's trivia night one Monday each month.

"We have to do stuff like that because a lot of wineries go after the wedding receptions and things like that. We have to accommodate smaller groups," said Shanle, who's had customers from places like New Mexico, Alaska, Egypt and Canada.

"I thank Rochester for letting this have the winery in Rochester. I think we're trying to draw people to Rochester to do business in Rochester, not just here, but everywhere," Shanle said.

The winery's Wall of Fame — two hallway walls full of customer photos — is proof to Shanle that once people get there, they love it.

"There isn't anybody that's not smiling on that Wall of Fame when you look at all the pictures," Shanle said.

On a recent Thursday at Walnut Street Winery, Liz Robison made pizzas and ran the wine bar to keep people happy. She owns About Your Hair beauty salon in Springfield and until that got busier, she looked for something else to do and found Walnut Street Winery.

"The bocce ball league I think brings in the most customers — music, depending upon the band, does help immensely, too," Robison said.

"Usually, if we don't have music or bocce ball, it's kind of slow. We have people that do still come in to have a drink and hang out, but they usually don't end up staying as long as they do when there's music. It helps get our name out, too, because when bands told people where they were playing, it brought customers."

Activities like the bocce ball leagues are popular, having snowballed over the year, said Ron Payne, who heads the Thursday night bocce ball league.

"I don't know if it's so much the game, just coming out on a Thursday night," Payne said. "A lot of the people that are here have kids and it's a night away and it's close to home.

"We like playing the game. It's a game that goes well with adult beverages."

Hill Prairie Winery's chicken wing cook-off was a hit, too, and the winery plans to do it again next year.

"If fact, I've already booked the entertainment for next year," Lounsberry said. "We'll make it an annual event."

Lounsberry said the winery is trying to perfect what it's already doing.

"We're in the people business as much as we are the wine business," Lounsberry said.