The Shawnee Hills AVA is an

American Viticultural Area An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of winery, wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know abo ...

located between the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

and the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

in southern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

includes over of land in portions of

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, Gallatin, Hardin,

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, Pulaski,

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, Union, and Williamson counties. The region stretches approximately east-west and north-south, and includes the vast majority of the

Shawnee National Forest The Shawnee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, United States. Administered by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, it consists of approximately 498,615 acres (2,100 km²) ...

. The AVA was created as a result of the successful petition of Ted Wichmann, owner of Owl Creek Vineyard. The area is named after the

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

, a

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nation that settled in Southern Illinois in the mid 18th century. The AVA is served by the ''Shawnee Hills Wine Trail''.

Wineries

At least 20 wineries as well as additional vineyards produced wine and grow grapes within the Shawnee Hills AVA. Most of the wineries are aligned with the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail in the southwestern portion of the AVA (south of Route 13 and west of Interstate 57). The Southern Illinois Wine Trail (east of Interstate 57) includes the next largest grouping, as well as some wineries located just outside the AVA. The area around

Kinkaid Lake Kinkaid Lake is a reservoir located in southwestern Illinois. Entirely within Jackson County, the lake is approximately northwest of Murphysboro and southeast of St. Louis. History and ownership Kinkaid Lake was built in 1968 with an average ...

in the northwestern corner of the AVA is also seeing a number of new wineries develop.

Economic impact of wine trail

As early as 1999, the Illinois Grape and Wine Resources Council estimated the wine trail's products provided more than $1 million boost to the area economy. By 2001, the wine trail had grown to five wineries producing more than 150,000 bottles. In November 2010, Gary Orlandini Vineyards used "leaps and bounds" to describe the growth of the wine trail, explaining the wineries along the trail had averaged 28 percent annual growth since the mid-1990s when the trail first organized. The development of the wineries has also boosted the region's hospitality industry with around four dozen specialty lodging facilities – bed and breakfast inns, cabins and vacation rentals – all but the state-owned Giant City Lodge and one or two others opening in the last 15 years. These don't count the new motels and hotels in

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most po ...

, on the north edge of the wine trail. Research from around 2010 showed that approximately 40 percent of the visitors to the wine trail were non-local (defined as coming from at least 50 miles away). Tourists attracted to the wine trail tended to be older and possessed a higher household income than local wine visitors. Sixty-five percent of the tourists were between the ages of 32 and 59, and another 15 percent were 60 or older. Also, 65 percent had household incomes above $75,000.

References

Wineries

Economic impact of wine trail

See also

References