Top 100 sweet wines of Illinois
Discover the top 100 best sweet wines of Illinois as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the sweet wines that are popular of Illinois and the best vintages to taste in this region.
Discovering the wine region of Illinois
Illinois is a U. S. state located South of the Great Lakes region and bordered by Missouri to the west and Indiana to the east. The state is one of the fastest-growing wine producers in the United States; the number of wineries doubled in the late 1990s and now stands at over 100.
Illinois covers 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) between latitudes 36°N and 42°N, similar to northern California. However, the unpredictable and often Harsh winters of the Midwest mean that viticulture is not as widespread as in the key Californian regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Most Illinois vineyards are located in the south, where they can take advantage of slightly warmer temperatures and increased exposure to sunlight. Illinois has a Long and successful wine-growing history dating back to the mid-19th century, when settlers planted grapes along the banks of the Mississippi River to make wine.
By the turn of the century, Illinois was the fourth largest wine-producing state in the United States. Like many states, this thriving wine industry was devastated by the advent of Prohibition in 1920, when most of Illinois' vineyards were uprooted in favor of grain crops.
News from the vineyard of Illinois
Bordeaux Index sees fine wine sales jump in 2021
Bordeaux Index said its sales jumped by 47% in 2021 to reach $174m (£128m), a new record for the company. Its results reinforce the sense of a strong 12 months for the global fine wine market, led by famous ‘blue chip’ labels in particular. Yet the UK-based merchant also pointed to new customer sign-ups and the success of its LiveTrade trading platform as contributing to company-specific growth. Its client base expanded by around 30% year-on-year, with trading by value on LiveTrade up by 55%. Bo ...
Study reveals glimpse of ancient Roman winemaking
Jars recovered from the seabed and dating back to the Roman period have offered more clues about winemaking and storage in this era, according to a study that used a mixture of analysis techniques. A combination of chemical markers, plant tissue residue and pollen analysis helped researchers to build a picture about the possible contents of three amphorae ‘wine jars’ discovered near the coastal town of San Felice Circeo, around 90km south-east of Rome. ‘The evidence suggests the amphorae were us ...
‘Space vines’ trial on-track, says team who put Petrus in orbit
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon ‘space vines’ that were fired into orbit alongside bottles of Petrus 2000 have been nurtured alongside their ‘daughter’ plants in western France, said researchers in an update on the project. ‘The first “space grapes” are now visible on the canes just a few months after the replanting phase that occurred in February 2022,’ said Space Cargo Unlimited, the start-up leading the project. A total of 320 vine canes spent more than a year on the Int ...