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Located in the northwest corner of Winnebago county, just 4 miles south of the Wisconsin state line, Sugar River Vineyard specializes in growing cold hardy hybrid wine grapes, primarily to provide high quality grapes for HOME WINEMAKERS. The vineyard is slightly less than one acre in size and has no buildings and no amenities for tours.

The harvest season begins in mid August and continues until mid October or the first killing frost, whichever comes first. Click on the various topics for more information such as a list of grape varieties grown in our vineyard or current conditions in the vineyard. It also should be noted that Sugar River Vineyard is NOT a winery.

Click on the link below for information on Wineries in northern Illinois which generally have tasting rooms and tours.

WINERIES in northern Illinois

The Midwest is not traditionally a viticultural area. This is largely due to its severe winters, shorter growing season and a multitude of diseases which prove to be lethal to the classic European family of wine grapes that grow so well in a "Mediterranian" climate. That family of wine grapes is categorized as vitis vinefera and forms the basis for the California wine industry.

But a few pioneers have been hybridizing wine grapes that are suited to our more severe conditions. Essentially this is done by crossing vitis vinifera grapes with the winter hardy and disease resistant American grape varieties. While thousands of crosses have been made, only a few have both the hardiness to thrive here and some of the wine making qualities of vitis vinifera.

Hybrids have been produced by both American and European grape breeders. They are referred to generally as French hybrid wine grapes because most of the early varieties were produced by French breeders. (click here) for more general information and links on grape growing.

The grapes for our vineyard were selected for their ability to survive the cold winters and disease pressures of northern Illinois. Because grape breeding is an ongoing process, new varieties of grapes are planted in the vineyard as they come available. To date there are about 35 varieties of grapes growing in the vineyard, in amounts ranging from one or two vines of a variety to one hundred or more of a single variety. The varieties range from old fashioned jelly and juice grapes, to seedless table grapes, and of course wine grapes.

 

Above are clusters of Baco Noir wine grapes

 

A cluster of Seyval wine grapes ready for harvest

For more information on Sugar River Vineyard click on any of the following links.

 Red Wine Grapes  '08 Vineyard Conditions
  White Wine Grapes  Grape Variety List
 Table Grapes  '08 Harvest Parameters
 Vineyard Activities  Plant Propagation
 The General Harvest  General Grower Concerns
 '09 Vinyard Conditions  
 For answers to questions contact Sugar River Vineyard via e-mail: randcconboy@aol.com  For a link to growing or obtaining extaordinarily HOT peppers try: http://packspeppers.com

 More info on Illinois wineries and grape production: Illinois Grape Growers & Vintners Association (IGGVA): http://illinoiswine.com  For information on northern Illinois wineries and grape growing click on Northern Illinois Wine Growers (NIWG)