From Vine to Wine: Jubilee Gold

This month we're featuring Jubilee Gold as our wine of the month. Back in October when we featured our Red October we told you where we got the name, Jubilee Gold is no different. Named from it's beautiful golden color after the Royal Golden Jubilee Hosta. You may wonder why we've named so many wines after Hostas. Before Kickapoo Creek Winery started making wine we were a Hosta nursery. For the first few years we were open we still sold Hostas and Dave Conner thought it was the perfect homage to our beginning to name the wines accordingly.


Jubilee Gold is perfect for those who like a sweet white. The body is similar to that of a Moscato without the bubble. In this perfect sweet white, Traminette and Lacrosse grapes are blended perfectly which gives it, it's floral and grape aroma that is fun and delicious.


Come out to our Tasting Room this month as we feature Jubilee Gold our award winning wine 10% off for the month of January. Try it with a our Spicy Jambalaya Pasta or paired with our Salted Caramel Mousse Cake. For those who are looking for the perfect, fun, and delicious sweet white, look no further.

 

Buy Jubilee Gold Online Today!

Employee Spotlight: Gaye Sulka

Meet Gaye!

Gaye lives in the Peoria area and is a Peoria High and Illinois Central College Graduate. Gaye is married to Jim and they have one son Sky; three dogs and one old cat.

Gaye has been at Kickapoo Creek Winery for just over four years. You'll find Gaye in the Tasting Room Thursday-Sunday. Gaye always has a smile on her face and her bubbly personality is contagious with her fellow employees and guests. Gaye has a way of making you feel like you've known her for years.

While Gaye's not at work she enjoys water-skiing, boating, and beaching with the dogs. Gaye's favorite food is Ko-Gane Yaki at Ron of Japan's; and her favorite Kickapoo Creek winery is Two Berry.

Best Advice she's ever been given: "Don't sweat the small stuff" from her dad

From Vine To Wine: St. Croix

Kickapoo Creek Winery has many beloved sweet wines, ripe with fruit flavor and vibrant in color, but don't forget about our St. Croix. Our driest , most complex red may not be as popular as the Dave wine, but it is the favorite of the Dave. It is also most popular among California wine drinkers.

A quick swirl of a glass of St. Croix open up incredibly rich cherry, vanilla, and oak aromas. The subsequent sip reveals an unraveling experience on your palate: A distinctively dry feeling and acidic flavor rolls over your tongue, turning ever so slightly sweet at the end, right before finishing clean.

St. Croix would pair excellently with red meat, particularly a nice steak, but it's also great for enjoying with friendly conversation.

As you may have guessed, our St. Croix wine is made from St. Croix grapes. It's a sweet bluish-red grape, excellent for medium bodied wines. 

Our St. Croix is 10% off every bottle in the Kickapoo Creek Winery Tasting Room all of December! It makes a perfect gift for the dry wine lover in your life.

To purchase St. Croix online visit our shop site (shop.kickapoocreekwinery.com)

Employee Spotlight: Rory Conner

Say hello to Rory!

 Rory Conner, our Executive Director, has been at Kickapoo Creek Winery for over six years. He was born and raised in the Peoria are and graduated from Peoria Notre Dame High School. After High School he graduated from Lincoln College with his Associates Degree and later his Bachelor's Degree from Elmhurst College outside of Chicago.

Rory is married to Mary Kozimor Conner who... serves as the winery's General Manager; and they have one son Kale and one dog Drako.

Kickapoo Creek Winery prides itself on being a local family owned business which is something Rory really enjoys. Rory grew up on the winery grounds which first served as a horse stable and then later a hosta nursery.

Rory hopes to one day host an event for Bill Nye (The Science Guy) and they can share a bottle of Rory's favorite Kickapoo Creek Wine, Norton.

While he's not at work he enjoys spending time with his family and in particular playing with his son Kale. His favorite move..."Enter The Dragon" with Bruce Lee.

Best advice he's ever been given: Live for youself, not others approval.

From Vine to Wine: Kickapoo Kranberry

            November is upon us and the vines have been bare for a while now. The grapes are well on their way to becoming wine as the year darkens from twilight to night.

            There is a lot to be thankful for around this time of year: harvest and health, family and friends. At Kickapoo Creek Winery, we celebrate and give thanks with a fun take on a classic holiday flavor: our Kickapoo Kranberry wine. Accordingly, it is our wine of the month so every bottle bought from the KCW Tasting Room is 10% off for all of November.

            This particular wine comes from many different vines. It is a blend comprised of 60% white grapes and 40% red grapes. The white grapes used are seyval blanc, la crosse, prairie star, and la crescent. The red are frontenac and sabrevois. This blend is what gives Kickapoo Kranberry the ruby color similar to real cranberries.

            Fun fact: we used to call the wine Kringle’s Kranberry and it was only made for the holiday season. However, it was too good to drink exclusively during wintertime celebrations so we changed the name to Kickapoo Kranberry and started selling it all year round. It is a sweet and refreshing wine and goes well with many settings: from a hearty Thanksgiving dinner to a fun summer party alternative.

            Either way, it’s great chilled; on its own or even with a splash of sparking lime water to enhance the tartness and give it some bubbles.

            Let us know your favorite way and time to drink Kickapoo Kranberry in comments!

If you can't make it into our Tasting Room all Kickapoo Creek Winery wine's are available online!

From Vine to Wine: Red October

            Rich with Kickapoo Creek Winery history, we had to make Red October the wine of the month for October, which means every bottle in the Tasting Room is 10% off this month! You may be surprised by how the wine was named, however. It wasn’t necessarily named for its ability to pair perfectly with the various beauties that October brings (and it does sip well with a beautiful fall day); furthermore, Red October wasn’t named after Tom Clancy’s debut novel, but there’s a funny story relating to that.

            It was actually named after a hosta! You see, when the winery started up, it was still a hosta nursery as well. When the wines came to fruition and needed names, it was decided to name the wines after the hostas! Misty Creek and Jubilee Gold are also wines that were named after hostas.

            Now, what’s funny about the introduction of the wine to public comes from the grand opening of the winery to the public. The owner, Dave, had invited some folks from Caterpillar to visit and there happened to be some Russian businessmen visiting Caterpillar at the same time. The Red October of Tom Clancy’s novel, The Hunt for Red October, was a Soviet submarine, so those Russian businessmen got a huge kick out of the wine being named that. With that kind of impression of the wine, it had to be a mainstay at Kickapoo Creek Winery.



            Red October is KCW’s only dry, red blend; it is currently comprised of Foch, Marquette, Frontenac, and Norton grapes. According to Sandy, a veteran and legend of KCW’s tasting room, the slight changes in the blend has made Red October smoother and lighter over the years.

            As with any dry red, Red October goes great paired with juicy, red meat. If you found yourself in the Tasting Room for lunch, I highly recommend a glass of Red October with our charbroiled burger!

 

 

 

Don't have time to make it to the Tasting Room, Red October is also available online! (shop.kickapoocreekwinery.com) 

 

     

From Vine to Wine - Chocolate Strawberry

(Fall wedding on our beautiful grounds)

The month of September may not explicitly get the reputation of being romantic (like, say, February), but that in no way rules out its propensity for romance. For instance, September is one of the most popular months for weddings because of the general beauty of autumn (mild temperatures, leaves changing colors, et cetera). What could be more romantic?

            In keeping with the romantic overtones of September, we have made Chocolate Strawberry our wine of the month, so every bottle is 10% off during September.

            Our Chocolate Strawberry wine is one of the original Kickapoo Creek Winery wines. Dave Conner, the owner of Kickapoo Creek Winery, simply wanted to make a wine that tasted like a chocolate strawberry. However, it’s not just that simple; you may be asking, “How do you make wine taste like a chocolate strawberry?”

            First, real chocolate and real strawberries are made into flavorings that can then be mixed with grape based wine, and voila! A delicious chocolate strawberry wine is born.

            It would be remiss of me not to mention that both chocolate and strawberries are aphrodisiacs:

            Chocolate contains chemicals that work with our brain chemistry to promote sexual arousal and the feeling of falling in love.

            Strawberries contain vitamin C, which helps keep blood flowing to all regions of the body, if you catch my drift. In fact, there used to be a tradition of serving cold strawberry soup to newlyweds in the French countryside to get the blood flowing for the honeymoon.

            But wait…I must rewind. We’re talking about a chocolate strawberry WINE here, and there are no doubts in my mind those historic French newlyweds also had wine. There is, perhaps, no stronger aphrodisiac than wine!

            Therefore, and I dare say, our Chocolate Strawberry wine is one of the most potent love potions for a beautiful, autumn afternoon picnic shared by lovers.

            Beyond that, it goes great mixed with a nice, vanilla bean ice cream, or even as a dessert itself!

            I have even heard myths of soaking a tray of brownies with our Chocolate Strawberry wine. The myth is that you poke holes all over a tray of brownies then pour an appropriate amount of the wine over it, then let it sit in the fridge until the brownies have soaked up the wine. How incredible does that sound!?

            Let us know what kind of cooking and baking experiments you’ve done with our Chocolate Strawberry wine in the comments!

From Vine To Wine: Peche Blanc

        From Vine To Wine: Peche Blanc

        In celebration of peach being the National Fruit of the month, Kickapoo Creek Winery’s Wine of the Month is Peche Blanc, which means every bottle is 10% off when purchased in the Tasting Room or over the phone.

            Our Peche Blanc was released in 2011 and has since won a silver medal from the National Finger Lakes Wine Competition in Rochester, New York, and from the Illinois State Wine Competition in Springfield, Illinois.

            This award winning Peche Blanc is often described as “biting into a fresh peach” by those who consider it a favorite. It pairs well with the Turkey Reuben or the Turkey Club Wrap from the Tasting Room lunch menu, and is an excellent choice paired with dessert.

            To accurately describe how Peche Blanc went from vine to wine, here is an excerpt from our technical notes;

“Seyval Blanc grapes are removed from the stem and lightly crushed releasing pale green free run juice. The free run is collected before the grapes are pressed and sent to a separate steel fermenter where the juice is cold settled over night . After settling, clear juice is inoculated with a Riesling yeast noted for being a very good thiol releaser which can lead to enhanced aromas of guava, passion fruit, and grapefruit. Fermentation lasts 7 days at temperatures near 65°F. The wine is then racked off gross lees and allowed to age and settle for 3 months before cold stabilizing, infusion, and bottling.”

     








        

        To find a location that carries Peche Blanc near you, click here, but every bottle is 10% during August when bought straight from Kickapoo Creek Winery in person or over the phone (309-495-9463).

      Also during the month of August, online orders of 6 or more bottles (any wine) will be shipped for free with the promo code “freeshippingnewsletter” during the month of August.

The Heritage of Kickapoo Creek Winery

The Heritage of Kickapoo Creek Winery

            Driving on Illinois I-74, you’re beyond bound to see seemingly endless corn and soybean fields.  However, just 8 miles West of Peoria, easily accessed from the Kickapoo-Edwards exit, you can find Kickapoo Creek Winery: a modern oasis of beautiful countryside.

            In 2003, Dr. David Conner (a now-retired orthopedic and hand doctor) started planting grapes along with his pre-existing nursery, and with that began Kickapoo Creek Winery.  Fast forward to 2005, the Tasting Room and Café, banquet center, full kitchen, and winery were established. 

            From Tuesday to Sunday every week, you can visit the Tasting Room. It is great for smaller parties to enjoy an afternoon of wine tasting and lunch with fun and friendly service. While you can find Kickapoo Creek Winery’s wine at various stores through Illinois, all of our wines are stocked in the Tasting Room.

            For larger parties, we offer banquet and catering services. Typical events in our banquet hall include big birthdays, retirement parties, organizational gatherings, and other events similar. However, one of Kickapoo Creek Winery’s specialties is weddings. 

           From ceremony to reception, we offer our beautiful landscape and services to make every wedding we host as magical as possible. Our various locations for ceremonies include either of our two lakes, our grasslands, by our vineyards, or under our Prairie Star Pavilion. For receptions, the banquet hall is decorated, lit up, and filled with food for a perfect celebration of a special day.

            Kickapoo Creek Winery wasn’t always a beautiful escape for lunch and wine tasting, or for celebrating any of life’s joys. The land used to be a farm owned by a man named Olli Smith—the namesake of Smith Road. He raised corn and soybeans until it was purchased 1965 by one Dr. McKnight, with the intention of raising thoroughbred horses.

           Dr. David Conner purchased the property in 1986 and turned it into a cattle farm, but got tired of chasing cows around. So, he sold the cows and started a nursery in the early 1990s. However, competing flower sales with big brand stores became a nuisance, which brings us to 2003, when Dr. Conner started planting grapes.

            In 2007, Dr. Conner retired from his orthopedic and hand practice; around the same time, his son and daughter-in-law, Rory and Mary, took over managing Kickapoo Creek Winery.

 





Call (309) 495-9463 to make reservations, inquire about events or catering, order wine, or talk to the business office.

Kickapoocreekwinery.com

6605 N Smith Rd, Edwards, IL, 61528