2025 Midsummer Pairings

Last month we attended the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Midsummer Picnic Pairings event!

This was my second year attending, and Christian’s first. It’s been 6 weeks since we had baby girl Caroline, and we were ready to leave the house (and I was definitely ready for some wine!).

We had also been invited to a hosted stay at Feather Hills Vineyard on-site accommodations, Farmhouse Cellars, which made it easy to explore the trail but still stop and rest or change the baby along the way. More about that stay in the next blog!

The Wine Trail puts this event on three times a year, and it consists of visiting all 12 wineries on the trail over the course of a weekend for a tasting paired with a specially selected food item. Tickets are $40 a piece, and include a souvenir glass. Once you attend all 12 wineries, you turn in your ticket at the final stop and are entered into a drawing.

The menu: food items are small bites that compliment the wine they have chosen to feature. We’ve found that they are usually seasonal; summer features lots of peach-themed food and lighter or sweeter wines (our favorites), while fall and spring offer different selections. We’ve also found the wineries to be accommodating; either offering two different kinds of wine, or asking us our preference.

We split the event up into two days and two regions, East and West. We consider East to be the wineries East and a little South of 51, and the West are the wineries along or off of 127. We could not have asked for better weather for this weekend, mid to high 70s, no heavy rains, and a breeze that kept the humidity away.

For Friday, we started at Honker Hill. HH is the closest to our house in Carterville, and I remember from last year they always had quite a spread of food! I was pleasantly surprised to see the renovations that had been done since last year; the back patio area has expanded their enclosed space, with large glass garage doors that are able to be opened lining the walls. There were also some tables and chairs out in the sun, and by the pond. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and the smoked meat sliders paired wonderfully with both the Vignoles and Rose they offered.

Our next stop was Blue Sky Vineyard, one of the more well-known wineries along the trail. Blue Sky opened around 2008, when I first started at SIUC and joined a sorority. The Greek gals LOVED going to Blue Sky; with it’s unique architecture and overall aesthetic, it’s easy to see why. Blue Sky offered a peach salsa with a bit of a kick, and I chose the Rocky Comfort White over the Traminette to pair it with. I enjoy their Traminette, but Rocky Comfort White is a classic! It helped with the spice from the jalapeno in the salsa, and really complimented the fruit flavors. We enjoyed a little stroll over to the pond and waterfall with the baby, before heading to the next spot.

Wichmann Vineyards came next, located in the former Owl Creek location. I so enjoyed chatting with the owners at last years event, learning their family story in winemaking. They paired their Bloom with skewers featuring mozzarella, cantaloupe, proscuitto, and a balsamic glaze. The wine completely changed the flavors of the food, which was so interesting!

We popped over to Owl Creek next, eager to see their winery cat. Owl Creek had the best food offering last year, which was a blackberry jam sandwich with bacon and green peppers. This year, they did a grilled peach and burrata crostini paired with a blush. I think Christian voted this one his favorite food offering!

StarView was the next stop, and if you’ve been following for a minute you know they are a personal favorite of mine, from working with them over ten years ago. Seeing how much StarView has grown under the Morrisons this past decade has been incredible! It was busy when we arrived, with live music on the deck and an event set up in the tasting room event space. StarView had chosen their Chambourcin and paired it with a barbeque slider from Ned’s Shed. They were our second to last stop for the day, so the slider was a perfect little protein pick me up midday.

Our last stop for Day 1 was Feather Hills Winery, the location off of US 51. We were also booked to stay at their AirBNB, Farmhouse Cellars, which is located at their original tasting room near Blue Sky. Upon arrival to the 51 location, we were greeted by owner Randy who lead our pairing. Feather Hills had created the most interesting watermelon feta salad; it featured red onions that had been soaked in lime juice, watermelon, feta cheese, and mint, served with either a blush or rose. We chose the Blush, and the wine really helped compliment the fruit, which already had an interesting flavor from the onions…which the lime juice had also transformed!

After completing that pairing, we headed back up to Carterville to grab Olive from the sitter’s and to let our dogs run for a bit. Did I mention we were able to complete this event (happily) with a six week-old in tow? Because we did! Caroline was the star of the trail, sleeping in her car seat for a majority of the pairings and waking up after a few for changes and feeds.

We had debated eating along the wine trail that evening, but ended up grabbing something in Marion on the way back down to Farmhouse Cellars. Staying along the wine trail in the summer, even with two kiddos, is incredible. We were treated to the best sunsets over the pond and vines, which had deer casually lounging nearby. The clear skies and lack of light pollution lead to seeing a stunning amount of stars. Olive loved running outside, and we didn’t have to worry about her disturbing anyone after hours. The Feather’s adorable dogs watched us mindfully from their turf, but never barked nor bothered us during our stay.

The next morning we headed back up to Carterville to again let the dogs run and hang out for a few hours before taking Olive for an overnight stay and hitting the trail again. One of the things I loved about this staycation was that it only took us about 30 minutes to get from being in the middle of nowhere at a winery, to our home in the middle of town!

Day 2 was dedicated to the West side of the trail. In the past, I would start at the bottom of 127 (Peachbarn) and work my way up so I was not having to navigate the stretch that is 127 after visiting 6 wineries. But because we were headed to our winery lodging, it made more sense for us to start at Kite Hill and work our way down, then drive through Alto Pass and Cobden to pop back over to Farmhouse Cellars. We also needed to stop at Dollar General in Cobden, which was super convenient to have nearby!

Kite Hill is a Jackson County winery located on the edges of Carbondale. They have a beautiful pond and plenty of outdoor seating on their deck. Their pairing was stuffed dates wrapped in bacon paired with Aeronaut, a dry red. This was one of the more savory offerings on the trail, and I appreciated that there was a good balance of savory and sweet along the way.

Our next stop was Pomona Winery, known for it’s fruit wine. As soon as I walked in to Pomona, our wine expert and I recognized each other - we had Sociology together at SIUC 17 years ago. But that’s the kind of personal experience you get on wine trail, people who remember your face and can’t wait to catch up with you. Anyways, Pomona had paired with Cristaudo’s to offer a tomato tart and either their Kir or Johnathan, both a little sweet because fruit wine. We loved the Kir so much we ended up getting a bottle to take home!

As we made our way down the trail, Hickory Ridge was just a quick mile or so down from Pomona. I think Hickory Ridge, while small, has one of the best views on the trail in terms of overlooking the bluffs and vines! They offered a peach bread (delicious and moist) paired with Cayuga, a white. We enjoyed our bread and the view on the branch-wrapped deck before heading to the last Jackson County winery, Von Jakob.

Von Jakob is unique in that it is the only winery AND brewery on the trail. Offering wines, ciders, ales/brews, and a unique German-inspired menu, Von Jakob is a popular place! Their pairing was either Country or Hillside Red, and a smoky cheddar spread with housemade crackers. The reds nicely offset the smoky taste of the cheese, which was so tasty! We enjoyed the view from the back patio before the sweat bees (which seemed to follow us all day!) and the solar heat on the baby brought us back inside. After finishing our spread, we headed to the next winery which was Alto Vineyards.

Alto Vineyards was the first vineyard and winery in Shawnee Hills, and one of the original three that got the wine trail started. The Renzaglia is (rightfully) proud of their history in wine, with over three decades of experience. It’s always nice to visit with Karen, who was working the pairings table on this day. Alto had a spicy olive bread with whipped goat cheese and a jam spread on top. It was paired with their Vignoles, but because of our sweet preference they paired it with Nona Mia’s White Sangria for us. Nona Mia was Karen’s grandmother, and her picture is actually used on the bottle! The sangria was delicious, perfect on a summer day, and offset the spice from the bread perfectly.

Our very last winery was Peachbarn. I was sad about this, because we so loved Peachbarn and Jenny, the owner, and they are closing in October! We made sure to grab a bottle of Retrofizz while we were there, especially with it being 50% off and while supplies last! We had stayed in the Peachbarn apartment in November, and it was so nice to eat dinner (the meatballs!!!) there and then pop down to the apartment. I am happy to hear they are keeping their other lodgings, too. Anyways, Peachbarn had this nice and warm cheese dip served with Ritz crackers and Retrofizz or memorabilia. We chose Retrofizz because it’s a favorite! The warm dip and carbonated wine paired so well together, and it was a great way to end the event.

After we finished, we headed back over to Farmhouse Cellars to change clothes and plan dinner. We ended up heading back up 51 to Rip’s Brick Oven Pizzeria in Carbondale, which was fantastic! Our apartment also had a microwave and fridge, so we brought home leftovers to pair with our wine later in the evening. We enjoyed a long chat with the Feather’s about the event, the wine trail, and their story - it truly made for the perfect nightcap to a great event.

We love attending this event not only because we get to sample and discover new wines or foods we like, but because we get to visit with the owners and staff of the wineries themselves. Everyone at each winery is so proud of what they create, so eager to share their story, their tasting room, and their creations with us - and we want to be a part of all of it. Each winery is so unique, the aesthetics, tastes, attitudes, and services so different, I truly believe there is a favorite for everyone along the trail.

The next event is in November, and I invite everyone to give it a try!