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• Sleepy Creek Vineyards brings a truly local experience to wine

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Joe and Dawn Taylor, owners of Sleepy Creek Vineyards. (Elle Destree)

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It’s the perfect place to spend a snowy Sunday afternoon. A winding dirt road leads up to a large barn, surrounded by trees. The whole place gives off a warm feeling, especially the people inside.

Located just 29 miles outside Champaign-Urbana, Sleepy Creek Vineyards at 8254 E 1425 North Rd. in Fairmount, Ill. is truly a local winery. The vineyard spans ten acres and grows a variety of grapes, and wines are made on premise.

Joe and Dawn Taylor bought the land and started planting their vineyard in 2002. They were able to plant only about 1,000 plants per year, so the vineyard and winery remain relatively small.

It was an unlikely turn of events that got them where they are today. Joe was an owner of a company called Taylor Studios that designed and created museum exhibits, and Dawn was working out of Lafayette, Indiana managing e-mail accounts. Just about the time that Joe decided he wanted a change of pace, Dawn’s company got bought out and relocated to the east coast. So they decided to go into the wine business together.

“We’re pretty new at this, we’re still learning,” Joe said. “It was a weird fluke that I heard about the grape industry. Wine’s becoming much more local ... there’s a winery in every state in the union now.”

And local Sleepy Creek is. While they do have to ship in grapes from other parts of the country, many of their grapes are grown in their own vineyards, and their varieties are specially named through their own life experiences. “Bull Headed”, their dry red table wine, is named so because of the difficult hoops the Taylors had to jump through to establish their winery.

Joe and Dawn had to get a referendum to pass in order to open their doors in May 2007. Due to a technicality in township laws, they had trouble getting a license to sell the wine on their premises.

“We had to go door to door and get 700 signatures to get the referendum on the ballot,” Joe said. “My wife stood out in front of the post office to get signatures.”

Joe said that he “went into panic mode” because they had already bought the land and started planting and building.

In the end, their referendum passed with 90 percent of the citizens voting for the winery to be built. Joe said that he believes the city was initially worried about the establishment becoming a “party location”, but once they showed the residents that wasn’t their intention, they started to welcome the idea and the winery was established.

Sleepy Creek Vineyards is certainly not a party location, but by no means does it lack character. The building on the property functions as a winery, tasting room and gift shop, with a variety of items for sale. Visitors can taste wine, look at various art displayed throughout or buy gifts for friends.

Joe and Dawn produce seven wines throughout the year, and also have hot mulled wine and a wine slushy available for tasting. Currently, they only have three wine varieties left, because the holiday season “cleaned them out,” Joe said.

“We do want to get our quantities up,” he said. “So we don’t keep running out of certain varieties.”

They expect to have most of their wine varieties back by spring of 2009, with their “Henpecked” semi-sweet red wine returning in the summer of 2009. Currently available are the “Bull Headed” (a dry table red), “Little Woody” (a semi-dry red) and “Three Amigos” (a sweet red).

There’s more than wine available at Sleepy Creek. In addition to the gifts and wine accessories that are sold, Joe and Dawn host concerts on premise every month. This month, they have a bluegrass act called Trampled by Turtles coming in.

“We limit our concerts to about 75 tickets, so it’s really intimate,” Joe said.

They allow visitors to bring their own food for the concerts, and they set up tables for a “coffee shop atmosphere, but with wine,” Dawn said.

They try to bring in fairly well-known acts. One of their regulars is Steve Poltz, who is credited with discovering musician Jewel and wrote the popular song “You Were Meant for Me.” He lives in California now, but whenever he comes through the Midwest, he tries to play at Sleepy Creek, Joe said.

Joe and Dawn are currently thinking about booking Blessed Union of Souls for an upcoming date.

In talking with Joe and Dawn, it is clear that the two exude a passionate yet laid-back attitude about wine and wine production. Their dog and cats roam the winery freely and greet the customers. “Every vineyard needs a dog,” Joe said.

The owners say they don’t want wine to be pretentious, and at Sleepy Creek, it is not. Even the styles of wines they produce and their label designs are indicative of this, Joe said. The wines are easy to drink and the labels are fun and whimsical.

“We want to make wine accessible, to have fun with it,” Joe said. “Wine has a reputation of being snotty ... we’re sick of beer having all the fun.”

Tasting Notes

In my two visits to Sleepy Creek Vineyards, I had the opportunity to taste four wines from the bottle, the hot mulled wine, the wine slushy and two unrefined wines that Joe and Dawn are currently working on. Here are my thoughts about those wines.

Bull Headed — Dry red table wine

Bull Headed would be a great food wine. It has some oak and berry notes, and has the astringency many people associate with cabernet sauvignon. If you’re new to wine, I wouldn’t start with this one, because there’s very little sweetness to it, but if you’re already a wine lover I’d recommend it with a nice pasta or beef dish.

Little Woody — Semi-dry red wine

This is my favorite red that Sleepy Creek sells. It’s somewhere between the dry, astringent red table wines and the sweet reds that are commonly sold throughout Illinois. It has prevalent oak flavors, hence the name. It’s a great middle of the road red wine, especially for those who are afraid of the bitter or spicy reds that are out there now.

Three Amigos — Sweet red wine

Sweet wines are especially popular in Illinois, and Three Amigos is a perfect example of a sweet red. While I don’t generally care for sweet wine, this would be a great way to start drinking wine if you’re new to it. The grapes that are used to make this wine are the same that you’d find in Welch’s grape juice, so the wine has berry aromas and a lot of residual sugar. It would go great with a creamy dessert, like cheesecake.

Sour Puss — Off dry white wine

Even though they are currently out of Sour Puss, I had the opportunity to taste it the first time I visited about a month ago, and it was my overall favorite. This white balances acidity and sweetness very well, and has aromas of pear and apple throughout. Look for it again in Spring of 2009.

Unnamed white wine — Semi-dry white wine

This wine is still in the middle phases of production, but I can tell it is going to be great. Meant to be a slightly drier alternative to Sour Puss, the wine has a crisp acidity and aromas of green apple and green pepper. Look for it in a few months as Joe and Dawn unveil the new variety.

Hot mulled wine and wine slushy

These are a great way to enjoy wine even if you don’t like to drink it that often. The hot mulled wine uses spices that are common in hot cider and the wine is watered down, so it’s a nice, smooth cold-weather drink. The wine slushy is made from one of their red varieties and mixed with ice and sugar, so it’s a very enjoyable summertime treat. You can taste these wines pre-made or buy a mixture for either to take home with you.