Doing just vine

ALTO PASS, Ill.

On any given day during the grape-growing season, Paul Renzaglia can usually be found floating through his family's 10-acre vineyard that for years has sat serenely in the hills of Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois.

"I love the outside work," said Renzaglia, a second-generation winemaker who helped start Alto Vineyards with his father in 1988. "I love working in the vineyard in the fresh air with the vines. Lately, I've been spending more time inside than I like."

That's because the growing season basically stops in August. But that doesn't mean the work does. Since then, Renzaglia has been overseeing bottling and organizing wine tastings, festivals and other events that take place at the winery throughout the year.

Renzaglia also always finds time to mingle with the customers who regularly visit the winery to sample such palate-pleasing wines as Heartland White, Vidal Blanc or any of the other 18 flavors that are hand-crafted at the vineyard and winery from start to finish.

"There's always things going on here," he said. "Right now we're working on wine that was produced last year."

Renzaglia has also kept busy collecting awards. The winery has won over 300 medals in national and international competitions. Most recently, Renzaglia was named viticulturist of the year by his peers in the Shawnee Grape Growers Association. Viticulture is the science or art of grape-growing.

"It was very special," he said. "It was a great honor. Awards are nice, but I like that they send a message to the coasts that we can make quality wine in the Midwest."

Illinois wine pioneer

Though he had no formal grape-growing training, Renzaglia is considered something of a pioneer in Illinois' resurgent wine industry. Renzaglia began when Illinois wine was a novelty, but since it has grown at a significant rate across the state.

The award is an indicator that he has been an industry leader as well as helper and adviser to others opening wineries and vineyards statewide.

In fact, Alto Vineyards is the largest maker of Illinois wine, purchasing 80 tons of wine grapes from 13 area vineyards in the Greater Shawnee Hills region of Southern Illinois. Those grapes supplement the grapes they make at their own vineyard.

They've even recently opened a second winery in central Illinois near Champaign.

They've certainly come a long way.

The winery stemmed from his father Guy's idea in the early 1980s to find land in Southern Illinois that would be good for grape-growing. Initially, Guy -- a full-blooded Italian -- and some friends thought they would simply sell the fruit after growing it.

He searched throughout Southern Illinois, settling on property situated along Route 127 south of Murphysboro and north of Jonesboro.

"This area stood out," Paul Renzaglia said. "He liked it here because peaches and apples had been grown on this hillside for years. That was a good indicator grapes would grow well."

Fascinated by winemaking

The first grapes were planted in 1981, and Guy Renzaglia experimented with several varieties. Some, like the French-American grapes, worked. Others, like vinifera grapes, didn't.

"He found those that could withstand the fluctuating temperatures," Renzaglia said. "So he narrowed it down to certain varieties."

It was during those days before the winery opened that Paul Renzaglia moved to Southern Illinois from Chicago, where he had been working with juveniles. Renzaglia wanted to get his degree in education at Southern Illinois University but became captivated with his father's project.

"I was absolutely fascinated," he said. "I wanted to be a part of it."

But they soon learned that there wasn't much money to be made in grape production alone. That's when they began talking about a winery.

But that, too, would present problems.

"When we started, it was a dry township," Renzaglia said, referring to the fact that alcohol could not be sold or manufactured in Alto Pass.

Renzaglia and his father presented the idea to the community, but it created something of a controversy and some thought they were punch-drunk.

"I don't know if they called it a morality issue, but there were people who didn't like it," Renzaglia said. "They thought it violated their religious senses."

It was put to a vote, and it passed, 123-67.

Punch-drunk love

After the winery opened in December 1988 -- at the time the only one in the area -- the community again showed its support after buying 1,500 gallons of wine the first weekend it opened.

"It was gratifying to get the support of the community," he said.

Guy is now semiretired, and Paul has taken over as winemaker and vineyard manager.

Now they have bought a bottling machine and have eight employees. This year, they made 25,000 gallons, meaning that over the years they have increased wine production twentyfold. Over the past decade, the physical layout has grown to at least four times the size of what it was in 1988.

Renzaglia quickly came to know the winemaking process, which begins in January with the pruning of the vineyard's 6,000 grape vines, all done by hand. In April, the buds break, and the summer is spent thinning the vineyard. By August, the vineyard's 40 tons of grapes are ready for harvesting.

After that, they are crushed and pressed, and the juice is extracted, leaving the skins and seeds behind. Yeast is added, and the juice is left alone to ferment. Most wine can be sold after four to six months.

Popular wines

The most popular wines made at Alto Vineyards are sweet wines like Shawnee Gold and Heartland Blush. Heartland Blush is delicate and fruity, while Shawnee Gold has a more balanced and complex German style.

Paul Renzaglia's personal favorite, however, is Chambourcin, a dry red, that he describes as a more rich, full-bodied wine with a velvety texture.

"People sort of grow into that wine," he said. "But I like it."

The winery has also has expanded its marketing. While 60 percent of its sales come from Southern Illinois, the winery is now marketing its product to a wider audience.

Consumers can purchase Alto's wines at retail shops in Southern and central Illinois. In Cape Girardeau, the wine can be purchased at Schnucks, where it has been on sale for about a year.

"We're growing all the time," Renzaglia said last week. "We're in a business we love making a product we're really proud of and care about."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137