Sample the grape at picturesque Alto Vineyards

by Jim Obert

Spring festival is May 8-9

Crawfish & BBQ Festival is June 5

Spring is in the air, so take a short drive across the fancy new bridge in Cape Girardeau and head for Alto Vineyards & Winery in the quaint town of Alto Pass in Southern Illinois. It is on hilly Highway 127 south of Murphysboro and north of Anna-Jonesboro.

Alto Vineyards produces some of the finest wines in the United States. The family-owned winery and vineyard are located in the foothills of the beautiful Shawnee National Forest, and a second retail wine shop and tasting room opened in Champaign, Ill., in December 2001.

Since the first vintage in 1988, the wines have won more than 400 medals in national and international competitions. Alto Vineyards offers a wide array of premium wines that compare favorably to any other wine in the world.

Visit the tasting rooms and gift shops. Sample a wide assortment of locally-produced wines and browse through the gift shops featuring regional arts and crafts, gourmet food, gift baskets, tee-shirts, and

wine-related items.

There will be a Spring Festival on May 8-9 from noon until 6 p.m. Bring lawn chairs and blankets and enjoy the entertainment, good food and fine wine. On Saturday, May 8, Carter & Connelley Bluegrass will perform from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. On Sunday, May 9, the entertainment will be St. Stephen's Blues. There will be plenty of delicious food at the Spring Festival. Seafood Specialties will provide jambalaya, catfish, hushpuppies and slaw. Hickory Creek BBQ will serve baby back ribs, chicken and pork sandwiches.

The Crawfish & BBQ Festival will be held June 5 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Pennsylvania Slim Blues Band will perform during festival hours. Seafood Specialties will serve whole boiled crawfish, crawfish estoufee, corn and potatoes. The 17th Street Bar & Grill will provide baby back ribs, barbecue chicken and barbecue pork sandwiches.

Alto Vineyards & Winery maintains seven grape varieties in a 10-acre vineyard and currently produce 25,000 gallons of wine a year. The wines can be found in retail shops throughout the region.

The wines are made from American and French-American hybrid grapes, harvested from the local vineyard or from select vineyards in the Midwest. There are wines to please all palates - from dry to sweet. Alto's premium dry wines and ports, which are aged in small oak barrels for up to 18 months, have gained recognition as some of the finest in the country. The wines have won more than 400 medals in international

competitions in the past 15 years. Most notably, the Chambourcin has won more than 18 gold medals in international and national wine competitions

since 1989.

Alto Vineyards & Winery - make it your next destination.