Northern Illinois Weekender - 091920

Weekender NORTHERN

ILLINOIS

YOUR GUIDE TO ARTS & LEISURE IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2020 • ShawLocal.com

VINTAGE ILLINOIS

Utica’s Canal Market to host socially distant wine market / 3

‘MODERN TWIST’

Lena boutique pairs wine with home decor / 4

BLAZE A TRAIL Bike paths lead to adventure across northern Illinois / 5

UNCORKED

SHAW MEDIA

An expert taster shares favorite finds to consider adding to your own wine racks.

Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

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By JAMES NOKES

Vintner promises ‘honest wine for real people’

T

here was a time when wine grapes were an afterthought in Paso Robles, California.

Don Brady was there.

“There was more Durum wheat grown in Paso than anywhere else in the world,” Brady said. “It’s the wheat used for pasta. Today, there’s a winery in one of the old grain storage buildings. That was our big crop at one point. Then it was dry-farmed almonds with about 40,000 acres. Now the largest crop grown is grapes.”

In 1983, Brady helped designate the Paso region as its own AVA (American Viticultural Area) and has seen its agricultural transformation into a world-class wine grape growing region. He has made wines for Robert Hall since its inception.

“I came to Robert Hall in 2001, when the winery was built,” Brady said. “It was pretty amazing to come to a place where there was so much already there. It was like ‘Field of Dreams’ – ‘If you build it, they will come.’ It was quite a facility with a lot of infrastructure. But no brand.

There’s multiple brands now with Robert Hall as the anchor.”

On a Zoom call tasting, Brady was joined by Robert Hall winemaker Amanda Gorter as the duo took a break from harvest to speak with a panel of journalists from across the country.

With the Robert Hall Blanc 2019 ($18), Brady said the goal is to produce a “racy wine.” Because there’s a lot of sunshine and daytime heating in Paso, the temptation to make big, bold wines is present.

But the sauvignon blanc is sourced from seven different AVAs and set a trend the rest of the portfolio followed.

There’s green apple and tropical fruit flavors on a lithe frame. The wine is 100% stainless steel fermented.

“We hope you find all of our wines err to the side of elegance,” Brady said. “We don’t look for over-extraction or overripe fruit, we want full flavor but don’t want to go over the top. Sauvignon blanc and our other wines give us the opportunity to really pull things back and see what flavors do at lower sugars.”

The 2020 sauvignon blanc was harvested the day of the tasting, and the Robert Hall winemaking team would rather be early than late when it comes to picking.

“We want to keep it bright and fresh, so we harvest relatively early,” Gorter said. “There are two flavor peaks, one at lower sugar and one that

Photo provided

Don Brady (left), who has led the winemaking team for Robert Hall since its founding, is joined by fellow winemaker Amanda Gorter. comes later. We want to be centered in that early flavor concentration. We can have really good acidity and not be concerned about alcohol. We want light, bright and fresh flavors. There’s nice acidity in our sauvignon blanc, and it shows well. On a warm summer day, it really hits the spot.”

At just $20, the Robert Hall Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is a great bargain.

Flavors of black cherry, currant, plum and cedar jump out of the glass, and the nose is potent. There’s black cherry, espresso and vanilla notes.

The allure was the nose, which Brady said comes to fruition through a number of factors.

“We build in aromatics with time,” Brady said. “We start with a good fruit core that’s part of our early evaluation. Our cooperage helps the wine come out of the glass. How often we rack it determines too if it comes out of the glass well.”

While the Robert Hall Cavern Select Dusi Zinfandel 2017 ($42) has the usual crowd-pleasing flavors that make it a prime candidate for barbecued food, there are dried herb and white pepper

notes that play well in the brambly-fruit flavors.

The same restraint with sauvignon blanc pays dividends with the zin, as the flavors, mouthfeel and style offer a departure from the varietal norm.

“We are not obsessed with the overripe and sugary characteristics seen with zin,” Brady said. “We try to find some dried herb; that’s where it’s at to balance out the big fruit.”

Sourced from nine of Paso’s 11 AVAs, the Robert Hall Paso Red 2017 ($20) is a blend of zinfandel, petite sirah, syrah, tempranillo and petite verdot. It’s a little kitchen sink when it comes to varietals, and the end result is right in line with the blend – inky dark purple in the glass, rich and round when it comes to mouthfeel, and flavors of blackberry jam, blueberries, raspberries, sweet pipe tobacco and spice rack all mingling playfully.

“I think it’s a blend of the darkest, burliest red wines we make,” Gorter said. “It’s anchored by red blends and other fun varieties we found during the harvest season. It’s a fun wine to

make and drink; there’s a lot of volume in the mouth and lots of color.”

When the interview wrapped, both winemakers said they had to get back to work in the cellar.

Harvest is here and there’s only one chance to get it right. For Gorter, it’s a workman-like mentality that fits with Paso’s culture.

“I love it in Paso, this is where I want to be making wine in 20 years,” she said. “I’m from the Central Valley and my family has a background in agriculture that goes back three generations. I’ve seen where peaches, grapes, cherries and asparagus are grown. I knew from the beginning I didn’t want to stay in the Central Valley but didn’t want to give up my small-town and farm-town roots. The comfort in Paso … is authentic. No one puts on airs and a lot of things remind me of where I grew up. We want to make honest wine for real people.”

• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.

STARVED ROCK COUNTRY

3 SHAW MEDIA Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

Dedicated to growing the awareness of everything the Starved Rock area has to offer

Photo provided

The Vintage Illinois Wine Festival will uncork a different type of experience in this unusual year, with an outdoor market-style special event.

Enjoy taste of reimagined Vintage Illinois Wine Festival

By RYAN SEARL

rsearl@shawmedia.com

W

hile the pandemic and temporary closure of Matthiessen State Park have put plans for the Vintage Illinois Wine Festival on hold for 2020, you still can sample wine from some of the state’s best producers this weekend at their pop-up market and tasting event.

From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, historic Utica’s Canal Market will host a special Vintage Illinois wine tasting and market, with 10 fan-favorite wineries from across the state scheduled to attend.

Unlike the larger Vintage Illinois Wine Festival, there is no admission fee to this two-day market. However, if you’d like to participate in tastings, you will need to purchase tickets from the Vintage Illinois booth – $5 will get

you 10 half-ounce tastes. You’ll also be able to buy bottles from the vendors, so guests are encouraged to bring their own bags or carts to carry all their purchases.

The Canal Market, sponsored by the LaSalle County Historical Society, is a weekly artisan market celebrating all things antique, collectible, homemade and home grown. The market takes place right next to the popular LaSalle County Historical Society Museum, along the banks of the I&M canal. In addition to the Vintage Illinois booth,

you’ll find other talented makers and artisans, many selling wine-themed merchandise and accessories.

Thanks to the village of North Utica, the nearby Carey Memorial Park, located just a block west of the Canal Market, has been reserved for the many Illinois wine vendors that will set up booths at the show. The event space will allow for ample social distance, and will retain the relaxed open-air setting that fans of Vintage Illinois have come to know and love.

Visitors also can indulge at the Utica area’s own August Hill Winery Tasting Room, located just across the street from the Canal Market. The sophisticated tasting room offers a selection of award-winning, locally produced wines. Best of all, its line of sparkling wines is produced with grapes grown right here in Starved Rock Country. Enjoy a glass of August Hill’s award-winning Berlyn red, or

share a wine flight with your fellow festival attendees on August Hill’s al fresco patio.

This year’s Vintage Illinois will not feature any music or outdoor seating areas but will be a farmer’s market-style event open for browsing.

To stay in accordance with social distance guidelines, guests are encouraged to take their purchases, and possibly a picnic from one of Utica’s tempting restaurants, to a nearby state park to enjoy their finds away from the crowds.

You will find ample parking throughout Utica, but will need to walk a short distance from the Canal Market at 249-299 S. Clark St. to reach the site.

For more information on the Vintage Illinois at the Canal Market event, visit the Vintage Illinois Wine Festival’s Facebook page or vintageillinois.com.

WINE IN STYLE

Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

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Michael Krabbenhoeft photos - mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

Sugarbakers Boutique & Wine Bar in Lena is a perfect stop for a wine drinker, with around 60 selections available, along with an assortment of home goods, purses and decorative items.

Boutique with wine bar is ‘modern country with a twist’

By CODY CUTTER

ccutter@saukvalley.com

N

ot only can you shop at a neat boutique in downtown Lena, you can enjoy some wine as well.

A wine shop and boutique might not seem a likely duo to some people, but they’re perfect partners as far as Sugarbakers owner Julie Servatius is concerned.

What’s more, the people who would be surprised to find them under one roof might be even more surprised to know what used to be under that roof.

Servatius opened Sugarbakers Boutique & Wine Bar in the former Spare Time Lanes bowling alley at 141 W. Railroad St. The shop – about a half hour north of Lake Carroll, just off Route 73 – offers a wide selection of home decor and more, including lamps, wall paintings, silk flowers, pillows, purses, linens, tablecloths, candles, napkins and furniture.

Servatius describes the store as “modern country with a twist.”

The wine bar is front and center, featuring a collection of wines from throughout the nation, around the world, and closer to home.

Servatius wanted to offer something different to her community.

“It’s fun to come here,” she said.

IF YOU GO ■■ WHAT: Sugarbakers Boutique & Wine

Bar

■■ WHERE: 141 W. Railroad St. in Lena ■■ HOURS: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday

through Saturday; later on some music nights ■■ INFO: sugarbakersboutiqueil.com, 815-369-9990, Facebook

Winery in suburban Roselle, Illinois, which makes a raspberry wine and a rhubarb wine with balanced acidity.

“We need things to bring people here.

Mead has been around since the Lena’s a wonderful community, and early Egyptian days, and Sugarbakers they’re very supportive of their busihas a supply of the fermented honey nesses.” wine from Bootleg Hill in Davenport, The more popular world wines Iowa. come from France, Argentina, Chile Don’t know what suits your palate? and Portugal – ones that can’t be found Each one of Sugarbakers’ 60 wines can in most grocery or liquor stores. The be tried before they’re bought. Its full French wines are some of the store’s menu is available on Sugarbakers’ more popular selections; The Scarlet Facebook page. of Paris Cuvée Prestige red blend is a What must be tried for sure, Servahot seller, as well as the pinot noir. tius said, are the slushies that can be “Boy oh boy, do those go,” Servatimade from its wines and fruits, which us said. “They really taste good.” are purchased locally. Blend them Pacific wines from California, with ice and enjoy concoctions like Oregon and Washington, as well as peach, raspberry mango and pineapthose from closer to home, also are ple sangria – or all three layered in available. Some of the popular local one cup.

“Stuff like this keeps people calling selections come from the Lynfred

in and ordering and picking it up,” she said. “You have to be inventive.”

September offers the last slushy of the season – harvest peach and apple, infused with caramel sauce, according to the Facebook note.

While you’re at the bar, you may even strike up a conversation about what it’s made from: repurposed wood from the former bowling lane. And if you like a little music with your wine, there’s live entertainment from time to time at the piano bar.

“You can walk in, have a glass of wine, and walk and shop,” Servatius said. “That’s fun.”

The store and bar combination wasn’t always something Servatius had in mind. She moved to Lena from Freeport after her youngest child went off to college, and then came up with a plan to start a boutique business. That became a reality a couple years ago when she opened a store south of the railroad tracks downtown.

Then the thought of wines intrigued her. She didn’t know a whole lot about them, but after she relocated across the tracks, she began building up a collection and pursuing a sommelier’s expertise.

“You don’t know until you try what you can do, and it’s been wonderful,” she said. “This has been a whole new world for me to try something new.

There’s nothing around here like it.”

5 SHAW MEDIA Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

HIT THE

TRAIL

Shaw Media file photo

Bike paths abound in northern Illinois

By NICK KELLY

T

For Shaw Media

here might not be a better time to explore biking trails than this time of social distancing. Whether you want to travel across counties or make a short trip with your family, here are some great trails to explore.

DeKalb County DeKalb Nature Trail Length: 1.6 miles If you are looking for a trail lined with trees, this is a good option.

The trip includes intersections with the Kishwaukee River and the P.A. Nehring Forest Preserve. And you’ll see the Kishwaukee Country Club golf course during your ride.

DuPage County Danada and Herrick Lake Regional Trail Length: 5.8 miles This trail provides the chance to ride on a crushed stone pathway over

1,600 acres. The trip also takes you past Rice Lake and Herrick Lake.

Grundy, LaSalle and Will counties Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail Length: 79.5 miles There’s no lack of trail here as it travels alongside the Illinois River. In Morris, this part of the trail includes a stop by Gebhard Woods State Park, campsites and a ride through the city, where the Grundy County Historical Museum and shops await. Continue out of Morris and you’ll encounter the William G. Stratton State Park.

In La Salle, you have a chance to view the old canal towpath. The overall trail begins in La Salle at Huse Lake, where you can take a break to sit in a replica canal boat.

Kane County Fermilab Trail Length: 5.8 miles The Fermilab Trail, named because

of its proximity to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, gives you the opportunity to cross into DuPage County. At the time of publication, access to Fermilab was closed because of COVID-19 (the lab is helping with research and other tasks). Bookmark this one for future use.

Kendall County Blackberry Trail Length: 1.5 miles While following this moderately short path alongside Blackberry Creek, you’ll encounter everything from prairie to stores. You likely will spot some birds as well.

Lee County Lowell Parkway Trail Length: 3.5 miles This former railway turned trail is home to part of the Illinois Central Railroad bed, dating all the way back to the mid-1800s. The Dixon trail includes a stop at Lowell Park either at the beginning or end of your journey.

McHenry County The Prairie Trail Length: 26.5 miles This trail, which runs the entire length of McHenry County, provides it all. Along the way from the Kane County border (where it joins the Fox River Trail) to the Wisconsin state border, you can see shops, woodlands, neighborhoods and more. The trail also serves as a connector to other trails.

Will, DuPage and Cook counties Centennial Trail Length: 13 miles If you’ve ever wanted to have the chance to bike across an old swing bridge, this is the trail for you. The trail is flat, and you’ll have a chance to see plenty of the Des Plaines River en route to the edge of Cook County.

It also meets up with the Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail, if you’re looking to continue the fun.

Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

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6 STREAMING THIS WEEKEND

Photo provided

This image released by Netflix shows Tom Holland in a scene from “The Devil All The Time,” Antonio Campos’ Appalachian noir film.

Alicia Keys album, ‘Filthy Rich,’ film noir on tap

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

Movies

“All In: The Fight for Democracy”:

Directors Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés document the timely subject of voter suppression in this film on Amazon Prime. The film, the latest in a rush of pre-election documentaries on the U.S. voting system, boasts an inside view of the policies and manipulations that can impede voting rights. Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, is a producer. Abrams has said her rival in 2018, Republican Brian Kemp, was elected in part through voter suppression.

“The Devil All the Time”: Antonio Campos’ Appalachian noir on Netflix features an enviable cast including Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Riley Keough and Bill Skarsgard. An adaptation of Donald Ray Pollack’s 2011 novel, it’s a sweaty Southern Gothic melodrama thick in post-war atmosphere and stuffed to the gills with colorful characters, including Pattinson’s slick preacher and Holland’s

rebellious orphan.

“Invisible Man”: Opening back in

February, Leigh Whannell’s “Invisible Man” had a few weeks in theaters before the pandemic sent it to on-demand – but it still racked up enough at the box office to count as one of this very odd year’s biggest hits. I called it “a bracingly modern #MeToo allegory that, despite its brutal craft, rings hollow” when it came out. But Elisabeth Moss is sensational as a traumatized woman haunted by a violent ex. It lands on HBO and HBO Max on Saturday evening.

– Film Writer Jake Coyle

Music

Piano-playing pop star Alicia Keys just put out her seventh album. Titled “Alicia,” the 15-track set is her first album in four years and comes months after she published her revealing memoir, “More Myself: A Journey.” The album features several guest stars, including Jill Scott, Miguel, Khalid, Snoh Aalegra, Sampha, Diamond Platnumz and Ed Sheeran, who co-wrote the single “Underdog.”

Sheryl Crow, Busta Rhymes, Alanis Morissette and Jamie Lee Curtis are some of the eclectic guests on Ziggy Marley’s new album.

“More Family Time” also includes appearances from Tom Morello, Angélique Kidjo, Ben Harper and Lisa Loeb, as well as Ziggy’s younger brother, Stephen Marley; his children, Judah, Gideon, Abraham and Isaiah; and his puppy, Romeo. A portion of the proceeds will assist Ziggy Marley’s U.R.G.E. Foundation.

– Music Editor Mesfin Fekadu

Television

“Tosh.0” kicked off its 12th and final season Tuesday night on Comedy Central, with host Daniel Tosh taking his last shots at viral videos and pop culture’s highs and lows. The series had been renewed, but the channel’s decision to move toward a more animation-heavy lineup apparently doomed it. “I look forward to doing an animated reboot of my show on MTV in 25 years,” was Tosh’s wry response.

The series, which includes sketches and parodies, wraps its run on the cable channel with 10 episodes.

TV, our safe harbor during the pandemic, celebrates itself with Sunday’s Emmy Awards. Jimmy Kimmel hosts the virtual ceremony (7 p.m. on ABC) that will give nominees the chance to win or lose from the comfort of their home or other preferred spot, formal dress optional. Among the leading contenders are “Watchmen,” “Succession” and “Schitt’s Creek.” The real star of the show could be the internet tying everyone together from 100-plus locations – will it cooperate or falter and give the producers fits and Kimmel the chance for some choice material?

Kim Cattrall is at the center of FOX’s “Filthy Rich,” a prime-time soap opera loaded with money and betrayal that debuts at 8 p.m. Monday, Sept.

21. The premise: a Southern patriarch (Gerald McRaney) and head of a popular Christian TV network dies in a plane crash, which proves only shock No. 1 for his wife (Cattrall) and offspring. Turns out dad had three children outside of marriage, and they threaten both the wealth and reputation of the infuriated family. The series from writer-director Tate Taylor (“The Help”) was intended to air last spring but was held to bolster Fox’s fall schedule amid pandemic-caused production delays.

– Television Writer Lynn Elber

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By PAM OTTO

Taking interesting dives into the natural world around us, Pam Otto opens new avenues of exploration.

Cheerful blossoms belie snakeroot’s infamy

U

sually when people write about wildflowers, they use words like beautiful to describe the blossoms. Or terms like vigorous or conservative to describe the growth habits. But this past week, when I found a wildflower growing in my yard that I know I didn’t plant, only one word came to mind: notorious.

Well, to be perfectly honest, a few other words did come up, namely, “Well look at that!” and “Where did you come from?” – because, yes, I am one of those people who talks to plants.

But “notorious” wasn’t far behind because, let me tell you, this particular wildflower has quite a reputation.

Its name is white snakeroot, Ageratina altissima (formerly Eupatorium rugosum), and it’s the plant that likely killed Abraham Lincoln’s mom –not to mention untold numbers of other settlers in the early 1800s.

If you spend much time walking around local woodlands in late summer and early fall, you might recognize white snakeroot and its bright blooms, which stand in stark contrast to the greens, yellows and browns that blanket the forest floor at this time of year. In fact, legendary local naturalist Dick Young wrote of it as having “compact, cheerful blossom clusters” that “do much to enliven otherwise stale and barren landscapes.”

Those cheery white blooms belie the plant’s chemical makeup, which includes the toxin tremetol. An unsaturated alcohol, it produces a host of debilitating symptoms in the cattle that consume it, as well as the humans who drink the animals’ milk.

And that’s where poor Nancy Hanks Lincoln comes in.

In 1818, the Lincoln family was living in a small settlement in southern Indiana known as Little Pigeon Creek. Like southern Illinois, this area of Indiana was untouched by the glaciers of the last Ice Age and is hilly and forested – the perfect habitat for many sorts of woodland animals, but not particularly good as pastureland for livestock.

As much of the land had yet to be cleared, the cattle would forage in the woods, feeding on sedges and other assorted foliage including white snakeroot.

Younger animals are more susceptible to its toxins than older ones and often would present with such diverse signs as lethargy, excessive salivation, a hunched body posture and, perhaps most noticeably, trembling limbs.

(The word tremetol can be traced to

Photo provided

White snakeroot is in full bloom in woodlands throughout our region. Its bright white blossoms brighten shaded woodlands now when most other flowers are gone. But its cheerful appearance belies an infamous past. the Latin tremere, “to tremble.”)

Older cows, however, remained asymptomatic and continued to be milked, passing the deadly toxin along to whoever consumed the milk – primarily calves and humans.

In the fall of 1818, there in lonely Little Pigeon Creek, Nancy Hanks Lincoln had been quite busy taking care of neighbors afflicted with “milk sickness” when she herself fell ill.

The ravages of the ailment sound ghastly; though it begins innocuously enough with a loss of appetite, it quickly progresses through a host of painful events that lead up to coma and death. Nancy got sick in late September and died on Oct. 5. She was buried next to other victims of the disease, including the neighbors she’d tried to help. (Historical note: Some sources list Nancy’s cause of death as consumption, the old-timey word for tuberculosis. But for the purposes of this column, we’re sticking with milk sickness. If your research solidly indicates TB, let me know. I’m always up for learning and am not opposed to running retractions.)

It is estimated that thousands of

early 19th century settlers moving west to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and Illinois succumbed to milk sickness. It first was described by a medical professional in 1809; in 1830, the Kentucky General Assembly offered a $600 reward to anyone who could determine the cause.

Now remember, this was back in the day when malaria, cholera, dysentery and smallpox also were rampant and poorly understood. Farmers who cleared their land of all native plants found that the illness also went away, but none of them made the connection to white snakeroot.

Credit for that discovery actually goes to Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs (later Bixby) and an anonymous heroine, an elderly Shawnee medicine woman befriended by Dr. Hobbs. Taking the doctor into the woods near their home in Hardin County in southern Illinois, the Shawnee woman pointed out white snakeroot and indicated it was the cause of so much pain and suffering.

Dr. Hobbs subsequently conducted tests confirming the native woman’s pronouncement, and wrote of her findings in letters to medical institutions

back East. Whether her letters got lost or ignored isn’t known, but it wasn’t until much later – in 1928 – that white snakeroot was declared the official cause of milk sickness. Of course by then, due to advances in dairy management, the disease was quite rare; and Dr. Hobbs was mostly (though not completely) forgotten, having died in 1873.

How white snakeroot arrived in my stale and barren backyard, I’ll never know. But it’s growing there now, beautifully and vigorously. It’s also likely thriving in a woodland or yard near you. If you get a chance over these next few weeks, head out to see if you can find some white snakeroot of your own.

If and when you do, breathe a word of thanks to Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby and her Shawnee companion.

Without them, many of us wouldn’t be here to delight in white snakeroot’s cheerful blossoms – or ponder its notorious past.

• Pam Otto is the outreach ambassador for the St. Charles Park District.

She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.

SHAW MEDIA Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

GOOD NATURED

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Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, September 19, 2020

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