Illinois River Winery

These people who are saying this wine is bad are such obvious snobs. I have always enjoyed the wines produced by Illinois River Winery. I live in this general area by Peru/​LaSalle and I have always loved going there for tastings and then I usually buy 2 or 3 bottles too. I like their Mad Jack, Reisling, Niagra, Born to Ride, Blackberry, Moscato, First Blush, Pink Side of the Moon, and Oktober Skye. I’m not really a red wine person but I’ve tried a few and they taste like regular red wine to me. The dry whites are okay too. I think the only problem here is they are out of wines a lot and need to work on keeping them in stock more often.

Horrible service, horrible wine and horrible tasting room. Just AWFUL. One star is too generous. The woman pouring was by far the most rude server I have ever encountered. I wish I could have the last hour of my life back. Avoid this place at all costs. Not even a Groupon is worth this experience.

We decided to purchase a Groupon for Illinois River Winery to use while we were staying at Starved Rock. The morning we wanted to go take our tour and do the tasting, I noticed that you were supposed to call and schedule your tour 5 days in advance. Oops, hadn’t done that. My husband called an explained our stupidity, and they said that they would try to sneak us on a tour that afternoon, if they weren’t too busy and could spare someone. When we walked in they were packed so, we didn’t even bother asking about the tour considering it was totally my fault for not reading the Groupon. We did do the tasting though, and that was wonderful. You get to sample 6 varieties of wine, and we enjoyed everything we tried. My only complaint would be that the prices of the bottles were a little steep; we enjoyed everything we sampled but not enough to spend the cash on a bottle. We did each get a glass to have on their patio, though. They have a big patio, with lots of tables and chairs and enjoyed a glass of wine in the sunshine. Doesn’t get much better than that!

If you like good wine, this place is not for you.
The price is definitely right if you stop by for a tasting — I think it was six tastings for $ 3 or $ 4, but you really get what you pay for and nothing more. The service was a bit on the slow side. The girl behind the bar was nice enough, but couldn’t tell us anything about any of the wines. She didn’t know what order to offer the tastings and couldn’t really recommend anything based on what we told her we liked. The wine itself was pretty bad. Most of the wines we tried were very sweet and none were good enough for a full glass, let alone a whole bottle. I also didn’t care for the Christian rock playing.
The building itself is very nice and has an inviting atmosphere. I’m giving this place 2 stars instead of 1 because of this and because of the price.

Whether you are just somewhat into wine, or a wine connoisseur… odds are you’ll find something in this place. I visited this place twice before — once during Memorial Day weekend, which the place was pretty crowded and busy. Thankfully we got in right after they were open to do our tasting. I also visited in the fall and picked up a bottle of their Hallowine — in a very festive bottle! My third visit was this past weekend. We went in and did a $ 3 tasting for 6 wines… super reasonable!
They have a GREEN wine here… yes, Green. Light Green.
They had a few varieties on sale for $ 10 in there — a summer wine, peach, etc.
My friend didn’t like two of the wines during our tasting, the first time the man who waited on us kindly exchanged one, but the second time he wasn’t too happy and said «We really shouldn’t be doing this» yet he was cleaning out the glasses between tastings WITH wine so isn’t that kind of wasting it??? I don’t know… I didn’t purchase any wine from this place this past time, but it’s definitely worth a visit.
Another great idea is to visit the Illinois Winery Wine bar down the road, closer to I-​80, the girls there were super nice & friendly in there — got two glasses of wine for $ 10. This building looks over the fab corn fields of Illinois. It’s a cute place that just opened in Fall 2014, and definitely worth checking out!!!

My husband and I have been visiting Utica and Illinois Rover winery on and off for the past 8 years. Love the wine. The atmosphere and ambiance need a lot of help though. I was expecting something wonderful from the new location, but I was really disappointed. You NEVER see the owner, the new location is decorated cheaply, and the staff was off putting. Still giving 3 stars because I think the taste of their wines far exceeds other local wineries.

We’ve been going here for several years, a few times per year. It takes about an hour and change each way to get there, but its worth it. They’re always really, really nice and we enjoy the laid back alt-​rock atmosphere. They always remember us and they did us a big favor at the Two Rivers Wine Fest in Ottawa. Definitely recommend them… Go check it out.

Love this place!!! We stopped for some wine sampling before hiking and everything was delicious! Customer service was wonderful and we walked out of there with a few bottles :) we will be back!

I couldnt choose which wines i wanted most because they all are AMAZING! There was not one bad wine that i tasted. I loved their patio area and how cosy and relaxing the place was. I definitely recommend and is the perfect place for a day trip with the ladies!

I don’t understand the mostly rave reviews about this tasting room. Maybe we were there on a bad night. Maybe it’s because we’re not into sweet fruit-​flavored wine, which is what this winery seems to specialize in. I thought it was OK at the most.
The best thing about the Illinois River Winery tasting room was the live music on the outdoor patio in back, which earned it an extra star. The wines themselves were unremarkable in my opinion except for a claret, which of course was their most expensive at $ 9 a glass. The girls pouring behind the bar didn’t seem very knowledgeable about the products they were there to sell («So tell me about this wine.» «It’s a dry white.» Oh. Like we couldn’t figure that out for ourselves).
On the good side, their wine tastings are very reasonable at five pours for $ 3, and the music acts out back are very enjoyable. This place is worth visiting at least once if you like fruity wine and/​or live music.

We went in to the winery today because my wife loves wine.
The place is a quant little place that’s a little homey. We did our wine tasting with Laura first. She was very knowledgable about all the wines offered. We then decided to go for the tour which was across the street. Winemaker, Mark, was crazy knowledgable about ALL kinds of wines. I asked him tons of questions and learned a ton about grapes and the wine making process. I was super impressed. Mark and Chris were very friendly and made us feel welcome.
We then returned to the winery to find out to our surprised delight that we get a free glass of wine each and a free wine glass for taking the tour and tasting together. The $ 25.00 price tag was great considering we had well over $ 30.00 in wine tasting, wine glasses, and a full glass of our favorites.
We even purchased two bottles of our favorites because they were so good.
Try the Hallowine and the Shout to the moon wine. They are spectacular.
If I’m ever in the area again, I’ll definitely return.
$ 3.00 for 5 wine tastes is a great deal. Give them a try… it’s impressive.

$ 3 to try five wines is a great deal. The back patio is peaceful and someone comes out every few minutes to pour you an ounce of your next selection (which you mark on a list).
The staff is friendly too. The business is located next to the cupcake shop.

Super friendly staff, and actually decent wine. I tried a couple of sweet bottles, a schnapps and the Halloween wine. I wouldn’t drink them with dinner, but I wouldn’t mind them for dessert, or heated on a cold day. Cute little tiled tasting room. Enough parking. Five minutes from starved rock state park. They do a wine tasting event with other local businesses in February.

We preferred the more casual atmosphere here at Illinois Winery but didn’t buy any wine for ourselves here either, same as August Hill.
Amber DOES work hard and was very helpful and we tipped her unlike the August Hill server who it seemed could have cared less if I lived or died as long as it wasn’t there, particularly if I wasn’t buying. The back patio looks like it would be a lot of fun with some music and we had to laugh because they DID put a fence up as another reviewer had suggested to hide the neighbors junk. I hope OUR neighbors don’t do that to US.
A couple couches and tables here felt a lot more laidback than the standing selling buzz at August Hill. $ 3 for 5 tastings was enuf for us try their drier wines, we split as usual, and a $ 1 for Amber. Deal. A little sweet for our bone dry tastes and way pricey for the quality imo, but we liked it here. I don’t think they were conducting winery tours when we were here, but we would have gone.
NO reason not to stop here on the way back from Starved Rock or wherever.

I wasn’t able to go on a tour, but was able to try some of their wines in their tasting room. The ladies at the counter were very nice, but I wish they’d talk up their wines a little more. The lady helping us gave a very brief description of the wine and that was it. She didn’t really ask for our opinion or go beyond the description. I can understand that on a busy day, but we were the only ones there. They had a musician playing which was kind of nice. Wish we could’ve stayed around a little longer. Maybe next time. I still want to take the tour.

After having an atrocious experience at a neighboring winery in town (poor service/​lack of service), I stopped in here to pick up some wine over Labor Day weekend. I was greeted promptly upon entering, offered wine tastings, and the staff was very friendly. And the wine was quite good, there is a large variety of whites, reds, and varietals.
I was informed that there would be music on the patio both afternoons, we couldn’t make it, but if I lived in the area I would definitely check it out.

Hi I love this place. We were driving from I’ll to Washington, D.C. and found this place on Unilocal.First of all can I say that the wine tasting are only $ 3 for six tastings.
The flavors where phenonemal. I like sweet wines and the had a great variety including my favorite of all time blackberry wine.
I purchased a bottle of Halloween wine which is a seasonal favorite with spices.
I love this best kept secret. Will definitely visit if in the area again.

Awesome little shop with an awesome staff! They had a unique selection of wines, I only liked one which was the reisling, but its a perfect place for the wine enthusiast.
They stayed open for us past their hours when we got lost on our way there, so extra star for that! Thank you ladies, Amber and Heather, you both were great! =)

There are sooooo many wines to choose from. You get 6 tastings for $ 3, which is very reasonable. This is a great place to come if you have people that like different wines because of their selection. I also like that they have seasonal wines and they have an assortment of cheeses to eat with your wine. I would love to take a tour, but they only do tours during the week. I frequently got distracted by their wine accessories and bought some before I left. I would definitely return.

good wine at reasonable price — we bought the wine inside, we drank in their backyard set up for tasting, complete with multi-​colored, plastic mis-​matched, garage sale lawn furniture on seemingly unmanicured grass — wow! my wife said i was such a romantic
everyone deserves chances so i will occasionally re-​visit establishments that did not get favorable reviews from me in hope that they have addressed the issues and will revise my views accordingly