December 8, 1997
R.M. Skirvin, A.G. Otterbacher, K.D. McPheeters, M. Kushad, and Patti
Peratt (student team member), University of Illinois, 258 ERML, 1201 W.
Gregory Dr., Urbana IL 61801 (217-333-1530, [fax] 217-333-4777,
Skirvin@uiuc.edu [e-mail])
IGGVA/C-FAR Survey of Illinois Grape Growers and Winemakers
The Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR) has funded a
research project to evaluate and expand the Illinois grape and wine
industry. The University of Illinois research team working on this project,
Bob Skirvin, Alan Otterbacher, Ken McPheeters, and Mosbah Kushad, recently
prepared a questionnaire and made on-site visits to several grape growers
and most of the wineries in the state.
The questionnaire was designed to survey grape growers and winemakers
concerning the status of their industry and their plans for the future. In
the initial contact, about 125 surveys were mailed out; one third responded.
Based on the preliminary tabulations there were approximately 120 acres of
producing vineyards in the state of Illinois and 60 acres of non-yielding
grapes had been planted.
Since the responses from our survey were relatively low, we recruited a
senior student (Ms. Patti Peratt) to make telephone contact with each person
on our list. George Majka of the Pomona Winery also pointed out that the
time that we mailed our survey was very near harvest and most growers and
vintners did not have time to respond until later in the season.
Patti began phoning near the end of October. She talked to each person
she could reach. The respondees were offered another survey form by mail or
they could fill out the form over the telephone. Based on her phone calls
an improved list of IGGVA members was compiled. To correct the list
further, Patti went to several libraries and consulted their telephone
directories. Of the original 140 surveys mailed out there were many
duplicates and some people wanted to be removed from the list. Of the
remaining 121, 47 were confirmed to have vineyards, 46 remained unknown, and
28 individuals did not have vineyards but wanted to receive any information
available from the group. Forty-two of the 47 vineyards responded to our
survey.
The following information is based on the responses received from the 42 of
47 individuals that responded to our survey by this date (December 8, 1997).
First of all, among the 42 respondees, 31 considered grape growing to be
their business; 12 considered it to be their hobby. Some people obviously
consider it to be both a business and hobby. Half of the growers have been
in the grape business for less than 5 years; the rest have been in the
business for 5 to 20 or more years. Five respondees said they have been
growing grapes for more than 20 years.
The 42 individuals have a total of 110.1 acres of yielding grapevines in
Illinois; another 69.9 acres have been planted and should come into bearing
over the next two years. Geographically the majority of the yielding plants
(53.1 acres) are found in Zone 2 (the area between Interstate 70 in the
South and Interstate 80 in the North). Zone 1 (north of Interstate 80) has
25 acres of vines; Zone 3 (south of Interstate 70) has 32 acres. However,
the majority of the new plantings are being made in the South (Zone 3) where
63 acres of non-bearing plants are reported.
The majority of the grapes grown in Illinois are used to make wine (94%),
but a few (5%) are sold fresh or processed into juice (1%).
The other survey results regarding cultivar selection, vineyard
establishment practices, pest control, and harvesting techniques will be
summarized and presented to members of the Illinois Grape Growers and
Vintners Association at an upcoming meeting at the Illinois Small Fruit
School which will be held at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Vernon, March 3 and 4th
and at the annual meeting of the IGGVA in May.
This information will also be of value to the Illinois Grape and Wine
Council, which the State of Illinois recently established by legislation, as
they begin to assist the grape and wine industries and encourage their
development. The results of our survey will aid in the establishment of
research priorities for this group.
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