A Winery on the South Side? It Could Happen.
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Apr 21, 2011 9:25PM
Oenophiles don't have to go to Napa to find some good wines right here in the Midwest. Michigan is teeming with wonderful vineyards and Illinois' wine industry, while laughed at by some, has been growing. Lynfred Winery is a Metra ride away and Wild Blossom Meadery for years was the only winery within the city limits. Tribune business reporter Melissa Harris introduces us to Bill Lavicka, a rehabber of old buildings and amateur winemaker who's eyeing a section of vacant lots and a building in the 20th Ward for a winery in the middle of the South Side.
Lavicka says he has plans to rehab the French-style building at the 5700 block of South LaFayette and plant grape vines and plant grape vines on 40 or 50 vacant lots — mainly Concord and German white wine grapes, if he can get the city to sell him the lots for $1 each. Lavicka tells Harris that 20th Ward Ald. Willie Cochran is behind the plan and helping Lavicka negotiate the red tape keeping him from making this a reality.
Now this is something we could actually be down with, but the plan does pose questions. Soil quality, for example. Lavicka is waiting for the Illinois Winemakers Alliance to submit soil tests to determine whether the lots are capable of handling grape vines, or if they're steeped in lead. There's also the question of how long it would take before Lavicka could even vint and bottle wine from vines planted there. It would take a few years before the vines could produce a yield capable of making wine.