Baxter's Historic Beginning

Emile Baxter came from France to Nauvoo in 1855 to join the Icarian commune.  When the society broke up in 1857, he chose to remain in Nauvoo.  He planted his first vineyards, and from his French friends he learned the art of making wine.  This tradition passed from father to son.  During Prohibition the wine making was shut down and the fresh grapes were shipped to northern markets.  Then in 1936, after the repeal of Prohibition, Emile's son Cecil decided to reopen the winery his father had started in 1857.  He applied to the state of Illinois for a license to manufacture wine, making Baxter's Vineyards the oldest winery in Illinois.  The winery is now owned and operated by Kelly Logan, great great grandson of Emile Baxter, and his wife Brenda.  Baxter's Vineyards is currently growing eight acres of Concord, Catawba and Niagara grapes.  Starting in 1999, Kelly and his crew have been planting a new 4-5 acre vineyard with Chambourcin, Chancellor, Foch, Norton, Traminette, and Vignoles grapes.  In addition to the grapes, we also grow a variety of apples on four acres. Currently our orchards are made up of Jonathan, Red Delicious, Fuji, Yellow Delicious, Empire, and Jonagold varieties.

The Kitchen

The starting point of our self-guided winery tour is the fermenting room, which is still used in September and October during harvest season. Our grapes are picked by hand with the help of eight to ten pickers.  They are picked in twenty-five pound grape lugs which are brought up to the winery with a tractor.  When the grapes are brought in, they are poured through the de-stemmer/crusher to split the skins, which hastens the juicing process. The juice is then pumped into the stainless steel vats.  Yeast is added to the grapes in the vat and the primary fermentation begins to take place.  Depending on the temperature and humidity, the  primary fermentation process can take anywhere from three to five days.  After the primary fermentation is completed, the juice is drawn from the bottom of the vat, leaving the skins and seeds in the fermentation  vat.  These skins and seeds are then scooped out of the vat and into the grape press.  The press is used to squeeze out the remaining juice.  This juice is then filtered and placed in the aging casks.  The pomace, or pommies, are taken back out to the vineyard to help mulch and fertilize the grapes. 

Aging Room (former)

The next room is the former aging room.  The secondary fermentation took place in this room.  Our oldest and largest aging casks were built here in 1947 by coopers from Ohio.  They are made of white oak and hold 2,985 gallons.  The juice was pumped in or out through a bung on the top so as to not disturb the lees and sediment in the bottom of the casks.  The door was removed to facilitate cleaning.  The large casks have not been used for some time due to a shortage of any one variety of grape.

The wooden grape press in this room was built in 1880 and until recently was used exclusively for pressing grapes.  Once the press was filled, the boards were fitted across the top.  The paddle fits into the iron bracket on the center part and wrenches down to squeeze out the rest of the juice from the skins, seeds and stems.

The Cellar

 The final stage of the wine making process is done in the winery cellar.  The wines are aged three to six months and then racked several times to remove lees and sediment. The wine is then put into a cold tank for stabilization.  After the wine has reached the perfect clarity, the wine is pumped through the filtering machine into the stainless steel bottling tank.  There are six nozzles on the bottling machine.  The empty bottles are put under the nozzles and gravity filled.  Once the bottles are full, they are taken off and either capped and sealed, or corked and sealed depending on the type of wine being bottled.  Labels are applied by hand to each bottle.  Bottling is done on an as needed basis, mostly during the summer months.

We invite you to stop in our tasting room for complimentary wine sampling.  Thank you for visiting our winery.