illinois river winery

I visited this store for the first time this month and was excited. My son and I sampled wines and we loved every one we tasted. I got on their website and joined two of their wine clubs and have not received any response from email, I called because I am unable to place an order from the Wine for All Seasons selection and was told I could the next day.....still after 4 days am getting no where. I was excited about discovering this place and now am left feeling very disappointed. I have an upcoming wedding and was planning on ordering A LOT of wine....but I guess I'll get it done elsewhere. :(

We make it here about once a year and this time I was quite disappointed in the wine. The three dry reds I had were all quite cloudy in appearance and had an off-balance acidic taste. Actually they all tasted the same to me except that I detected a hint of oak in one. My wife tried some the sweeter whites and had the same opinion. On the plus side, staff was wonderful, they were super busy that day and were still able to serve everyone with a smile.Everyone has different taste so I don't want to discourage anyone from going to Illinois River, but I feel I have to give my honest review.

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 this 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.

Tasting is $3 for 6 tastes. Red selection is terrific. Love the merchandise and there is a patio in the back to just sit and enjoy a glass. Lovely place and will definitely stop in next visit.

We stopped in while we were on our honeymoon. We stopped in on a tuesday afternoon and came back to get more on wednesday. The wine samples we had were all great. The value was awesome. we can even get them back home! The apple blossom is fantastic. we were the first ones to try it and buy it. Everyone we dealt with was friendly and very helpful.

This is my favorite winery! I love the wines so much I became a wine club member! One of the only wineries in the area with a decent selection of wonderful fruit wines. The winery seems to be improving and growing, which is very exciting! The tasting room got a make over, which looks amazing and they are working on growing their member events it seems. Service can be a bit spotty, depending on who does your tasting. Some employees are a bit more friendly and love talking about the wine with guests, and some would rather just pour the wine, even on slow days, but I never had an employee be "rude" to me as some other reviews state.

Our service was extremely rude. When we arrived, we asked if we could have our bottle of wine outside. She said "yea" very rudely and gave us glasses; however, she did not open our bottle or inform us where to go (our first time). Other wineries in the area have been extremely friendly. Very rude service! We will not be returning.

Had a lovely Sunday afternoon here. The tasting was cheap but we thought that their wines were pretty expensive. All in all it was a fun afternoon. There was a lovely patio out back with some very nice live music entertainment (acoustic guitar). The owner was very friendly, but the girl helping us, not so much. It's located very near Starved Rock State Park which is a fantastic!

Stopped by here on a Sunday afternoon after kind of stumbling on it...turned into a great afternoon! We did the $3 tasting...and you get to try 6 glasses! We ended up sitting outside for an hour or so on the huge patio. Staff was kind and knowledgeable, great hidden gem you can head to after a day on the Starved Rock trails. We ended up buying 5 bottles and I hope to go back soon!

Cute winery with an authentic, at-home feel. Owner was very down-to-Earth and clearly enjoyed his job. The wine tasting was cheap, only $3 for 6 wines. My only complaints about the tasting were that the cards weren't informative and the lady helping us wasn't extremely social, but good experience overall. Tasted some we loved and some we hated; bought 3 bottles of wine. Definitely worth checking out.

As always, great wines. We were offered more than we wanted, but sampled anyways. Small place right on the main road. We were only people sampling, but it was Monday morning.

We just left this winery without even a tasting. My husband and I had been waiting for 5-10 minutes for a tasting when another couple walked in and were given the next available area for a tasting. While waiting, we were told restrooms were located down the way, outside of their rental space.

we stopped at the illinois winery one afternoon when travaling through utica coming from straved rock state park on the illinois river, after a day watching bald eagles on the river. it was a very cold snowy day in february with no one around. the winery was very nice and we did a wine tasteting and enjoyed their wine very much. the tasteing is $6.00 for 6 tastes or $8.00 for 6 tastes and you get to keep the glass. we did the $8.00's and got the glass, of the 6 tastes we bought 3 bottles. it was a great way to warm up after being outside all day. they put your bottles in a cloth bag with thier name on it, and if you bring it back and reuse it they give $4.00 off your next purchase of 4 bottles or more.the illinois winery is just down the road from the straved rock state park entrance so when in utica, il stop by it's fun.

Have been going the Winery for years but they must be having some issues. Selection of wines were down and staff not very helpful and felt like she wanted us to leave. Have enjoyed Illinois River Winery previously but since they had to close for a flood it doesn't seem the same. I hope they can get it together again.

We recently did a tasting at Illinois River Winery. I really like the variety of wines with so many different flavors. The person doing the tasting occasionally explained the flavors of the wine and never rinsed our glasses. In general it was a good experience, reasonably priced, and I would return.