GenKota Winery Shuts After 17 Years
Tucked away in strip mall off I57 in Mt. Vernon, IL for over 17 tears, GenKota Winery was known for wine and music. Now the winery is closed and seeking new owners, according to WSIL.tv. The Winery’s Facebook page says winery owners Kent and Sheree Easton are “keeping all options open.”
GenKota won Silver Medals at the Illinois Wine Competition for its Chambourcin and Norton in the late ’90’s. These wine were made from local grapes sourced at Drake Vineyard.
The Easton’s bought the winery from founder the Dr. Brad Drake around 2010. A 2011 report in the Southern Illinoisan claims this winery was the 6th post Prohibition winery in Illinois when Dr. Drake started it in 2007.
As reported in Midwest Wine Press, the number of wineries in Illinois has leveled off at about 100 after a decade of rapid growth. Nearby Pheasant Hollow Winery appears to be doing well and the current number of wineries in Southern Illinois may foreshadow further consolidation.
Hey Mark,
I was just perusing your very enjoable newsletter and noticed a reference to Genkota Winery being listed as the 6th post prohibition winery in Illinois by the Southern Illinoisan newspaper. I don’t believe it’s a real big deal but I do worry sometimes that spurious claims are being reported that sometimes blur the factual representation of our long, and rich, history of winemaking and grape growing in Illinois. When Alto Vineyards first opened it’s winery doors in 1988 it was the 6th bonded post prohibition winery in Illinois. It (Genkota), in fact, was bonded after Pheasant Hollow and I believe they were number 12 (you can confirm this with Bruce Morgenstern).
As you probably know, Illinois, like Ohio, has it’s roots deeply imbedded in the grape and wine tradition and we are simply a continuation of that legacy but way too often I’ve witnessed people manipulating facts for their own, perceived, self-aggrandizement. I really don’t know if this instance is truly an example of an intentional misrepresentation of our history, or what it really matters, but I do think it important to our legacy that history has it’s facts together.
Thanks Mark and sorry for the wind, Paul
Paul,
Glad you enjoy MWP. At the time The Southern Illinoisan reported that Genkota was the sixth modern winery in Illinois, the paper was doing well enough and one would think they had the resources to do fact checking. Sadly, hardly any media today has the resources to fact check or corroborate, so there is a lot of false info going around. The internet has made information free, but the quality of the information has gone way down. As another break even media business that relies on sub minimum wage labor, Midwest Wine Press relies on readers like you to call us out. We appreciate the clarification.
Mark