The Shawnee Hills AVA is an American Viticultural Area

American Viticultural Area

An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau , United States Department of the Treasury....

 located between the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 and the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 in southern Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. The wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 appellation

Appellation

An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown; other types of food often have appellations as well...

 includes over 2140 square miles (5,542.6 km²) of land in portions of Alexander

Alexander County, Illinois

Alexander County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 8,238, which is a decrease of 14.1% from 9,590 in 2000. Its county seat is Cairo. Alexander County is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical...

, Gallatin

Gallatin County, Illinois

Gallatin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 5,589, which is a decrease of 13.3% from 6,445 in 2000...

, Hardin, Jackson

Jackson County, Illinois

Jackson County, incorporated January 10, 1816, is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 60,218, which is an increase of 1.0% from 59,612 in 2000...

, Johnson, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph

Randolph County, Illinois

Randolph County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 33,476, which is a decrease of 1.2% from 33,893 in 2000. Its county seat is Chester....

, Saline

Saline County, Illinois

Saline County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 24,913, which is a decrease of 6.8% from 26,733 in 2000. Its county seat is Harrisburg. Saline County is home to the smallest post office and the largest KFC in the United States....

, Union, and Williamson

Williamson County, Illinois

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*92.7% White*3.8% Black*0.4% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.7% Two or more races*0.4% Other races*2.0% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

 counties. The region stretches approximately 80 miles (128.7 km) east-west and 20 miles (32.2 km) north-south, and includes the vast majority of the Shawnee National Forest

Shawnee National Forest

The Shawnee National Forest, located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, consists of approximately 280,000 acres of federally managed lands. In descending order of land area it is located in parts of Pope, Jackson, Union, Hardin, Alexander, Saline, Gallatin, Johnson, and Massac...

.

The AVA was created as a result of the successful petition of Ted Wichmann, owner of Owl Creek Vineyard. The area is named after the Shawnee

Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

, a Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 nation that settled in Southern Illinois in the mid 18th century. The AVA is served by the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail.

Wineries

At least 20 wineries as well as additional vineyards produced wine and grow grapes within the Shawnee Hills AVA. Most of the wineries are aligned with the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail in the southwestern portion of the AVA (south of Route 13 and west of Interstate 57). The Southern Illinois Wine Trail (east of Interstate 57) includes the next largest grouping, as well as some wineries located just outside the AVA. The area around Kinkaid Lake

Kinkaid Lake

Kinkaid Lake is a reservoir located in southwestern Illinois. Entirely within Jackson County, the lake is approximately northwest of Murphysboro and southeast of St. Louis.-History and ownership:...

 in the northwestern corner of the AVA is also seeing a number of new wineries develop.

Economic impact of wine trail

As early as 1999, the Illinois Grape and Wine Resources Council estimated the wine trail's products provided more than $1 million boost to the area economy. By 2001, the wine trail had grown to five wineries producing more than 150,000 bottles. In November 2010, Gary Orlandini Vineyards used "leaps and bounds" to describe the growth of the wine trail, explaining the wineries along the trail had averaged 28 percent annual growth since the mid 1990s when the trail first organized.

The development of the wineries has also boosted the region's hospitality industry with around four dozen specialty lodging facilities - bed and breakfast inns, cabins and vacation rentals - all but the state-owned Giant City Lodge and one or two others, opening in the last 15 years. These don't count the new motels and hotels in Carbondale, Illinois

Carbondale, Illinois

Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...

on the north edge of the wine trail.

Recent research shows approximately 40 percent of the visitors to the wine trail are non-local (defined as coming from at least 50 miles away). Tourists attracted to the wine trail tended to be older and possessed a higher household income then local wine visitors. Sixty-five percent of the tourists were between the ages of 32 and 59, and another 15 percent were 60 or older. Also, 65 percent had household incomes above $75,000.