Blue Sky Vineyard

This is my first Unilocal review and this place deserves me taking the time to do it. BIG shout out to the wonderful Jake who not only knows his wines but was very friendly and attentive with us. I can’t imagine anyone speaking about about the service here. If it’s a little crowded and there are several wine tasters, being taken care of will take a little longer and that is understandable!
The wine was my favorite of the Shawnee Wine Trail and the place is beautiful. I highly recommend it to anyone planning a visit. This place is a MUST stop and look for Jake!

The Chambourcin was excellent and the atmosphere of the place was great. It was very crowded when we were there, but the service (you order at the bar) was good. Feels a little like Sonoma!

I only gave this winery one star for multiple reasons. The staff is very rude. They always seem put out by taking our order. The price of the food is simply insane, and honestly it’s just not great. They lack passion, and the food seems thrown together very carelessly. Most definitely not worth it. I have been to Blue Sky multiple times (mainly because it’s one of the closer wineries to me) but I will not be back. I think they have pretty decent wine, but I would rather spend my money elsewhere– where I can feel as if I am a valued customer, and where love and creativity exist in the kitchen.

Had a great experience in Blue sky vineyard. The atmosphere was very good. Great wine, music and beautiful scenary …

Great wine! TERRIBLE STAFF!!! Rude. Waited forever. Got shortchanged. No apology!!! «Jake» needs more training!

I had a wonderful experience at Blue Sky Vineyards for my bachelorette party.
The grounds are beautiful. The sangria we had was delicious. There are plenty of seating areas around. The music played outdoors is great, too.
The only reason for a dock in star is that it can be very busy. Obviously due to all of the positives listed above, that is not a shock. The bar can just become crowded and hard to order drinks at time. The deposits on some of the glassware can be a little steep, though.
I will be back to Blue Sky! Can’t wait for that day!

This place has to be the champion of the Shawnee Wine Trail. Make it your last stop. Enjoy dinner or a later afternoon snack. Don’t cheap out, buy the tasting flight and marvel at the complexity and variety of wines they produce. None were a loser in my book
The staff here was the best at answering my questions as to why certain grapes were grown or not grown in the area. First off soil, the Shawnee Wine Trail is a lot of limestone that adds neutrality to the soil and adds to the flavor of the grapes. The primary grapes grown like chambourcin are chose because they can survive the harsh winters and resist rust and powdery mildew in the hot humid summers better than the traditional cabernet and chards grown here on the West Coast. Bingo… I love learning about this wines and they were full of all sorts of knowledge.
Big surprise grape here. Cabernet Franc. Terrific wine, modestly priced. Full fruit flavors with a hint of chocolate/​tobacco and mild tannins. It paired beautifully with the fresh cheesecake with fudge sauce. I liked it so well I smuggled home a bottle to enjoy with a nice steak.

Great place. Great views. Jenna at the bar area was great. .had a great day there. It was slow but I love to relax at wineries. Better service and for me a better experience..

First visited here while in college at SIU. Have been back a few times and always end up leaving with multiple bottles of wine. They offer tours of the winery and their patio area is amazing. Inside the winery is beautiful as well. My wife and I always get some of the Rocky Comfort Red and this past time we bought a bottle of Niagara, which is like a Moscato. This place is a must stop on the wine trail. Or if you only have time for a few wineries, make this a top priority.

When people find out I grew up in Southern Illinois and that I like wine it is always shocking for them to learn that I had never been to a single winery on the Shawnee Wine Trail. To be honest, I was scared. After some of my experiences with Missouri wineries I suspected the wine probably wouldn’t be very good.
I finally decided to give Southern Illinois wine a try this past weekend so I packed up my car and away I went with one of my favorite drinking buddies. About a two and a half hour drive from St. Louis, Blue Sky is quite a bit off the highway but my GPS got me most of the way and then the signage was pretty good as well. The structure is quite impressive with a beautiful Tuscan architecture. When I walked inside I was a little taken aback by the tasting room. It was quite nice, rivaling some I have seen in California. The thing that shocked me the most about Blue Sky is that they actually grow most of the grapes that make their wines on property, & the wines are really pretty good.
My friend & I tasted 5 wines each and I liked all of them. We had a Rose (nice-​not too sweet, slightly dry), the Villard Blanc (citrusy and refreshing), a Montage (a drinkable red blend), a dry Norton (a classic American grape that makes a beautiful red wine), and our favorite the Cabernet Franc, a delicious, dry red wine bursting with flavors of berry and coffee.
Since we stopped by on a beautiful early May Saturday afternoon they had live music so we sat outside where they have plenty of seating both on the patio and down the hillside.
They also had this wonderful proprietary olive oil you could buy with a loaf of bread that was perfect for pairing with some cheddar cheese and a good bottle of wine.
They have a menu containing sandwiches and pizzas and they also sell cheeses & sausages, waters, soda and some beer.
The service was pretty decent and everyone seemed very friendly despite how busy everyone was.
Blue Sky is a beautiful winery that I highly recommend you check out.

Great wines, music, pizza and amazing overall atmosphere! Best place to spend your weekends outside!

Beautiful inside and out. Lots of seating on the grass for a beautiful day.
Lot of great options for wine… buy by the bottle or take part in the wine sampling.
Although we did not take part in the food, on the beautiful blue sky, perfect temperature day we visited, it did look amazing.

One of my favorite places to go in Southern Illinois when the weather is nice or if I’m hanging out with a group of people. The building and grounds are more beautiful than some wineries I have visited in California. The bar is sometimes busy, but I have not found myself waiting too long and I usually just buy a bottle to avoid multiple trips to the bar. I’ve never had a problem finding tables outside to sit at and enjoy the wine.
My taste tends toward the drier wines. My favorite is the Seyval (a semi-​dry white). If I’m drinking a red, I really like the Chamburcin.

Out of the 5 wineries that I visited in the area, this was my least favorite. The only wine I liked was their dessert Chambourcin wine, that was it. Nothing else was good, and I tried several others across the board.
Surprisingly, it was the most happenin’ winery of all of them. The building is cool and looks like it should be in Italy, and the grounds are very nice.
If you’re in the area, certainly stop here if you’d like, but I was far from impressed.

Blue Sky is one of my favorite vineyards on the Shawnee Wine Trail. Recently, my husband and I decided to spend our third wedding anniversary on the trail and Blue Sky was our first stop. We’ll definitely be back on our next trip downstate. To start, I have to talk about the facility. It’s a giant, gorgeous sprawling Tuscan villa set in the Shawnee Hills. A lot of the other wineries, while still providing delicious wine, don’t go the extra mile with the setting and it can feel like you’re tasting wine in a tool shed. This is definitely not the case here. Additionally, the staff are very friendly and really try to help you find a good wine for you. It may seem obvious for wineries to do this but so often you’re left to your own devices and forced to decipher the wine descriptions on your own. The bartenders – if that’s the appropriate term – listened to what kind of wine I like to drink and helped me find something they produce that really suited me. Needless to say, I left with more than one bottle.
We also ate lunch at the vineyard. Their food selection is simple and limited but good enough considering how inexpensive it is. The wine is the star and the food is there in case you’re hungry. Next time I’ll probably bring my own food. They allow this and even have grills set up so you can make an entire meal on their beautiful grounds and enjoy it with their amazing wine!
Oh yeah, the wine! I’m not much for rosés but theirs is really nice and very dry. Their Chardonnay and Chambourcin were also very nice. I highly recommend this winery to anyone taking the wine trail. I know I’ll definitely be back. They helped give us an amazing start to our anniversary weekend.

Alto Vineyard gets my highest Shawnee Trail rating of 3. Blue Sky has such potential yet falls (far) below expectations. Such promise with the visual pleasure of the structure as you prepare for a wine tasting. Sadly, what invites you in ends up to be an empty shell. That gorgeous façade brings you into a cultural wasteland with amateurishly painted tables and harsh diner-​style chairs and scatterbrained sommelier to add insult to injury. This establishment seems to have something other then wine on their mind $$$$$$$$

This is the one winery in SOILL that passes muster… barely. The wineis good enough, but the winer is great. Lots of room, lots of views and great serice.

My boyfriend and I took advantage of a deal at Blue Sky for «over night stay in Tuscany Romance Suite, Breakfast, Bottle of Wine, VIP tour of Wine Cellar, tasting given by wine maker and 10% off coupon to use for purchases during your stay. «
We were extremely disappointed with our visit.
We booked the trip in early December and stayed over MLK weekend. When we arrived there was one young man at the bar and another young lady working in the back of the house. There were about ten patrons attempting to have tastings at the bar. (I say attempting because the young man couldn’t seem to keep track of who was drinking what and often would forget about other people at the bar.) My boyfriend and I decided instead of waiting twenty minutes between 1 oz pours of wine, we would just order a glass and some food and wait until he was less busy.
The menu was limited and disappointing. After settling on the chicken pot pie and chicken salad, we were surprised when the food came out on paper plates after clearly being microwaved (side note — It also gave me food poisoning later that night).
When we were finally able to check in (an hour after arriving), we realized they hadn’t placed us in the Tuscany Suite as stated in the deal, but the smaller Blue Sky Suite.
Other general complaints:
We never received our tour of the Wine Cellar.
We overheard staff mentioning on several occasions that they were hungover.
A sign in the room says that breakfast will be delivered at 9am. We called down at 9:15 and a man told us the woman responsible for breakfast had just pulled into the parking lot and would bring us something once she got settled.
After purchasing a bottle of wine, the bartender treated himself to a pour FROM MY BOTTLE («We can’t get this by the glass, so I have to wait for someone to buy a bottle.»)
Hopefully this is not representative of their service year round, but our experience was so disappointing, I won’t be giving them another try. It’s a shame, too, since several of my colleagues were waiting on my report from the trip so they could possibly book their own.. . needless to say, they won’t be visiting Blue Sky either.

If I had only knew earlier this place was so beautiful I would’ve made a few or several trips out here during the summer!
My younger sister who went to SIU always raved about this place. Typically, wine isn’t my choice of booze, but like any good person when offered booze I do not decline. I finally made a visit here and it did not disappoint! The vineyard is just beautiful and so peaceful!
We did a wine flight tasting (a taste of 5 wines for 5 dollars) so we can experience a variety of wines. Quick FYI– if you return back the souvenir glass then your tastings are only 2 bucks! They’ve a wide variety of wines that would appeal to just about anybody. In addition, they also have a restaurant where you can order food while sipping on wine. I didn’t get to try the food, but from what I saw it looked mighty delicious! The Sunday we came they had a musician outside and tables set up. This is definitely a place to come back to!

I’ve had many positive experiences at Blue Sky over the years from coming with my parents when the winery first opened to it being a must hit stop on college wine trails. Wine food and sangria have always been excellent and promptly served even in a big college wine trail day where we arrived on a bus
My husband and I like this winery so much we had our wedding here on October 5, 2013 this was a wonderful experience too. Our event coordinator, Rebecca, was behind helpful and does her best to get back to you as soon as humanly possible if we had any questions or concerns.
The morning of the wedding my bridal party got ready in the Tuscany suite, where the husband and I were staying that night. Since the husband had been there the night before there was a freshly chilled bottle of wine in the fridge which us girls indulged on during our morning. The Tuscany suite has a balcony overlooking the tasting room and my photographer opened it for artsy shoe pictures and soon the amazing smell of pizza began wafting upstairs so the girls and I decided we needed one. So one of my girls went downstairs and placed the order an while she was there mentioned that we needed wine glasses, maybe it was the fact that she was wearing a «team bride» shirt but the staff gave her as many glasses as she could carry up without a deposit then the pizza was delivered right to our door.
The room itself was beautiful and bigger than one of my girls’ apartments in Chicago. The fixtures and view were exquisite, the husband and I are already planning an anniversary trip back to blue sky to stay in the same room in the future