Wining and dining
Country vineyard comes to the West Loop
06/25/2012 6:00 AM
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Todd Carr, event director of City Winery Chicago, in the soon-to-be finished facility.
Walk past the northwest corner of West Randolph and Racine and you’ll see a beehive of activity: construction workers are putting the finishing touches on City Winery.
The Chicago venue of this popular New York City mecca of music, wine and food will open mid-August. The winery will showcase heavy hitter musicians, including Sam Moore, Suzanne Vega, Joan Osborne, Mavis Staples and Rosanne Cash.
First and foremost, it’s about wine. Todd Carr, event director, gave me a tour of the facility, which is quickly morphing from vintage warehouse into a modern, functioning winery.
“The philosophy of City Winery, and of [founder] Michael Dorf is to bring wine country to an urban setting,” Carr said. “You can even get directly involved in the winemaking process and invest in a barrel.”
Making your own wine won’t involve stomping on grapes, but you will get to select the grapes, even the type of oak barrel in which the wine ages. You also get to share in the end product, up to 21 cases, even imprinted with your personal label.
Wine lovers who don’t want to get that involved (it’s a year-long commitment from start to finish) can enjoy City Winery’s product, directly from the barrel.
“We’ll have a tap system that will that will go directly to the barrel, which will be embedded in a temperature controlled glass,” Carr said.