White Oak Vineyards

Great little winery — very nice wines — very friendly staff, great fun in trying to say the German named wines. From reds to whites nice selection. Young winery, very knowledgeable on their grapes & process. Great prices on bottles.

Employee was not very knowledgable about product or wine in general. Most of the wine was undrinkable. The grounds are small but nice. Would not go back.

We visited this winery on a Monday afternoon and there wasn’t much going on. We were greeted by the owners Rudi, Mary and their 14 year old Golden Retriever Maxl. The atmosphere is very stark as their tasting room is very bare bones, not frills just a counter and a few chairs. The highlight of this winery is the beautiful views of the vines, the pond and lush greenery sounding the house. I enjoyed relaxing on the wrap around deck. This winery hosts live music which performs outback in front of the vineyard. One of the other patrons said the setting is perfect for wine and music, I have to take their word for it.
The wine tasting is five for $ 3.00 which is very reasonably priced especially since they give decent size tastings. I tasted all the wines listed on their tasting menu and question some of their descriptions of the wines. The wines they list as dry and very dry are really not at all, in fact the Gewürztraminer was listed as dry where I found it to be very sweet. The price of the wines is comparable to other wineries not overly expensive but you will spend over $ 15 per bottle. Don’t visit this winery if you are hungry unless you pack your own lunch. The do sell cheeses from local cheese makers but the selection is very minimal.
My suggestion when you visit this winery is to remember Illinois wine is not California wine and you can definitely tell the difference in the taste. Illinois wines have stronger earthy undertones. You will be sadly disappointed in your visit if your expecting the «Napa» experience. This winery could step it up a bit by offering cheese and chocolate plates for paring.
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White Oak Vineyards is a small, family owned winery and vineyard located in Central Illinois. They do 5 samples for $ 5. The wines are pretty good. I like the Riesling. They don’t add sugar, so it is sweet, but not sickly sweet. The winery has a very small, bare bones set up. There is a building with restrooms, a small retail area, 6 person sampling bar and a side room with tables for eating and drinking. Since the tasting bar is so small, it’s very personal. The samples are on the small side. They occasionally have music set up outside. In addition to wines for sale, they offer chocolate, cheese and sausage. I bought cheese and sausage and the sommelier said he had crackers for us, but I noticed a small charge on my bill for the crackers. No big deal, but it wasn’t mentioned beforehand. Overall, it’s a friendly, nice place. I would visit again if I were in the area.

We went there because they had a band playing outside at 4:00 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Even though it’s a winery, I went there determined to drink beer since all Illinois wine that I’ve previously had was sweet swill. My GF was more adventurous and sampled 5 of the wines. I took a sip of each and 2 of them were good! Next time I’ll have the wine.
The owners are very pleasant and helpful and the tasting «house» looks log cabiny. We sat on the wrap-​around back porch which overlooks a pond and the stage.
Even without a band playing this would be a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

WOW! I was truly blown away with the wine. I’ve tried Illinois wine lots of places but never have been a fan. To me, Illinois wine was always cough syrup sweet and not good. White Oak has changed my tune for sure! Most of what I tried was actually pretty darn good!
They had 10 or so wines to choose from — made mostly with the grapes grown on their site. I started with a tasting ($ 3 for 5 wine samples). And then moved on to have a full glass of red and later full glass of white while sitting on their country porch/​patio listening to the band, feeling the breeze and watching birds flitter around the pond and vineyards.
Glasses are in the $ 5 range and full bottles are in the $ 16 range. Next time we go — which will be SOON — we are going to bring a picnic. They have Ropp cheeses and sleeves of crackers that you can purchase but no other food offerings. Probably because they’d need to have a food service license.
If you are a beer drinker, they also have a nice selection of bottled offerings.
The setting is idealic — so serene and peaceful overlooking the rolling vineyards. I almost forgot I was in Illinois for a little while. I don’t know a ton about grape growing but have seen pictures of vineyards from Sonoma, California. This setting looked quite the same.

Great place to bring your partners or a group of friends to chat and sip on some vino. Rudy and Mary are so so sooooo wonderful! You can do a tasting or try a glass or get a bottle. Prices are super reasonable. If you are in a hurry grab a few bottles and go. There is a wrap around porch that overlooks the vineyards, beautiful sunsets and a pond. Last Spring we seen deer when the sun was going down. Great place to relax!!! They have chocolates, beer, wine (of course) and Ropp Cheese!