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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2020 • ShawLocal.com

CRISP FLAVORS

Oregon chardonnay is on the verge of something special / 2

SEASON FINALE

LaSalle County Historical Society hosts last Canal Market of 2020 / 4

FALL FESTS

Autumn-themed celebrations to fill your October weekends

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UNCORKED

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An expert taster shares favorite finds to consider adding to your own wine racks.

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By JAMES NOKES

CHARDONNAY: Oregon gives winemakers playful palette

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nspired by a cool climate and passionate winemakers, Oregon chardonnay is on the verge of something special.

The following winemakers are pushing the state’s third most planted grape to new heights. Their stories and tasting notes from wineries across Oregon conclude a month-long tasting project.

At Morgen Long, owner and winemaker Seth Long always has thought outside the box. He’d worked in restaurants since he was 15 years old and served a lot of Oregon pinot noir. By the time he was 27, he’d gone avant-garde and fallen for the natural wine movement and oxidized “orange wines” as he studied to be a sommelier.

On a winemaking blitz, he’d work seven harvests on three continents to hone his craft and would cozy back up to Bordeaux classics. When he noticed he kept pulling white wines for the crew, he’d settled into a niche.

“I’ve always been kind of a rebel,” Long said. “I didn’t pay attention in school. I was a skateboarder when my parents were college professors. I applied to one college, the college they taught at. I wanted to move to Breckenridge (Colorado) and be a ski bum. But that didn’t work out.”

The ski world’s loss is the wine world’s gain, as Long is a risk-tolerant, passionate advocate to drive Oregon chardonnay to new heights.

an abundance of acidity, which means malolactic fermentation is your friend.

There’s never been a more exciting time for Willamette Valley, in general.

We respect history and are just trying to push it forward. I want to look back in 20 years and say I devoted myself to mastery of chardonnay. It’s the big bet for my lifetime.”

At Archery Summit, winemaker Ian Burch focused on the nuanced flavors chardonnay has to offer. Even though he used all native yeasts in fermentation, he liked to push the limits of the process in the cellar.

“The ferments got a little warm, so it stresses the yeast out a little bit,” Burch said. “That way you get some petroleum and sesame seed flavors. If I can get a small fraction of that, I like what that brings to the wine over the course of its life.”

The Archery Summit Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay 2018 ($45) showed herbal

aromas, green pepper corn, bay leaf that gave way to flavors of honeydew melon and honey. He said he “pushed the boundaries” with the Archery Summit Dundee Hills Chardonnay 2018 ($65) as zesty lemon flavors mingle with a fresh minerality.

With judicious usage of oak barrels, Burch “softens out acidity’s jagged edges.” For the last six months of aging, he “traps in the freshness” as the wine is moved, with all its lees, from barrel to stainless steel tank.

Morgen Long Seven Springs Vineyard “More winemakers have embraced a 2018 ($65) has sandalwood, pear and fresh style with a leaner spirit,” Burch lemon on the nose, a fresh acidity with said. “It’s hard to make a voluptuous, peach and its fresh green apple flavors. soapy, overripe chardonnay in Oregon With an unctuous texture, there’s because it would be imbalanced.” thyme and pineapple on the nose in Leo Gabica has been with Sweet Morgen Long Marine 2018 ($25) – guava Cheeks since the start. He worked in the and wet rock flavors mingle. Pulled in cellar in 2005 when the winery produced by honeysuckle and apricot on the nose, 2,500 cases. He saw production double, Morgen Long Willamette 2018 ($35) had was promoted to assistant winemaker juicy green apple, toasty sesame seed, as cases topped 15,000 and took over the almond flavors and hot iron shavings on helm from the late founder Dan Smith in the finish.

2013. Pinot noir and pinot gris currently Traditionalists might scoff at Long’s command more shelf space, but Oregon’s picking decision as too early with weather and winemakers’ willingness underripe fruit, but he was clear the fla- to produce chardonnay in a variety of vors he’s in pursuit of are “lime, lemon, different styles have it on the rise. and rock juice.”

“The climate in Oregon, especially in “I want verve and energy,” Long our location, is on the cooler side,” Gabsaid. “This is a cool climate, so we have ica said. “The beauty with that is with a

nice warm dry summer, we can develop nice tropical flavors and yet have acid behind it to back it up; it gives it more weight.”

Sweet Cheeks Chardonnay 2017 ($27)

had a pear nose with pear, almond and lemon rind flavors.

Normally, Gabica used stainless steel tanks to ferment between 40% and 50% of the chardonnay, while the rest is aged in oak. Malolactic fermentation starts in the stainless steel before the wine is moved to oak barrels to finish the process. Gabica wants to “give the wine some toasty notes,” yet keep it from being “flabby and fat.”

“Doing it that way, we don’t lose freshness and acidity,” he said.

Production of fresh-tasting chardonnay is a reoccurring theme for Oregon winemakers. They’ve embraced a cool climate and have latched onto different techniques in the vineyard and cellar that showcase the wines.

Now, they are telling their stories.

“Oregon chard is electric,” Burch said.

“It’s fresh, it’s got a soul.

While Burgundy is really textural with calcareous influences, our basalt and wind from Van Duzer Corridor, you have electric, acidic, complex and refreshing wines.

They aren’t flabby or overdone.

They’re easy to wrap your mind around. We just need to get them into more people’s hands. They are really delightful.”

• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years.

Email him at jamesnokes25@ yahoo.com.

TASTING NOTES Adelsheim Staking Claim Chardonnay 2017 ($35):

Creme brulee, apple and vanilla on the nose, flavors of Meyer lemon, Granny Smith apple and pear.

Adelsheim Ribbon Springs Chardonnay 2017 ($55): Flavors of pear and orange rind are tied to a flinty minerality that cuts through the citrus burst.

Lenne Yamhill-Carlton 2018 ($48): Lithe and racy at the start with flavors of lime, lemon, melon and apricot.

Green moss mixes with a toasty flavor that builds on the finish that turns creamy.

Montinore Tidalstar Vineyard 2017 ($38): From the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, peach, pear and mango flavor finishes with a lemon curd texture and a soft, ripe pear note.

Sokol Blosser Evolution Chardonnay 2019 ($20): Pineapple on the nose, flashy tropical flavors, there’s a nice round mouthfeel even though the finish is quite zesty.

Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills Estate Chardonnay 2018 ($38): Lemon custard on the nose, pear flavors, a mouthwatering salty note on the mid-palate and hints of almonds, vanilla and warm red apples on the finish. Intriguing subtle complexities tie everything together.

Willamette Valley Vineyards Vintage 45 2018 ($45): The release celebrated founder Bill Fuller’s 45th Oregon vintage and had rich apple pie, butter, clotted cream.

Willamette Valley Estate Chardonnay 2018 ($45): A creamy texture and mouthfeel; there are flavors of Meyer lemon, coconut, pear and a toasty oak note on the finish.

WillaKenzie Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2018 ($40): Aromas of lemon rind and lime zest give way to a very cool mouthfeel – sleek before filling up on the finish.

WillaKenzie Yamhill Carlton Chardonnay 2018 ($75): There’s toasty cumin seed, bay leaf, apricot and walnut flavors on a lithe frame with a snappy salinity on the finish.

3 SHAW MEDIA Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, October 10, 2020

fall FESTS

Celebrations to color October fun for families

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all festivals may be fewer than usual this year, but we’ve rounded up some of the lively offerings still happening that will brighten October and offer picture-worthy outings for families.

Scarecrow Stroll Through Oct. 11 Downtown St. Charles www.scarecrowfest.com St. Charles’ Scarecrow Fest tradition has been downsized this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The newly named Scarecrow Stroll will focus on the scarecrow contest.

It also will feature a scavenger hunt throughout downtown, a craft beer box featuring seasonal beers from St. Charles breweries, and several mini activities, including an event called Scarecrow In a Box. Scarecrows will be spread throughout the town to encourage social distancing while also supporting local businesses that will be paired with scarecrows.

Pumpkin Display Oct. 21 to 25 Sycamore Park Sports Complex 435 Airport Road, Sycamore www.sycamorelions.org Although this year’s Pumpkin Festival was canceled, the Sycamore Lions Club still will hold its decorated pumpkin contest to continue its more than 50-year tradition. This year’s theme is “Masked Pumpkins.” The

event will be modified to a drive-thru version to minimize contact. The display area will be located by the Lions and Good Tymes shelters in the park.

Pumpkin display setup will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21 and 22, with drive-thru viewing on Oct. 23 through 4 p.m. Oct. 25. Judging of the pumpkins will take place Oct. 23.

Halloween Parade 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 23 Cantigny Park 1S151 Winfield Road, Wheaton Tickets: $7 per car www.cantigny.org Bust out those costumes early and head to Cantigny for a unique event.

The park is hosting a drive-thru car parade to give the kids another way to celebrate the season. Some of the attractions that can be seen as you drive through the park include Smokey the War Dog; KITT from “Knight Rider” and the “Ghostbusters” car; Medinah Shriners with mini choppers and cars; living history actors; Jack Skellington on stilts; show dogs; a French mime; Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny; and vehicles from the First Division Museum’s historic fleet. Live music will be provided by Vital Signs’ Mummy Band. After the parade, treat bags will be available for each child in your car.

Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Scarecrow Stroll Oct. 24 to Nov. 1 New Lenox Village Commons 101 Veterans Parkway, New Lenox www.newlenoxchamber.com

Shaw Media file photo

While the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival won’t be held this year, the Sycamore Lions Club will hold its decorated pumpkin contest from Oct. 21 to 25 at the Sycamore Park Sports Complex.

Visit the New Lenox Village Commons to view a trail of scarecrows, each created by a local business or organization. Hosted by the village of New Lenox and the New Lenox Chamber of Commerce, the event offers a safe and distanced way to celebrate the season. On Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., families that come through the walk will receive a bag of candy for every child.

Scarecrow Festival Oct. 24 Downtown Princeton www.princetonchamber-il.com

All kinds of fun activities are being planned for the whole family during the Princeton Chamber of Commerce Scarecrow Festival. Activities include face painting from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., a petting zoo from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., a Mutt Strut Dog Show at 10:30 a.m. (registration is from 9 to 10:30 a.m.), a cake walk at 11:30 a.m., pumpkin carving/ decorating contest (pumpkins have to be at the Chamber at 9 a.m.), trick-ortreating at downtown businesses from 1 to 3 p.m., and a free movie at Apollo at 4 p.m. There may be traffic restrictions on Main Street during the day from Peru Street to the courthouse square.

STARVED ROCK COUNTRY Dedicated to growing the awareness of everything the Starved Rock area has to offer

Added attractions at Canal Market Season Finale

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By RYAN SEARL

rsearl@shawmedia.com

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Photos provided by LCHS Canal Market

Fun awaits across the community, events all dovetailing with the LaSalle County Historical Society’s final Canal Market for the season. A wide array of vendors and artists will be part of the festivities.

urgoo, a festival regarded fondly by generations of Illinois residents, would traditionally be held this weekend in the historic village of North Utica, near Starved Rock State Park. While COVID-19 led to the cancellation of the festival this year, which normally attracts 50,000 to 70,000 attendees, there are still plenty of social distance-friendly activities happening this weekend in the picturesque canal town, including a massive open-air artisan market.

The centerpiece of this weekend’s festivities is the LaSalle County Historical Society’s final Canal Market for the season, featuring over 100 socially distanced vendors spread across several large grassy areas and at a restored open-air barn. The event has been a cornerstone of Burgoo for several years, and is one of the LaSalle County Historical Society’s biggest annual fundraisers.

At the market celebrating all things antique, collectible, homemade and homegrown, you’ll find a wide assortment of exhibitors ranging from fine artists to home decor designers. Vendors scheduled to be at the show include Streator’s Blessen Farms, selling a variety of fresh baked breads, and Ottawa’s Quirky Squirrel, bringing an assortment of beautiful handcrafted jewelry.

The market will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, at 249 S. Clark St., North Utica. While you’re there, be sure to visit downtown Mill Street, the main thoroughfare that runs through Utica’s cute one-block dining and shopping district.

There you’ll find appealing dining and drinking attractions like Lodi Tap House, Skoogs Pub and Grill, Canal Port, Joy and Ed’s, Pizzeria Vitale and the popular August Hill Winery tasting room. Lodi, a second location of Maple Park’s popular craft beer and burger bar, is serving up a uniquely Illinois-focused menu of brews and artisan burgers. Be sure to try Along Came a Cider, and the October Burger of the Month that features two hickory salt-seasoned Smash’d patties covered in white American and Swiss cheese, topped with a Cajun-spiced apple bacon chutney.

The Vintage Illinois Wine Festival also will return this weekend with a second installment of its socially distant vendor event. Ten fan-favorite wineries from across the state will pour tastes and sell bottles at the two-day outdoor market. Admission is free and 10 half-ounce tastes will run you only $5, a great way to sample several varieties before finding your favorite bottle. Guests are encouraged to bring their own bags or carts to carry all their purchases, as parking may be found some distance away from the festival site. This event will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 11, at Utica’s Carey Memorial Park.

Other festivities include the Utica Fire Protection District’s Annual Car Show, held from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, on Mill Street, and a two-day Craft Festival at the nearby Jamie’s Outpost, featuring an additional 50 socially distant vendors and live music throughout the day and night.

For more information on the LaSalle County Historical Society’s Artisan Canal Market Finale, and to see more festivities happening in Utica this weekend, visit facebook.com/Lchscanalmarket.

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So Much to See. So Much to Do.

Hiking Trails. Woodlands. Nature. Lakes. WiFi. Pools. Crafts. Movies. Fitness Center. Prairie. Deer. Pavilions. Arcade. Mini Golf.

Day Camp. Tennis. Basketball. Live Music. Theme Activities. Fireworks. Painting Parties. Open Markets. Social Events. Volleyball.

Shuffleboard. Teen Dances. Car Show. Paddleboats. Sledding. Farmers Markets. Night Hikes. Campfires. Fishing. Tournaments.

Pickleball. Acoustic Nights. Wine & Cheese Social. Road Rally. Golf Outing. 5K/3K. Haunted House. Canoing. Anything That Floats.

Horseshoes. Petting Zoo. Wagon Rides. Aqua Zumba. Playgrounds. Karaoke. Family Fun Night. Coffee Hour. Clubs. DJs. Scavenger Hunts. Kayaking. Tug of War. Food Fairs. Picnics.

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Thrillers, mysteries provide escapism

FALL OPEN HOUSE

By RICHARD LIPEZ

Special to The Washington Post Five excellent new mysteries and thrillers out this autumn all take place in “normal” times. Though in one – Val McDermid’s “Still Life,” set this past February – a character mentions “this virus thing in China” she’s heard about. It’s a sign. This time next year, mystery fans wanting relief from pandemic stories might have to reread Wilkie Collins.

“The Darkest Evening: A Vera Stanhope Novel,” by Ann Cleeves

“Large and shabby” Northumberland Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope in Ann Cleeves’s novels, as well as the long-running British TV series, is the type of English eccentric who more often appears in crime fiction as an offbeat character, even a suspect, instead of a brainy solver of crimes. In this creepily flavorsome tale of a young mother bludgeoned to death in a blizzard, Stanhope examines a manor house full of distant members of “her own strange family,” the lot of them “fraught, anxious and not at all at ease with themselves.”

The entire village of Kirkhill, in fact, is a place where wholesale DNA testing might uncover a panoply of rude surprises.

“And Now She’s Gone,”

by Rachel Howzell Hall

It’s a feat to keep high humor and crushing sorrow in plausible equilibrium in a mystery novel, and few writers are as adept at it as Rachel Howzell Hall. In “And Now She’s Gone,” the author of four stand-alones, plus four Elouise Norton Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective novels, introduces Black private investigator Grayson Sykes. She’s hired to track down a missing woman intent on not being found by her jerk boyfriend. Sykes can sympathize; a decade earlier she escaped a violent abuser who now is stalking her again.

Growing up, Sykes dreamed of being “the Negro Nancy Drew.” Insecure on her first big case, she’s buoyed by an understanding boss, Ketel One, peach cobbler and, when possible, good sex.

“Still Life: A Karen Pirie Novel,”

by Val McDermid

In the sixth Karen Pirie police procedural, the restless, sometimes craftily insubordinate head of Edinburgh’s Historic Cases Unit faces two thorny situations. The body of a man dragged from the sea by a lobster boat is identified as the brother of a government

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official missing for 10 years. At the same time, a decaying corpse turns up in a camper parked in a garage. Scottish politics and art forgery figure in one case and stolen IDs in both. Pirie eventually prevails, even though clues are hard to come by. She laments at one point that it’s “like doing a jigsaw when the dog’s eaten half the sky.”

“Interference,” by Brad Parks

To be pleasurably bamboozled, try this nifty scientific thriller by a onetime Washington Post reporter who writes prizewinning novels over breakfast at a Virginia Hardee’s.

Matt Bronik is a Dartmouth College professor working on a virus of great interest to both the Pentagon and the Chinese government, because quantum physics and its biological component make up “the new space race.” Hearing-impaired librarian Brigid Bronik frantically joins the chase when her sweet, wisecracking researcher husband is abducted for reasons far more complicated than it first seems. Professorial competition is also a factor in a narrative enlivened by pithy quotes from Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, among others who’d love to figure out “the shape of the universe.”

“A Song for the Dark Times: An Inspector Rebus Novel,”

by Ian Rankin

John Rebus is crankier than ever, with plenty to be cranky about, in this remarkably fresh 24th outing for the Police Scotland detective inspector.

Instead of a badge, the now-retired Rebus carries an inhaler for his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and his high-mileage Saab is wheezing, too. When he travels up north to help clear his alienated daughter, suspected of killing her husband, a local constable tells Rebus he looks “more like a tramp than an ex-cop.” Meanwhile in Edinburgh, a minor Saudi prince has had his throat slit. The incidents are connected, and the ailing pensioner wearily takes on sorting it out because “it’s all I seem to be good for.”

• Lipez writes the Donald Strachey PI novels under the name Richard Stevenson.

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By PAM OTTO

Taking interesting dives into the natural world around us, Pam Otto opens new avenues of exploration.

Turkey vultures soar along migration routes

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urkey vultures are the sorts of birds that command attention.

For one, they’re VULTURES – dark-feathered and hunchbacked, they look vaguely creepy even under the best of circumstances.

For another, they’re big – their 6-foot wingspan rivals that of the bald eagle and makes them hard to miss as they soar overhead in search of carrion, the dead stuff that makes up the bulk of their diet.

Now imagine seeing not just a few of these large, eerie, roadkill-feasting creatures, but rather several dozen, circling overhead like so many flying monkeys. That’s exactly what happened to me as I drove north on Route 47 through Yorkville.

I had just left the taxidermist’s, having picked up an assortment of critters we’d had mounted for display.

(Two of the three actually had been roadkill. So basically, I was driving around items that would have been turkey vulture vittles, had we not intervened.)

Approaching the bridge over the Fox River, I noticed a few dark forms up ahead, high in the sky. Those few became several, and the several soon became many. That’s when I knew I had to pull over and appreciate one of fall’s lesser-celebrated events: turkey vulture migration.

When you think of migrating birds, certain images tend to come to mind.

Tiny warblers, for example, flitting between branches as they glean insects that will fuel their journey south.

Turkey vultures, by contrast, couldn’t flit if their lives depended on it. Their bulky bodies, adapted for tugging open carcasses, are better suited to soaring, which they do with grace and apparent ease.

Flying Vs are another common migration image – large flocks of noisy Canada geese, flying in V formation.

Or even larger, noisy Vs of sandhill cranes. Yet neither of these sights, nor sounds, is apparent with vultures.

Although they move in groups, turkey vultures don’t use the economy of energy created by flying in a V-shaped flock. Instead, individual birds form their own individual Vs as their wings swoop upward and remain, outstretched, in a dihedral or V shape.

They can hold this position for hours as they soar, flapping only when it’s time to change direction or come in for a landing.

The secret to the turkey vulture’s seemingly effortless flight lies in its deft use of rising warm air currents

Morguefile

Turkey vultures spread their dark wings to maximize the surface area exposed to the sun’s warming rays. These birds are on the move now and can be spotted roosting in groups along or near the Fox River and other parts of Illinois. known as thermals. Unlike some birds that hit the air with, or before, the sun, turkey vultures typically wait to fly until the day is well underway. As the sun’s warming rays heat the air, thermals begin to rise. It’s then, amid much flapping and flailing, that the turkey vultures take off.

Circling and tilting slightly to use the currents to their best advantage, they go up with the rising air. Upon reaching the top of a thermal, they glide – as fast as 60 mph – on a downward slant until they reach the next thermal, and the cycle begins again.

Mile after mile, they travel in this fashion, coming down to land only as the sun is setting and the air begins to cool.

That’s the stage I happened upon.

Dozens of vultures were coming down into the trees to rest for the night. But to get back to our migration analogies, there was yet another big difference between the vultures and geese: the sound of silence.

If you’ve ever been near a body of water when a large flock of geese comes in for a landing, you’re likely familiar with the ruckus they cause. The honking, loud while the birds are in the sky, can become positively deafening once the group has safely landed.

When a group of vultures comes in, by contrast, there’s barely any sound at all. That’s because turkey vultures lack a syrinx, which is the bird equivalent of a mammal’s larynx or voice box. Consequently, they don’t say much, aside from the occasional grunt or hiss.

As I watched the vultures end their day, I wondered what the next leg of their journey would bring. How many miles would they go? Where would they end up?

As it turns out, only relatively recently have scientists begun looking at the migration habits of turkey vultures – the New World’s most abundant scavenging bird of prey.

Researchers affiliated with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania, began tagging the birds several years ago in an attempt to learn more about their habits and patterns. Closer to home, Illinois Natural History Survey breeding bird surveys are following the birds’ population gains; the data indicate the species’ numbers are growing at an impressive rate of more than 10% each year.

Although it’s unlikely any of you would encounter a tagged vulture in northern Illinois, it never hurts to look. And if you have travel plans that will take you west to the central migration flyway or east to Pennsylvania, keep your eyes open – especially if you find yourself driving in a vehicle with vulture vittles.

• Pam Otto is the outreach ambassador for the St. Charles Park District.

She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.

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GOOD NATURED

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LIVE THE HARBOR L I F E

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