Although images of the California vineyards of Napa Valley and Sonoma County are what most people conjure up when thinking about American wine, the green and rolling hills of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois are dotted with vineyards and wineries only a day trip away.

Now that spring has arrived, these wineries soon will hold festivals and other activities for the public to enjoy.

"If you're looking for a weekend getaway, this is definitely an affordable and enjoyable option," said Jeff Bean, sales and marketing director of Owl Creek Vineyard in Cobden, Ill.

The two Missouri wineries closest to Cape Girardeau are River Ridge Winery in Commerce and Tower Rock Winery in Altenburg. Less than an hour away in Southern Illinois are the wineries that make up the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail: Pomona Winery, Alto Vineyards, Owl Creek Vineyard, Von Jakob Vineyard and Inheritance Valley Vineyards. All the wineries in the trail are within about 25 miles of each other.

Saturday and Sunday, the trail is holding a weekend wine appreciation workshop. It will feature seminars, food, workshops and wine tastings.

"It's for people who want to know more about wine," said Leon Dangbar, Alto Vineyard's business manager. Dangbar said customers at his winery are always asking questions about wine, so it made sense to create a workshop that would provide answers.

When it opened in 1987, Alto was the first winery in Southern Illinois and the fifth or sixth in the state, Dangbar said. Now Illinois has about 40 wineries and 15 in Southern Illinois, including the wineries in the Shawnee Wine Trail.

So what makes Illinois a good place for a vineyard?

"Hills," Dangbar said.

The hilly terrain allows the grapes to grow in an environment that has good drainage, less frost and less wind.

"What make Illinois good for wine is there's diversity in the climate from the northern area of the state to the southern region. That adds variability," Bean said.

Variability also makes the trail special, Bean said.

"Everyone has a different idea of what a winery should be. Through the trail you get a varying perspective of what a winery is," he said.

Bean said each of the wineries that make up the trail has something different about it.

Alto is the largest, producing 20,000 to 25,000 gallons of wine every year; Owl Creek, which produces 4,000 gallons of wine per year, is a boutique-type winery; VonJakob is closely associated with weddings and other social gatherings; Inheritance Valley is the newest addition, having joined the trail in January, and the smallest, producing 1,600 gallons of wine last year.

Alto and the other wineries in the region tend to use grapes native to North America such as Niagara and Norton. They also use French-American hybrid grapes like Chambourcin and Seyval.

This is the first year the trail has held the workshop, but spring festivals and the Shawnee Hills Wine Festival have been held for several years.

Owl Creek will hold a May Fest from noon to 6 p.m. May 8 and 9 that will feature wine and live music from Chicken Foot Gumbo and Shady Mix.

At the same time, Alto will hold its Spring Fest with music from Carter and Connelley and St. Stephen's Blues.

On June 5, Alto will host a crawfish festival and on June 19, a shrimp festival.

VonJakob Vineyard in Pomona, Ill., will hold a Maifest May 15 and 16 featuring One Night Stand and 4 On the Floor. The winery also will offer a Mother's Day brunch May 9.

The Shawnee Hills Wine Festival is held Labor Day weekend at Alto. All the wineries on the trail participate in the festival, setting up stands where visitors can sample or purchase wine. There are also food vendors and live music.

Even when no events are occurring at the wineries, visitors come with picnic baskets, buy a bottle of wine and find a spot outside. Several of the wineries have outside tables for this purpose.

Something similar goes on at the wineries in Southeast Missouri.

Tower Rock Winery in Altenburg has its May Fest on May 15 and 16. There will be live music, catered food and the introduction of Tower Rock's 2003 wines.

Owner Bob Breuer said people also come to Tower Rock to buy a bottle of wine and sit at one of the tables situated throughout the vineyard, including some on docks on a two-acre lake.

Tower Rock has been open for three years and currently produces about 1,200 gallons of wine a year, although Breuer said he would like to see that increase to 4,000 gallons.

Breuer said Southeast Missouri is good for growing grapes. He also likes being directly across the river from the Southern Illinois wineries. "It lets people know both sides of the river are good for wine," he said.

River Ridge Winery in Commerce has live music every weekend from the beginning of April to the beginning of November.

The concerts are held in River Ridge's 30-by-50-foot pavilion that can seat about 100 people.

River Ridge also has the Fermentation Room Cafe, where visitors can sit down and enjoy salads, sandwiches and desserts and specialties on the weekend. It recently was expanded to seat about 60 people.

Among the vineyards are hiking trails and a pond.

"If you come on a summer afternoon, there are strollers out and kids kicking soccer balls," owner Jerry Smith said. "We have a lot of consumption of wine, laughter and music, but we run it like a family affair."

River Ridge produces about 4,000 gallons of wine per year.

Smith said Southeast Missouri provides just the right conditions to grow quality grapes.

The River Ridge vineyards have a constant breeze and good moisture drainage, and the proximity to the river mitigates the cold temperatures.

"I think it by far the best region in the state of Missouri," he said.

For more information about the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and its Weekend Wine Appreciation Workshop, visit www.shawneewinetrail.com.

Information on Tower Rock Winery is available at www.tower-rock-winery.com and River Ridge at www.riverridgewinery.com.

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182