Foodies and wine enthusiasts filled downtown Geneva for the 36th-annual Festival of the Vine over the weekend.
Thousands of people attending the three-day fall festival paired fine wine with delectable food from Geneva’s restaurants under a big tent at Fourth and State streets.
The Flavor Fare featured international and seasonal cuisine prepared by 16 Geneva restaurateurs, 26 varieties of wine and live music.
There were complimentary carriage and trolley rides with stops throughout the downtown, including in front of the Old Kane County Courthouse where there was a flower market and arts and craft show.
All of the proceeds from wine tastings benefit the Geneva Community Chest.
Allison Reinke of Wheaton and her mother Rita Evans of Elgin were having fried ice cream with churros from Sergio’s Cantina. “We love the music, and sampling food and wines that we’ve never had before,” Reinke said.
The family-owned Gen-Hoe restaurant, celebrating 49 years in Geneva, has participated in the Flavor Fare since the festival’s inception.
Peter Lee and his mother Jenny, were serving their award-winning lemon chicken with fried rice, and signature Gen-Hoe egg rolls as well as two new samplings — gluten-free and vegetarian veggie crispy rolls made with napa cabbage and rice paper wraps, and gluten-free chicken dumplings made with chicken meat, green onions and rice paper wraps.
“We are all foodies at heart,” Lee said.
Lee said theirs is one of the few restaurants that prepare their eggs rolls by hand. “It’s a three-day process to make them,” the owner said.
Lee’s late father Tony, and his grandfather started the restaurant. The restaurant sees generations of families in their dining room.
“We love Geneva. The festival is an opportunity for us to interact with people.” Lee said.
Chef and owner Jim Nicolaou combines the best of his Italian and Greek heritage into his cuisine at Riganato Old World Grille. The restaurant’s specialty is a giant ricotta-stuffed meatball made with San Marzano tomatoes grown in Italy.
“People come all the way from Chicago to have our ricotta-stuffed meatballs,” said Nicolaou, who opened the restaurant five and-a-half years ago with his father, Nick.
“The meatballs are wholly Italian. Our Colorado lamb chops are very Greek in its seasoning. It’s hard work to be here, but we like to meet the other restaurant owners and see our customers in a different venue. It’s a wonderful festival,” Nicolaou said.
Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns was at the Flavor Fare as a volunteer-ambassador, distributing the food and wine menu at the entrance.
Burns said he’d spoken with people from the Geneva area and as far away as North Carolina and Montana. “There are people who come every year because it is casual and enjoyable. People are attracted to that style of celebration. It’s a way to showcase Geneva,” he said.
The guests were as diverse as the different food groups and varieties of wine.
Daniella Amato and Theresa Christopher came from Bartlett. “Geneva has all the best stuff,” said Christopher, who has come to the festival the last two years.
“Geneva has the best restaurants and chocolate shops. There’s always something to do in the downtown,” Christopher said.
Graham’s Chocolates & Ice Cream and 318 Coffee House are known for scoops of homemade ice cream, fruit skewers dipped in milk chocolate with a white chocolate drizzle and chocolate chip mini cookies made special for the festival.
Graham’s is celebrating its 30th year in Geneva. Robin Butler, who has been helping at the Festival of the Vine at the Graham’s booth for the last 10 years, said family members had the idea of having artist-made T-shirts to celebrate the shop’s anniversary.
The Geneva Chamber wine bar intrigued the diverse palates of guests with wines from around the world, including a bourbon barrel-aged red wine.
“The wine is aged in bourbon barrels rather than wine barrels to open a different taste profile of the wine,” said Jason Tondelli, of New York-based Constellation Brands that brought in the wines for the event.
“Our guests experience wines from Napa Valley, New Zealand and Italy. The taste palates are all over. We have seen people looking for sparkling wines to people with very distinguished palates,” he said.
Michelle and David Smith of Yorkville were on their third wine samplings. “We just returned from Napa. We enjoy wine tastings as a way to get familiar with the varietals and wineries. The atmosphere is great and there are lots of great restaurants in Geneva,” Michelle Smith said.
Michelle Alexander of DeKalb and Emily Rapp of Naperville sampled the wine and had cake pops from Graham’s.
Rapp, a family-law Geneva attorney, said she was impressed with the casual atmosphere. Alexander is her assistant.
“We like Geneva in general. Right now, it’s easy and there are fewer lines,” Rapp said.
The festival featured special wine tastings and culinary events at local shops as well.
The Little Traveler’s wine tasting on the lawn introduced guests to unusual varieties of wine, hard cider and lager beer. The Little Traveler’s buyer in the gourmet department, Heidi Brothers, said they had an exclusive debut of several wines from South Africa. “They are light and refreshing wines,” Brothers said.
An estimated 75,000 people were expected to attend the festival over the three days.
“When the festival began, we never envisioned it would grow to the size it has,” said Mike Simon, owner of the Little Traveler. “The Geneva Chamber has done an amazing job of bringing people to the town,” he said.
The wine tastings benefit Geneva, he said.
“We have a great partnership with the Geneva Community Chest. They provide volunteers and we donate all of the proceeds from the wine samplings,” Simon said.
Bonnie and Dennis Schambach of Sleepy Hollow sampled around 10 wines at the Little Traveler. “We liked the Door Peninsula Blackberry Merlot. It was fruity with a nice oaky taste,” Bonnie Schambach said.
“We like the people at the festival and the bottles of wine are reasonably priced. We’ll be going home with six bottles of different wines. We love Geneva,” Schambach said.
Michelle Carter, of St. Charles, was born in North Africa. “I do like South African wines. You don’t generally see South African wines in the United States,” she said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.
