A custom collection of five wines was created by Oakwood Vines in Lake Forest in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest. The label on each specially-designed bottle pictures either an image of one of the stained-glass windows in the church or a portrait of the building from an oil painting by artist Bridget Halloran. A portion of the sale of each bottle will be donated to the church.
The wine collection is part of the yearlong celebration of the landmark year.
Shari Wiseman of Lake Forest, a parishioner at St. Mary for around 25 years, is one of more than 40 church members on the Anniversary Planning Committee, who have been planning the celebration for nearly two years. She serves as one of four members of the Public Relations, Merchandising, and Communications Team, which includes Wiseman’s husband, Tom Wiseman, plus husband and wife Paul and Kathy Blahunka.
Initially, they were going to work with a winery in California, but that would have required them to buy a large amount of wine.
“There was such an interest by a majority of the people at a meeting that we kept exploring it,” Wiseman said. Anniversary Planning Committee Co-Chairs Kirk and Nadine Shepard connected them with Emily Long of Lake Forest, who co-owns Oakwood Vines with her husband, Rick Long.
“She started exploring different wineries that she works with. They’re all boutiques. None of the great big wineries want to do anything like this,” Wiseman said. “She got samples in. We did tastings. We zeroed in on five different wines.”
Those were Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sparkling Wine.
“We’re able to preorder wine. We can order one bottle or we can order a thousand bottles,” Emily Long said.
“They weren’t locked into something where they weren’t sure how much they could sell,” Rick Long said.
“Then we said, ‘Let’s showcase our original church,’” Wiseman recalled. They decided to use an oil painting of the church by Bridget Halloran and images of two of the beautiful stained-glass windows in the church for the labels on the bottles of the wine.
This was a familiar process for the Longs. Emily Long has designed labels for private events, such as weddings and fundraisers.
Prices for the wine range from $36.50-$44.50 per bottle. At press time, over 150 bottles had already been sold. To order the wine, visit churchofstmary.org/150wine.
“Our committee is hoping that we can raise enough money—not just from this wine program but the merchandise that we’re selling—to pay for all the events we are having for the 150th,” Wiseman said.
Rick Long said that he was happy to contribute a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the wine to the Church of St. Mary.
“My kids have all grown up going to St. Mary,” Rick Long said. “I’ve got four children, and they received all of their sacraments there; a couple of them went to preschool there. It was a way of giving back.”
The yearlong celebration started with a kickoff picnic on Sept. 14 that was attended by over 500 people.
Wiseman is particularly excited about one upcoming event. Father Robert J. Miller, a retired priest and author, will talk about his book “Faith of the Fathers” in April. The book is about how Catholic priests ministered to the Civil War soldiers.
Wine sales will continue throughout the celebration year, with different labels on the bottles to commemorate different occasions, such as Easter.
To learn about additional events in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Church of St. Mary, visit churchofstmary.org/celebrating-150-years.
Thriving for 150 years is a rare milestone. “I believe that there is such a commitment of the people that attend there,” Wiseman concluded. She praised the “caring, loving, respectful nature of what’s going on and the good work that people do. We’re so involved in the food pantry, we have overseas ministries, we have ministries within the United States. People are very, very engaged in all of these things.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
