Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Sullivan Danenberger.
Susan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am the owner and winemaker of Danenberger Family Vineyards, a vineyard, and winery in Central IL, just outside of Springfield, IL.
When I look back, I can clearly see the path was laid out in front of me to follow, but it didn’t seem that way 12 years ago. After my family farm was hit by the tornado in 2006, I put on my rose-colored glasses and decided that I wanted to change my life and take the opportunity by giving my 5th-generation, centennial farm a new legacy: a vineyard and winery. I wanted to produce award-winning dry red wines in IL on land that had been growing corn. It was a crazy notion, I realize, but I had a vision in 40+-year-old mind and it was coming out no matter what.
Growing up, my father would talk about the land and how we are tied to it. It has been part of my family since the 1870s. To him, it was a living part of our family and we are stewards of this land. This care, this connection with the land was part of my heritage. My father and his ancestors understood what “green living” was before it became a popular movement. This was imprinted in my mind before I even realized what it was. After my father retired and began renting out the land, I felt the loss most acutely. I wanted to be part of that tradition but didn’t know how until I started with a wine kit. I was completely fascinated, but I knew I could tweak it. With that idea of growing grapes to experiment, my father helped me sample the soil and slope a plot of land to drain well. We planted 40 vines to start. I had only planned that it would be a hobby, but I literally couldn’t stop coming up with ideas of how to tweak wines, so I went back to school and studied Chemistry, then studied Enology and Viticulture at UC Davis. It was the best thing I could have done. It gave me so many ideas, avenues and people to help make this crazy idea in the middle of an Illinois cornfield work. I now have over 800 vines growing Cabernet Franc and French hybrids in my Central IL vineyard and another 5 acres offsite.
Danenberger Family Vineyards (DFV) officially opened September 2013, after several years of zoning technicalities. All of the entertainment areas (like the cargo container music venue), the chef’s kitchen, the vineyard have been conceived, developed and built by myself and my family. Our hearts and souls are in every detail. Our spaces are all very unique. I am lucky to be able to spend every day doing what I love with my family. Even my youngest son, Clayton, is the Executive Chef at DFV. He and our Chef De Cuisine offer a chefs Table experience every 6 weeks. It’s culinary theater in 7-10 courses that pair with our wines. I love sharing these moments.
My father graces our logo and every bottle in a colorful pixelation. There is an interesting story behind that: When I tried to scan the original photograph into a slideshow for his memorial, it continued to produce the same enigmatic pixelation. I remember that it gave me goosebumps and I saved the scan, thinking that it was beautiful on its own. When it came time to come up with a logo and labels, I thought that picture would be perfect! It helped define my brand and allowed me to honor my father.
The last 2.5 years have been full of pitfalls (like my breast cancer mastectomy and chemo over the last year) and highs (New Leader in the Industry award and another 92-point rating). DFV has become a jewel in the middle of the state. My customers tell me they feel like they traveled to northern California, instead of farm county. I just know, I feel like I traveled to my true self and all in high heels.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
While it has been tough to break the mold of what an Illinois winery is thought of in our region (making award-winning dry wine, in an area known for sweet wine, corn, and soybeans), it is even tougher to break into the wine and agriculture industry as am a woman owner and winemaker.
As a woman, in the industries of grape growing and winemaking, I am a minority. As a woman who always wears skirts and heels, I am an even bigger target for those who doubt my vision. Illinois is filled with many good old boys networks and my industries are no exception. I can still remember the looks from the farmers when I walked into the local Prairieland FS for the first time to order my agricultural chemicals for the vineyard. They were snickering and talking about my foolishness. The only thing that kept me going, was knowing that my father (and his father and grandfather) knew these families for generations and had built a solid farming reputation in the area. I had to keep that going for him. I had hoped that they would accept me eventually. Then, the drought came in 2012, and their crops were doing poorly and my vineyard was flourishing, I finally felt a nod of respect from them.
I joined the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance over a decade ago and was met with skepticism and biased, that was truly based on my looks. I spent the first few years feeling like the kid in the cafeteria that no one wanted to eat lunch with. I would come home from meetings or conferences wondering why I was subjecting myself to this treatment. My husband, Doug, wanted me to quit. The men would discount every word that I had to offer as silly and the few women there would act like I was infringing on their territory. If Doug went with me to a meeting, they would listen to his ideas and arguments. Many times he was passing on my ideas that had been previously dismissed. It was distressing and I am not sure why I kept attending every month. I have become an executive board member for our IL industry, taking on the role of promoting quality IL wine throughout our state. I believe in the possibilities and want to see my industry grow. They recently awarded me the LION award – New Leader in the Industry. It was both inspiring and remarkable to look out on the crowd (when I was accepting the award) and realize that many of the people cheering me on were the same ones that ostracized me in the beginning. I guess I finally wore them down.
I believe that my life experiences as a woman in the agricultural community have given me the advantage to see life outside the box and venture out to grab it. Women have to work on the fly all the time! My generation of women is raised to adjust to a situation and try to improve things and make people happy. That can be a curse or free. It depends on how you look at it. I have been willing to take on the risk and possible rejection of opening up something both crazy and unique in Central IL, I have been naïve enough to send my wines to international wine competitions in California, New York, and Chicago. Last year, I sent 6 of my wines to be rated by the Beverage Testing Institute, a highly acclaimed industry judge to rate my wines. I was the first IL wine to receive a 90-point / Exceptional rating for one of my dry red blends. Now, when a consumer goes to Hy-vee to buy a nice bottle of wine, my Carmin is sitting on a shelf, in the 90-point section right next to the California favorite, The Prisoner! What a Coup for DFV!
I knew that this business would be a lot of physical work. I love working outside with grapes and in the production room with the tanks/barrels, so I was prepared for the long days and the muscle aches. I wasn’t prepared for the plethora of needed mental energy and the sleepless nights of worry. The business of this business is an ever-growing web, that can sometimes crush my optimism. My industry is highly regulated. There are inspections on the federal, state, county and local level, and they all seem to have competing agendas. I have had to learn on the fly, what they are expecting from the first winery in this county, and adjust accordingly. There are monthly reports to the federal and state government, filling them in on the status of my grapes, my wines and paying the alcohol taxes that accompany those reports. This animal can turn into an uncontrollable beast if I am not vigilant and seeking out answers every week.
I would tell other women:
Stay true and authentic to who you are. Although it seems to take forever, I have learned that people are naturally drawn to passion and authenticity.
Rethink what it means to be a woman. Instead of trying to conform to the game that is already playing and beat yourself up because you can’t get the ball, start a new one.
I took the perceived disadvantage of being a woman in my industry and decided to use it as a way to stand out. I have always preferred wearing skirts and heels, which suited me well until I made the move to be the winemaker and owner of Danenberger Family Vineyards. Suddenly, it labeled me as frivolous and flighty. I had to work harder to be taken seriously.
So, I played it up. I wore them in the vineyard one-day pruning and a pic went on social media. Women remembered it and even came to visit the winery. I added a series of Rosé wines called Stilettos In The Vineyard to my wine library, with enticing labels of heels. Now, customers often comment that they love to see what shoes I will be wearing when they come to visit in the tasting room.
Finally, be patient and people will see the real you.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Danenberger Family Vineyards – what should we know?
I specialize in making high quality, dry red wines with complex flavor profiles. My favorite grape is Cabernet Franc which I grow here at my New Berlin property. They are now 11 years old. They are grafted on rootstocks to handle the colder temperatures and control some of the vigors in my soil. The temperature in this area is less of an enemy here than frost and the humidity. Luckily, the Cab Franc is my last grape to bud in the spring. Some of my others like to bud early and if we get too warm before frost ends, I lose those buds. I average about 3300 GDD (growing degree days) – the same as Napa. And my Calcium to Magnesium ratio is perfect, so I don’t battle serpentine soils. However, because I have so much organic matter, the vines are very vigorous and I have to prune and comb my vines often to keep the fruit happy and in the sun.
I monitor the sugar (Brix) and pH, but I mostly look for 2 other things when I determine when to pick. I like to wait until the grape is almost shrinking from its skin and the flavor has both the fruit and the acidity in balance. All harvesting is done by hand. It can then be on to the winemaking process were skill, science, and artistic style combine to bring forth the best. I have approached my wines for the last 9 years as if they were pieces of art that I was creating, letting the fruit tell its story, with its tannins and acids – and using yeasts and/or barrels to complete the dream. I start every season with a vision once I taste the fruit, the stems, and the tendrils. Even when I am pruning, I am chewing the cuttings and looking for clues. Often, my yeast choices change throughout the growing season, as I detect different flavors that I want to enhance or downplay.
My Cabernet Franc is named Désagacé Carmin (Carmin, for short). Désagacé is a made-up word, from my family’s initials, that we have defined to mean traditional with a modern twist. All of my red wines fall under this series. Carmin is French for a deep regal reddish burgundy color and also has an urban dictionary definition that fits her well: “another word for the best girl in the existence of life. she makes you laugh, smile, and feel happy whenever you’re around her. also, she’s super sexy.”
My Cabernet Franc vintages from 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 have earned Gold & double gold medals in international competitions from CA to NY, and a 92 point rating. My most recent vintage is currently in France waiting to be judged at the Concours International des Cabernets wine competition.
I am excited that DFV has been expanding into the Chicagoland area in the last year. Binnys has picked up DFV wines after I began appearing on WGN Radio, chatting and pouring my red wines on the Roe Conn Show from September thru December, and I have become part of a regular segment on the Patti Vasquez Pretty Late Show on Friday nights. The segment is called #BingeAndUncork on Friday nights with Patti and Elliot Serrano. They assign me a show on Netflix, Amazon, etc. to binge watch and I pair a wine to go with it. We chat about the show, and why the wine goes so well with it. It has been a fun segment and sometimes Patti will have me ride side-car for the entire show! I am hoping that a farm to table restaurant in a city will put their faith in my wine and offer it to their customers.
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
Yes! My father cherished our land yet I couldn’t wait to leave and find adventures elsewhere. Over time, the land called me back. He also taught me that it isn’t where you are, but who you are and how you look at life. If you have a positive outlook, it follows you, no matter where you are.
Pricing:
- Muse (Merlot, Cab Franc) $18
- Rouge (Syrah blend with French hybrids) $26
- Soleil Noir (Tempranillo) $26
- Carmin 2014 (Cabernet Franc) $28 o
- Carmin 2015 Grand Vin (Cab Franc) $32
- Rosé (coming in May) LoveLocks (dry Chambourcin) Official Illinois bicentennial wine for 2018 $20
- Rosé: Tryst (sweet chambourcin) $20
- Papermoon (dry white blend) $22
- Blanc (dry Riesling) $20
- AngelMoon (dry gewürztraminer) $22
- Light of the Moon (semi sweet Seyval Blanc) $24
- Clair De Lune (semi sweet traminette) $20
- Enchanted Moon (semi sweet Vidal Blanc) $18
- Lumiere (sweet Riesling) $20
Contact Info:
- Address: 12341 Irish Road, New Berlin, IL 62670
- Website: www.dfv-wines.com
- Phone: 217-488-6321
- Email: susan@dfv-wines.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/dfvwines
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dfvwines
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/dfvwines
- Other: www.instagram.com/stilettosinthevineyard
Image Credit:
Corey Minkanic
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
