The Wine Bar at Hidden Creek

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Country Estate with Serious Wine Credentials

About an hour from Chicago, Hidden Creek Estates sits on 77 acres of northern Illinois countryside that has been farmed and cared for since 1836. The Wine Bar at Hidden Creek earned a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2024 — recognition that reflects a genuine commitment to the glass, not just the table.

The estate itself began as a preservation effort. In 2020, Kerry and Dude Frank acquired the historic property when it was facing subdivision development, determined to protect the landscape. What started as stewardship quietly became something more: a place to gather, celebrate, and eat and drink well. Today the estate is shaped by the Frank family alongside their daughter Kimberly Malavolti and her husband Jared Malavolti, who serves as Director of Operations and house sommelier.

The Restaurant and Wine Bar

The kitchen takes a seasonal, ingredient-first approach — every dish made from scratch, drawing on fresh local sourcing. The cocktail program follows the same philosophy, using small-batch ingredients. Beyond cocktails, guests can explore an extensive wine and whiskey selection curated for discovery rather than familiarity.

The weekly rhythm has its own character. Wednesday evenings center on private fire pits outdoors, where guests can reserve their own spot and order from the full menu under open sky. Thursdays and Fridays bring live music. Sundays shift to a lighter pace — the Sunday Social, designed for lingering on the patio with light bites and a full beverage menu, at a tempo that suits the estate's quiet surroundings.

Special events round out the calendar: wine dinners, cocktail classes, a Chef's Table five-course dinner, gnocchi-making and risotto classes, and seasonal food and wine festivals. The European and Mediterranean sensibility that runs through the food and wine program surfaces most clearly in these evenings — think Spanish Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero alongside English sparkling wine, both selected personally by Jared Malavolti.

The Wine Club

For those who want a deeper connection to the cellar, Jared leads a members' wine club with monthly selections he curates himself. Each bottle comes with his tasting notes, and members receive early access to wine dinners and classes, plus personal cellar consulting. It's a direct line to the same palate behind the Award of Excellence–recognized list.

The estate also includes a secluded wine tasting room, added during a recent expansion, alongside new patios and landscaping that make the outdoor experience feel considered rather than incidental. Two on-site solar arrays power much of the property, and native prairie grasses have been reintroduced across the grounds — details that say something about how the Frank family thinks about the place they've built.