AVA Adds Credibilty to Indiana Wine

The Indiana’s Uplands region being declared an American Viticulture Area Feb. 12 is good news for all Midwestern wineries.

The U.S. wine industry is driven by tourism. For those who take wine seriously and want to learn more about wine, hitting up AVA-designated areas assures a level of serious winemaking and even quality.

Michigan leads the way in the Midwest with four AVAs: Fennville, Leelanau Peninsula, Lake Michigan Shore, and Old Mission Peninsula. Ohio has four AVAS: Lake Erie, Isle St. George, Grand River Valley, and Loramie Creek. Illinois has the Shawnee Hills AVA and shares the Upper Mississippi AVA with Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The Ohio River Valley AVA is shared by Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Kentucky has no other designated grape production area and Indiana did not until the Uplands announcement.

“It just kind of affirms what we already know that we have some excellent grape growing regions and they’re unique here in the Midwest,” said Bruce Bordelon, Viticulture Specialist at Purdue University. “The Uplands region is different than southwest Indiana. Posey County and Gibson County have different climate and soils. There really is a difference in the (grapes) that we grow and the quality that we get between regions. It’s those little minor differences that makes vintages special and make our varietal-labeled wines special.”

Oliver Winery, near Bloomington, IN., is one of the Midwest’s largest. With production in the 400,000-case range business is good. But Oliver embraced the Uplands news every bit as much as the other eight wineries in the Uplands.

“It allows us to qualify as a true viticulture area and raise the level of awareness that there is something special about this region,” said Kathleen Oliver, Executive Vice President. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to capitalize on that by saying there is something really unique about these wines. We are producing great quality wines; we can do it just like Napa and Sonoma. We are something special. And it gives us the opportunity to look for a more premium price.”

The nine established wineries in the Uplands AVA are Best Vineyards Winery, Elizabeth; Brown County Winery, Nashville; Butler Winery, Bloomington; Carousel Winery, Bedford; French Lick Winery, West Baden Springs; Huber Winery, Starlight; Oliver Winery, Bloomington; Turtle Run Winery, Corydon; and Winzerwald Winery, Bristow.

Jim Butler, Butler Winery also near Bloomington, spent nearly 10 years working to achieve the AVA designation. He agreed that Indiana has a niche with white Traminette and red Chambourcin wines that are grown throughout the Midwest and excel in the Uplands region. But he also sees other wines doing well and a future for more traditional plantings.

“Late harvest Vignoles and Vidal does wonderfully,” Butler said. “We’ve been doing Chardonnel. I think we’re going to see some more viniferas (think traditional wine grapes) planted. “It takes four years to plant a vine and then get your first crop. It’s going to be a decades-plus process to zero in on those varieties that are going to give us the product that we want.”

The 4800-square-mile Uplands AVA stretches from the Morgan-Monroe County line near Bloomington south to the Ohio River. The east-west boundaries run from Jasper in Dubois County to Knobstone Ridge near Starlight, overlooking the Ohio River Valley.

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Indiana Gets Its Very Own AVA Today

It will present a very favorable marketing challenge, but Indiana wine is on the map today in an entirely new way. Later this morning in Indianapolis the Lt. Governor, Secretary of Indiana Agriculture, and nine Indiana wineries will announce the Federal government's approval of Indiana Uplands.

Indiana Uplands becomes the first state American Viticulture Area. Indiana has shared the Ohio River Valley AVA with Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, but this will be the first all-Indiana AVA. The wineries in the region include two heavyweights - Olivers and Huber.

I'm on my way down and will update the blog when possible throughout the day. It's a really exciting day for Indiana wine.

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Indiana's Uplands Wine Trail Event Saturday at Hubers

For Hoosier, there is a great Indiana wine event in southern most Indiana Saturday, July 21. The second-annual "Uncork the Uplands" food and wine pairing event is set for Huber Winery.

The event features food from south-central Indiana paired with wines from the nine Uplands Wine Trail wineries.

Chef Daniel Orr

One of the highlights this year is featured guest Chef Daniel Orr from FARMbloomington restaurant. He will be doing a presentation during the evening's events.

We are thrilled to rpesent "Uncork the Uplands" once again this year, an entertaining experience for the wine and food lover in all of us, said Kim Doty, President of the Indiana UPlands Wine Trail and owner of French Lick Winery. She added in the press release, "the selections we will present from the wineries of the Uplands Wine Trail are notable  ... we look forward to sharing them all, along with out wonderful regional food offerings."

The Uplands Wine Trail includes Best Vineyards, Brown County Winery, Butler Winery, Carousel Winery, French Lick, Huber, Oliver, Turtle Run and Winzerwald.

Tickets can be ordered in advance at the Uncork the Uplands website but are also going to be available the day of the event. Tickets are $75 per person.

A portion of the evening's proceeds will go toward Ivy Tech of Southern Indiana's Viticulture Enology Sciene & Technology Alliance and TheFARM Fund raising future culinarians at Ivy Tech in Bloominton.

Olinger Indiana, Monarch Beverages, Indy Wine Competition, Ivy Tech, Innovative Labeling Solutions, The Sunnyside of Louisville, Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau are sponsors.

To to the website and check it out. Huber's Winery is worth the visit any time of year but this special event makes it doubly worth your effort.

As of now, I plan on attending. I hope to see you there.

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Indiana Wines Improving, Still Room to Grow

Ignoring hard rain in Central Indiana and a Saturday morning two-hour drive, off I set for Story, In. Saturday morning and the 10th Indiana Wine Fair.

Fortunately, the rain ended nearing the small Brown County town nestled in a valley southeast of Nashville. So I knocked out a video interview as guest of Ole Olson, dean of Indiana wine writers, for his Hoosier Wine Cellar Blog which runs in Bloomington and other Southern Ind. papers. I'll note here on the blog when that interview goes up.

Then it was off to taste some wines. I pretty much decided to stick with whites and Rose' wines and avoid the reds. There are a few good dry red wines made in Indiana, usually blends, but when Hoosier winemakers try to bottle a 100 percent Cabernet they aren't doing themselves or other winemakers any favors.

Jim Pfeiffer of Turtle Run Winery.

The state has two wine fairs each year, the other is Vintage Indiana in Indy, but the Story Wine Fair has grown to be a big event. The rain all over the state didn't keep the vino fans away from the Story Inn grounds. The mob wasn't as big as I remember during my last visit but the crowds were good (as you can see from the photo at the top).

Okay, to the wine. The Wine Fair has a judging competition on Thursday each year before Saturday's event. I went straight to Huber Winery's stand under one of several tents to try the Catawba semi-sweet Rose ($11.99). It was the rated the top wine by a panel of independent judges.

I'm a big Huber fan and the wine didn't disappoint. The judges rated it 98 points on a 100 point scale. The wine had a nice tart and fruity flavor, perhaps a tad sweet on the palate for some but not a sweet wine as compared to many other wines on the festival grounds.

Ted Huber knows how to make wine and he knows the Midwestern palate. This is great Rose for less-sophisticated tastes or new wine drinkers. I liked it, but it bordered almost too sweet for me but that's because of the Catawba grape. Catawba more frequently is used in sweet wines.

Huber wines are some of Indiana's best made. Huber's reds are consistently some of the best.

The second-place wine in the Blush (or Rose) category was Brown County's Vista Rose. It was similar to the Huber offering with a bit more pronounced fruit.

For my palate, neither of those Rose wines was the best I tasted. Just a couple of years ago Jim Butler won top honors at the Indianapolis International Wine Competition for his Chambourcin Rose. I tasted Butler Winery's most recent vintage and it's outstanding. It was dry Rose with lovely hints of cherry and delightfully tart. At $13.99, it's an outstanding Hoosier wine.

I tasted several whites I liked and several insipid offerings. Turtle Run's Jim Pfeiffer makes a $12 Dry Traminette that is one of the best wines made in Indiana. Everyone makes Traminette and almost everyone makes it sweet or semi-sweet. Not Jim! He also knocks out a crazy barrel-fermented Traminette that is just as good from the same grape and couldn't be more different because of the oak. You really have to try it.

All three Rose' wines I tasted prove Hoosiers can make great wine.

One of the day's biggest surprises was a Pinot Blanc from Chateau Pomjie, in southeastern Indiana. The $25 Pinot Blanc comes from estate grown Pinot Noir. The nice woman assured me they really grow the Pinot on their property. I've only had one white Pinot before and that came at the highly respected Domaine Serene in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The Pomjie's Pinot Blanc showed promise. It was really nice and light wine with the distinctive Pinot flavor. The finish had a wee bit of funk but very promising wine.

I dislike trashing any winery's efforts but some things just shouldn't happen. Back to the aforementioned Cabernet. It's not going to work in Indiana. And why would you want to grow the stuff when consumers can pick up good $10-$14 Cabs from the grocery. Indiana can grow Chambourcin and other reds which can be made into great dry wines.

I read that the top-judged red was a Malbec. Hmmmm?? I went to the booth to see the tasting menu said Chilean Malbec. I asked about the source and a server told me they bought 'bagged juice" from Chili. Now ask yourself, do you want to drink anything called 'bagged juice?'

How the judges missed so badly on this wine is hard to figure out. Perhaps the bottle I tasted from was tainted. The wine was beyond bad it clearly had chemical issues.

I also tasted a Silver medal white that that had a lovely onto-on-the-palate light apricot to dissolve into an off-putting sour (not tart) finish.

Indiana wine has come a long way. Do not let one bad wine or winery skew your judgment against midwestern states' wines. Support the state industry! There are plenty of good ones and still plenty of bad ones. But do your homework and you can buy wonderful Indiana wines!


Here are the judges picks from the 2012 Indiana Wine Fair:

Dry Red - Gold: Harmony Winery, Malbec, NV (89 POINTS); Silver: Huber Winery, Heritage 2008; Bronze: Oliver Winery, Zinfandel 2009

Sweet Red - Gold: Best Vineyards, Concord NV 87 POINTS; Silver: Indian Creek Winery, "Cardinal Red" NV; Bronze: River City Winery, "Colonel's Legacy" NV

Blush - Gold: Huber Winery, Catawba NV (BEST OF SHOW, 98 POINTS); Silver: Brown County Winery, "Vista Rose" NV; Bronze: Monkey Hollow, "Pasture Limit" NV

Dry White - Gold: Huber Winery, Vignoles (88 POINTS); Silver: Cedar Creek Winery, "Butterfly Kiss" NV; Bronze: Turtle Run Winery, Traminette NV

Sweet White - Gold: Oliver Winery, Creekbend, Vignoles 2010 (88 POINTS); Silver: Best Vineyards, Catawba NV; Bronze: Buck Creek Winery, "Der Champion" NV

Dessert - Gold: Chateau Pomije, "Late Harvest" NV (86 POINTS); Silver: Huber Winery, Black Raspberry; Bronze: Cedar Creek, "Harvest Moon Cab" NV

Non-Traditional/Non-Grape - Gold: Winzerwald Winery "Cherry Red" (96 POINTS); Silver: River City Winery, "Market House Elderberry"; Bronze: Cedar Creek Winery, "Peach Paradise"

NV - Non-Vintage.

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Blaze Your Own Fall Wine Trail

There’s nothing better than an October weekend drive. The leaves are turning, the cider is fresh, and you might even find some frost on the pumpkin. Oh, and don’t forget the apples!

There’s also no better time to visit local wineries. Many Midwestern wineries turn fall into festivals with special wines, food, and entertainment.

Let Grape Sense be your weekend travel guide. One of my favorite journeys is to Southern Indiana to visit Turtle Run and Huber Wineries. Turtle Run has a big day planned Oct. 16 with live music. Huber winery has live music every Saturday and Sunday through October.

Turtle Run's Jim Pfeiffer

While visiting Turtle Run say hello to winemaker and owner Jim Pfeiffer. Try some of his uniquely blended red and white wines.

Huber has quite a festival each October. The apple orchards are full of fruit and the kids can pick out a pumpkin for that special jack-o-lantern.

Huber makes some of Indiana’s best red wines. Try there Generations and Heritage blends. They also make a really nice Cabernet Franc.

Turtle Run and Huber are only a few miles apart. If you go to one, it’s a shame not visit the other!

Jim Butler

On the way south or coming back north go through Bloomington and make a stop at Butler winery’s tasting room downtown or out at the winery north of the city. Jim Butler is one of Indiana’s most-respected winemakers.

Try his wonderful dry Rose, Chambourcin, and dynamite specialty wines.

If you want more of a trip head up to the southwest corner of Michigan. Stop in at the Round Barn Winery, Tabor Hill, and Domaine Berrien Cellars.

The Round Barn has a wide variety of wines and a brewery where they craft beer. I’d recommend the Gewurztraminer. Bring a bottle or two home for your Thanksgiving Turkey.

Tabor Hill is one of the area’s most visited wineries and also features a restaurant. The wines are very light in style but clearly loved in Southern Michigan.

Domaine Berrien is one of the most interesting stops. The winery is one of the only Rhone Rangers members in the Midwest. They grow traditional French grapes, best known from the Rhone Valley, like Viognier, Marsanne, Rousanne and others to make wonderful blended wines.

In Illinois, there are a number of wineries in the southern part of the state. Explore the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail for a wonderful weekend.

Earlier this year I visited Wisconsin and became a big fan of Wollersheim Vineyards just outside Madison. If you make the trip to Southern Wisconsin, drive a half hour south of Wollersheim and visit Fisher King Winery in the charming village of Mount Horeb and enjoy its Norwegian heritage.

But wherever you live there are plenty of options nearby. It’s easy to find these wineries’ websites with a simple internet search. If you’re not sure or want to find some new spots use the state association websites. Here are the official names: Indiana Grape Council, Michigan Wines, Wineries of Wisconsin, and Illinois Wine.

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