Indiana's Biggest, Oldest Winery Still Evolving

BLOOMINGTON, In. - It's a bit of an old adage that as businesses age adaption to changing times can determine continued success. No one can accuse Indiana's oldest and biggest winery of resting on it's size or laurels.

Great Indiana limestone, landscaping which leads to tasting room.

Oliver Winery's name is synonymous with Indiana wine. IU Law Professor Dr. Bill Oliver is one of the "fathers" of the Indiana wine industry. In a certain age bracket, author included, many probably remember Camelot Mead as one of their first ever tastes of wine.

After four years of wine writing I finally made my way to Oliver winery Friday to interview Bill Oliver, the founder's son, for a story on Indiana wine I'm doing for Palate Press.

Too many Hoosiers only know Oliver for its sales powerhouse Oliver Soft Red and Soft White. Indeed, you can go in many supermarkets, Wal-Marts, and other such places and find pallets or stacks of their famous sweet wines.

But Oliver has always had a lot more to offer. Now they have an entire line of very well made traditional varieties under the Creekbend label. They've also jumped into the cider craze with delightfully refreshing fruit-flavored ciders.

Oh, and Camelot Mead - or honey wine - is still around. It's clean and crisp and they've added a flavored line of honey wines as well. I was anticipating not liking those because of a pre-conceived notion of sweetness and Oliver. I loved the honey wines and the cider. They were some of the most refereshing beverages I've tasted in a long time.

Bill Oliver during our walk/ride through the vineyards.

My time with Bill Oliver was very productive. And I'll save most of that material for the Palate Press story or other writing efforts afterwards. I've toured a lot of wineries in recent years but was really impressed with Oliver's state of the art winery capable of producing more than 400,000 cases annually.

A real treat for me - educationally and as a wine enthusiast, was hopping in the car and driving over to the Oliver Vineyards. Bill and I jumped into a golf cart and rode around the 50 acres of vineyard. He showed me how the weather has stressed some vines and not others, how some varieties like Traminette thrive in the dry and heat and how Chambourcin has struggled.

We tasted grapes! Verasion (or ripening) is not quite complete but close. The grapes are formed but a few weeks from full ripeness. The Pinot Grigo tasted absolutely awesome right off the vine.

I tell wine friends all of the time that a good winery tour will really aid your understanding of wine. A good vineyard tour takes the education to a master's course. Wine makers love to tell you that great wine is made in the vineyard and not the winery.

A few quick notes on the wines I tasted. I started with a 2010 Viognier. I'm a so-so fan of the grape but liked Oliver's interpretation that gets stainless steel fermentation. The wine was not as floral on the nose as many and lighter on the palate. It was delightful at $14 a bottle.

I also liked the Creekbend Chambourcin Rose. Indiana's best Rose wines, to for my palate, come from the Cambourcin grape. This one has a few drops of traditional white wines but had the hint of strawberry that most good Rose wines show. For $12, it's among the better choices in Indiana Rose.

The always-busy Oliver tasting room

For those who only think of Oliver's sweet wines, the skeptics should get a taste of the 2009 Shiraz Reserve. I loved the oak-aged Syrah for its dark coffee, chocolate, and vanilla hints. It reminded me of a Rhone Syrah, done in a much lighter style than most traditional American Syrah wines. It sells for $22. Oliver is also one of those wineries really getting Chambourcin right. It's light on the palate with some characteristics of Pinot Noir but a spicier finish. The 2010 Chambourcin sells for $22 and well worth trying.

I'm generally not a fan of things like cider and honey wine. But now I willingly admit tasting the honey wines and ciders might have been the best part of the tasting room visit.

I sampled the Camelot Mead and the Peach-flavored version. I just loved the peach. It tasted and smelled like a fresh peach off the tree. It was really refreshing.

I was "convinced" to try the ciders and just loved them. A local artist came up with great humorous art work for the aluminum bottles. I tried the raspberry Beanblossom hard cider and enjoyed the freshness and effervesence,

I think sometimes Oliver is overlooked because of its longevity and those grocery store sweet wines. If you're one of those folks, you're making a mistake. They really make something for everyone.You might not like Soft Red and Soft White but if you like well made reds, specialty wines, crisp and light white wines -- take a drive to Bloomington.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

A Look at Vintage Indiana through Younger Eyes!

I don't write much here about my real job too often but one of the joys is getting to know so many interesting young people who are students at Wabash College. Tyler Swaim, a young man who worked for me as a blogger his freshman year, was at Vintage Indiana a week ago. My schedule prevents me from attending each year. He recalled my blog and asked if I'd like him to share some impressions! I thought it was a great idea. So here is Guest Blogger Tyler Swaim, Class of 2013. He's from Indy's southside.

Tyler - I got got my hands on a few of the featured wine lists and we (he and girlfriend) visited about half of the booths, so I can recall some of the more interesting selections, but for us the main enjoyment was found in meeting new people. 

Swaim

Upon arriving at the festival, we took a few minutes to get oriented with the aid of a map and soon jumped into the shortest line we could find. All things considered, the first line we waited in seemed like the longest line of the day, although perhaps the progression of our wine tasting adventure granted us more patience. The first lady we met was a frequenter of wine and beer festivals and, taking note of our "festival virginity", soon explained all the ins and outs of sneaking in line, including a cunning tactic for beer festivals which involves having the girlfriend politely ask inebriated men to jump ahead in line and then inviting the boyfriend to join her when she gets to the front. Although we did not take advantage of her well-learned advice, the conversation itself set the tone for several others we had with strangers throughout the day, including a discussion with an older couple regarding their trip to New Orleans. 

As we moved from booth to booth, we discovered we both favor semi-sweet wines to sweet wines and that, with a few exceptions, do not like dry wines. Having only recently turned 21, we were both new to wines in general and looked at this event as an opportunity to learn more about our tastes than about the specific wines. We were both surprised at the variety of wines Indiana has to offer. From mango and pomegranate to blackberry and cider, the bouquet of flavor was overwhelming. I made a point of trying the Chambourcin at each booth as a means of gauging differences between wineries and found that, while I liked the White Chambourcin at Indian Creek Winery, there were very few others that satisfied my taste as effectively. Overall, there were three wineries that really stuck out: McClure's Orchard, Carousel Winery, and River City Winery. 

McClure's Orchard specializes in hard ciders, but the variety within that class alone was vast. In particular, they had a jalapeno cider which was unlike anything I had ever tried, and to be honest I didn't know what to make of it. The sweetness was very characteristic of a cider, yet the smell of jalapeno was thick and robust; it was as if I were eating a piece of apple pie with a piece of melted pepperjack cheese on top. To be sure, it was a far stretch from the Woodchuck I have come to know and love and probably something I will never try again, but the lesson learned was that wine, unlike most alcohols, has the potential to be anything. 

Carousel Winery on the other hand, was a far more traditional taste, though again very eclectic in flavor. Included in their vast selection were mango and pomegranate wines that did not disappoint, but for me the crown jewel was called Lady Luck. For fans of the Harry Potter series, this wine is what I imagine the felix felicis potion to look and taste like. To assign it any traditional flavor description would not do it justice, so I describe it as thus: the golden liquid caressed my palate, gently holding it in an embrace where time stopped. I never thought I'd speak of a taste as such, but the wine definitely did justice to the name Lady Luck.

Although River City Winery offered one of my favorite selections of wine, including a dry red blend very aptly named The Robert E. Lee and sweet red blend called Colonel's Legacy, the main point of interest was in the winery itself. From the brief conversation we had with the volunteer school teacher serving wine samples, I learned that the winery is owned and operated by a couple in New Albany. The wife is a teacher as well and the husband is a police officer. It was at this point in the day that I began to really understand how unique Indiana wineries are. Unlike my previously held stereotype of wine aficiondos as being exclusively rich snobs (no offense, Howard), I began to see a side of wine that included a class of small business owners and community fellowships. This is a group that devotes extensive time, energy, and resources to providing a drink which in turn brings people together. Above all, this is what I learned from the Vintage Indiana Wine Festival. 

Upon entering the festival, everyone received a souvenir wine glass which many were wearing on a lanyard around their necks. Although I thought this was a neat idea, the woman we met in the first line seemed to view them as a stigma for identifying alcoholics, suggesting that only that group of people would consider carrying the glass in their hands as too much of a burden.

While waiting in line for one of the wineries, we were approached by a reporter for Hoosier TV on Comcast and interviewed. We were asked a few questions relating our shared interest in wine to our interest in each other (e.g. What one word would you use to describe both your favorite wine and your significant other?) and then we played a game called "Wine or Not a Wine" where we were given several names and asked if it was the name of a wine or not. Being new to wine, we did not fare so well in the game.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com