One Great Day in Southern Indiana Wine Country

Ted Huber pours wine for the both of us to taste in the Huber tasting room.

A day in Southern Indiana to attend the Uplands Wine Trail "Uncork the Uplands" event was educational, informative, and productive.

I'm working on a story about Indiana wine for Palate Press - the National Online Wine Magazine. So I had daytime appointments with Ted Huber at Huber Orchard and Winery along with Jim Pfeiffer of Turtle Run.

I'm obviously sitting on most of that material for Palate Press. But the overwhelming feeling of the day was Indiana's improving wine business. NHuber and Turtle Run are certainly two of the very best in Indiana so it's not like I was hitting up a few Southern Indiana wineries I have panned in the past.

Check out photos from my day at Huber's and Turtle Run.

Huber's, which I've probably written as much about as any Indiana winery, really is a good benchmark for quality. Ted Huber is quick to point out the family considers themselves farmers first. The property, dating back well into the 1800s, has 600 acres of most every fruit and vegetable imaginable. Just 80 acres of the massive operation is in vineyard. That allows Ted and his winemaking team to produce about 50,000 cases of wine annually.

I've talked with Huber on several occasions but our 30-minute appointment Saturday quickly turned in to two hours. Huber talked about reducing the sweetness in Indiana wine and guiding the sweet wine consumers to a better quality product. We talked about the industry in general, the weather's impact on his vineyards, and more. And plan plenty of extra time if you want to ask about Ted's brandy operation. It has become his passion. And though I admit to not being a big spirits fan, the 10-year aged Applejack Brandy was absolutely amazing!

Pfeiffer in his vineyard near Lanesville, IN.

Jim Pfeiffer is one of my favorite wine people in the state. His unbridled enthusiasm and willingness to break molds - well heck, Jim doesn't break them he never used popular molds any way. But the man knows his chemistry and winemaking.

The thing that struck me was the similarity in thoughts and efforts between Pfeiffer and Huber. Both are moving their wines away from higher residual sugar while maintaining pleasant fruit Hoosier like and higher quality juice. The wines are far more approachable than the uber-sweet Concord, Niagra and similar wines which have been Indiana's calling card.

I'll have much more on these two in coming weeks.

Uncork the Uplands is just in its second year but already a great wine event, marketing idea, and should be a can't miss for Indiana wine fans. The word Saturday is next year's Uncork will be in Bloomington, In. That is a bit easier for Central Indiana folks certainly than the long drive down to Starlight atop the hills overlooking the Ohio River.

The Uplands wineries all pour a selection of their wines while Hoosier food product companies show off their edibles. The $75 admission is well worth the price when you consider a portion of the proceeds help several charities.

I didn't make it to every winery's table nor every food booth. But I did taste lots of interesting goodies that made the trip just that much more fun. I thought I'd share business names and links here for people always looking for good Hoosier food products. These were some of my favorites;

Peacetree Mountain Truffles - Dark chocolate and Chambourcin do mix! The truffles were to die for! Certainly many wine fans know the almost magical powers of a good red wine and dark chocolate. If you're one of those fanactics check out the website.

Yours Truly wine cake

Yours Truly Foods - This company is making cake mixes which will be sold at wholesale to wineries. The samples were a hot commodity Saturday. I loved the rich dark chocolate. The owners Diiana Chamness and Betty Davis came up with the mixes and make a recommendation on types of wines to add to the mix. Unfortunately their website is very incomplete. But you can look for the product coming soon to an Indiana winery near you.

Steckler Grassfed Cheese, poultry, beef & lamb - This new business emphasizes pasture-raised products. I had the aged raw-milk cheddar and found it to be a great pairing with red or white wine. Not a fan of the pepperjack, but hey - I don't/can't like everything! Ha

Grateful Greens - While Greg Graft's business is largely a wholesale operation based in Clarksville, Indiana, the basil pesto he served up with fresh mozzarella on a cracker was world class. It was one of the best things I had at Uncorked.

Fermenti Artisan - is an Indianaplis company that "puts the culture in your diet." They specialize in artisan cultured vegetables, nutrition education, and urban farmers. Fermenti provided the Kraut on a marvelous small bite of Rene Bakery sour dough, along with Smoking Goose black truffle bologna! (Fermenti doesn't appear to have a traditional website, but the link will take you to their Facebook page.)

de Tours Indiana Wines - Kyle Marcum introduced himself while I was scurrying about Saturday night. Marcus has started an Indiana wine country tour business. He offers a luxury limosine experience that would be great for groups not wanting to drive and taste. Packages vary in price but start at a reasonable $315 for up to 8 people.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

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.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

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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