12 Friday Jul 2013
Posted in Indiana
My every-other-week newspaper column Grape Sense went out to newspapers yesterday. It’s about the Uncork the Uplands event July 27 in Bloomington.
I attended last year and was blown away – a great adventure and great time for Hoosiers. The deadline for advance tickets is Monday so here is the group’s publicity poster with all the details. I have my column up sometime over the weekend.
21 Sunday Apr 2013
Posted in Indiana
LAFAYETTE, IN. – Rick and Kathy Black’s Wildcat Creek Winery is in it’s fourth year just off I-65 on the east side of Lafayette. And saying ‘just off of’ couldn’t be more accurate. Coming around the old house which now houses the tasting room, you pick up hints of trailer-truck exhaust and hint of the sound of cars zooming up and down between Indianapolis and Chicago.
It was a nice short drive for a Sunday afternoon but visitors must access a country road west of I-65 and follow it a mile or so to find the winery. Once there the unassuming farmhouse gives way to a simple but nicely decorated tasting room.
The staff was a lot of fun and welcoming but didn’t have a lot of knowledge about the wines. I don’t expect all tasting room workers, especially in Indiana, to be able to talk about malolactic fermentation, barrel selection, and the fermentation process of each wine – but I think they should be able to answer what grapes are in each of the wines and where the grapes are grown. And if they can’t that’s ok but put such information on the tasting notes.
I did not call in advance nor attempt to set up an interview with owners. I will try to follow up and do so. I always like my first experience at any winery, especially in Indiana, to be a cold call. I want the same experience the average consumer has when visiting.
The wine is made from juice, not fruit, purchased in Indiana and Southern Michigan. And frankly, for serious wine people that should be a red flag. With that being said, the wines were consistent with mid-level pack Indiana wineries. They seemed balanced but some of the flavors were off and hard for my palate to pinpoint.
They do a Lafayette Red which is similar to almost all Indiana concord wines, though not as sweet. The sweet red was nice. The Traminette was balanced and won a double gold medal at the Indy International Wine Competiton. It was definitely on the sweeter side but not cloying so! It’s a great representation of Indiana’s signature grape. The Aunt Minnie’s Cherry Tree wine was pretty yummy. I’m not a big fruit wine guy, obviously, but it was nice! Most of the wines ranged $13-$15.
The Chambourcin was odd in that it was quite tart and herbal but not in a bad way. I prefer the Pinot Noir-like versions often produced in Southern Indiana. Some people will like this ‘different’ version with a sharper edge. As a matter of fact, the young tasting room attendant told me the winemaker didn’t like traditional versions and wanted to make his different. But she couldn’t tell me what “different” meant for Wildcat Creek.
They also offer two dry wines – Peter’s Mill White and Prophet’s Rock Red. The white was a blend of Seyval and Vidal Blanc. The red was a blend of Marchel Foch and De Chaunac. Mark another grape off my list of 100 because I had never tasted De Chaunac not heard of it. It’s a hybrid red wine grape grown across the northern states and Canada.
I salute any Indiana winemaker trying to do really dry wines and experimenting with new grapes. The Peter’s Mill and Rock Red didn’t work for me but probably will for others and sell well for the Tippecanoe County winery.
A nice group of, what appeared to be, Purdue students wandered in as I exited. The nice tasting room folk said traffic has been good!
Wildcat Creek is not a destination winery but fills a void in North Central Western Indiana. And its location just off busy I-65 makes it a convenient. I’d love to hear feedback from others who may have visited!
31 Sunday Mar 2013
Posted in Indiana
Midwestern wine is always the misbehaving little brother of the so-called “important” wine regions of the west coast. Until a visit to several of Indiana’s best wineries late last summer, it was difficult to argue such slurs were incorrect.
Indiana wines are known as ‘all that sweet wine” – Concord, Niagra, and others with cute names. That’s changed dramatically in the last few years. The sweet wines pay the bills for Indiana wineries but also allows the winemakers to go in brave and exciting new directions.
One of Indiana’s very best red wines is Huber’s Heritage. The Huber Heritage 2008 HSR is a blend of just Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. “Just” is appropriate because depending on the vintage, winemaker Ted Huber uses different grapes – including Petit Verdot and Malbec.
Huber enjoys a very specific micro-climate overlooking the Ohio River Valley that lets him grow grapes that won’t survive in many other Hoosier locations.
I’d gladly put this wine against many California and Washington state blends as a great red wine. But back to that snobbish attitude expressed above, it would have to be a blind tasting. I think the Indiana wine would fare well!
The wine is aged at least a year in oak for each vintage. The 2008 Heritage has a bright blueberry flavor with big tannin and acid. Additionally, it comes in at a very reasonable 13.6 percent alcohol that makes it an awesome pairing with bold food. I enjoyed the wine with nicely grilled, thick ribeye steaks.
Huber wines are available in a number of Midwestern states. The Huber reds are some of the Hoosier states very best.
Huber 2008 Heritage, $24.99, Highly Recommended.
13 Wednesday Mar 2013
It’s any writers dream/nightmare to be setting on a ton of material. I’m blessed/cursed in such a way right now.
For example, I have some great interviews with key Indiana winemakers for a piece on the ‘state of Indiana’ wine I promised to Palate Press last fall. Uhh hmm, that’s not finished.
Schliessmann
I have a short interview with filmmaker Martin Schliessmann about his upcoming documentary on Indiana wine. Here is the blog post explaining some of that. The interview is for a future newspaper column.
Last week I visited Chicago and interviewed a number of prominent Oregon winemakers on the emergence of Chardonnay as the ‘next big thing’ from the state. That one is intended for Palate Press.
And, I have updates on a few things from a couple wineries that will make good newspaper column and blog fodder.
That same day I talked with the leader of the Provence wine region about the booming sales of Rose’ in America. That is a newspaper column.
Bordet
Today, I interviewed Chablis winemakers, and ambassadors, Christian Moreau and Jean-François Bordet. We talked about Chablis tourism and selling Chablis. That’s intended as a good follow up to my last newspaper column on the basics of Chablis.
There’s more but you get the idea. It’s also nice to tease some upcoming material here.
About Grape Sense
I launched this site two weeks ago and still working on categorizing and labeling 600-plus blog posts from the past five years.
I have several Indiana wineries to add notes on for the link at the very top of the page.
The previous blog software did not allow a way for me to present quite a few magazine pieces, with photos, I’ve written for Madison Magazine and more. I started building that new page over the lunch hour today.
04 Monday Mar 2013
The interview was conducted at Indy’s Capitol Grille at the Conrad Hotel.
A Swiss pioneer, a bevy of Indiana wineries, viticulture authorities, and a vino-stained scribe or two are coming together in Martin Schliessmann’s IN(diana) Vino Veritas.
The project is a “documentary on American Wine – with a Hoosier Vintage” is the way Schliessmann’s describes it on the film’s website.
I met Schliessman, after a couple months of correspondance, in Indianapolis Sunday and was interviewed for nearly 90 minutes on a variety of wine-related topics. He has already visited nearly 20 Indiana wineries and plans on hitting a few more. He’s talked to all sorts of Indiana folk in and near the wine industry. He is trying to arrange interviews with Purdue University’s viticulture experts.
Schliessman is also planning to hire actors to re-enact some of Jean Jacques Dufour’s early days in the 1800s in southeastern Indiana – Switzerland County to be exact.
Schliessmann
Schliessman is no novice. His Escape Route Flix production company had some success with Why Sturgis? That documentary focused not just on the history of the famous annual motorcycle rally but also on the history of the town of Sturgis.
The filmmaker is hopeful to wrap up production on the wine documentary this summer and have rough cuts ready by fall. He sees Public Television as the most likely outlet along with festivals and other special wine-related events. He’ll also have it on a DVD for sale.
It was a great experience and I really enjoyed adding the ‘wine journalist’ point of view in response to Marty’s questions. I’ll have more on the film throughout the year.
26 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013
Tags
Bruce Bordelon, Butler Winery, Huber Winery, Indiana Uplands, Jim Butler, Oliver Winery, Purdue University
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.
Howard W. Hewitt, Crawfordsville, IN., writes about wine every other week for 22 newspapers in three states. You can contact him with questions or comments at: hewitthoward@gmail.com
12 Tuesday Feb 2013
Editor’s Note: Here is story I did for Palate Press and the 22 newspapers which carry my every-other-week column. Big news for Indiana wineries today!
INDIANAPOLIS, IN. – Indiana winemakers believe validation and credibility come with the federal government’s designation of the Indiana Uplands in southeast Indiana as an American Viticulture Area (AVA).
Indiana Secretary of Agriculture Gina Sheets, members of Purdue University’s Wine and Grape team, along with representatives of Indiana’s nine Upland wineries made the announcement Tuesday at the Statehouse. Butler Winery owner and winemaker Jim Butler has pursued the designation for nearly 10 years. The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau granted the designation as the Indiana Uplands.
Butler talking about the new AVA
“I think what we want to develop now is when people see the name Indiana Uplands, it conjures up something in their minds about the area and the wines,” Butler said. “We want customers to have a real familiarity they can depend on knowing that they’re going to get a good wine.”
The 4800-square-mile Uplands AVA stretches from the Morgan-Monroe County line near Bloomington south to the Ohio River, a distance of more than 100 miles. The east-west boundaries run from Jasper in Dubois County to Knobstone Ridge near Starlight, overlooking the Ohio River Valley.
“This legitimizes the area as a grape growing region,” said Kathleen Oliver, Executive Vice President of Oliver Winery. Oliver is one of the Midwest’s largest wineries. “I think that’s something we already knew. We have something special in our topography with well-drained soils and a climate ideal for growing grapes. This raises the level of awareness that there is something unique about our region. It’s just like Napa or Sonoma, we are now something special.”
Oliver
There are more than 200 AVAs in the United States including the Ohio River AVA shared by West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Butler said most southern Indiana wineries have never wanted to use the AVA designation which would force them to put “Ohio” on their Indiana-made wines.
Bordelon
But Bruce Bordelon, Purdue’s Viticulture Specialist, said it takes more than a designation or label to make the Uplands stand out. “Quality is always the goal whether it’s Michigan, Indiana, Ohio or Washington and California,” he said. “This is an affirmation that what we’re doing is successful and mainstream and good as any region in the world.”
Indiana has approximately 650 acres in vineyard and 63 bonded wineries. A substantial amount of Indiana wine is made from grapes grown out of state. 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. There are also a few vineyard-only properties.
The winemakers acknowledged the big step is using the AVA designation to push quality, increase tourism, and sell more wine. “The big marketing point is they’re going to be able to put Uplands AVA on their wine bottles,” said Jeanette Merritt, Marketing Director, Indiana Wines & Purdue Wine Grape Team. “When people go out to buy wine they are looking for those special designations. Having the Uplands designation on the bottle and being able to promote that is going to encourage people to buy those wines.”
Butler said it’s a process that could take decades, but an important first step.
Dan Adams, winemaker and owner of one of the Uplands’ smallest wineries, Winzerwald, said everyone from Oliver to his small operation benefits.
“We have to get the word out and tell people we have unique qualities like a Napa or Bordeaux,” he said. “We’ll eventually achieve the same level of recognition that other areas have achieved. Some of those areas have had years, if not hundreds of years, head start on us.”
The Uplands wineries also have regular wine trail activities. Check out their website here.
Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com
07 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Food & Travel, Indiana
The more you get into food and wine, the more most people get into the local farm-to-fork movement and buying local products.
With Valentine’s Day just one week from today, many Americans are thinking chocolate. My newspaper column went out to the newspapers today featuring comments from Elizabeth Garber, Indy’s Best Chocolate in Town owner and chocolatier.
That column will be posted here the first of next week. But many people will be buying chocolate this weekend and I wanted to plug two friends in the sweets business.
Garber’s story is one of building success form the ground up. She started small in Franklin, Edinburgh, and then opened her now-highly-successful shop on Indy’s Mass Avenue. She has wonderful truffles with all sorts of flavored ganache. She has flavored popcorns and many other chocolate treats.
Her truffles just rock!
But I also know Julie Bolejack owner and chocolatier with her business Chocolate for the Spirit. She also has delightful truffles and all sorts of chocolate treats.
Julie has taken her chocolates on the road and won accolades at the New York Chocolate Show and had her goodies served at Super Bowl parties and the MTV Awards.
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| Bolejack and her chocolate treats! |
One of her best known treats is her Mayan bar. It is very unique and attention getting spicy chocolate made with Saigon cinnamon, chipotle and chili spices – according to Julie’s website. Julie also has a booth at Indy’s popular City Market. She participates in several farmer’s markets as well.
There are other artisan chocolate makers in Indy, I’m sure. But I’ve bought regularly from these two and have gotten to know them just a bit. They both have a fabulous product line. Both business have great websites linked here. You can learn more about where to buy the product.
Wine prices are always listed in every review I do on this blog. So it’s fair to note that both of these chocolatiers make a premium product with a premium price. Depending on the exact product, you can expect to pay an average of $2 and up per truffle.
I make recommendations – okay, maybe this one sounds more like a plug. But there has been no chocolate kickback … well, maybe a bite here and there. But these are local businesswomen succeeding at high and very tasty level.
Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com
03 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in Food & Travel, Indiana
During travel around the country for wine or work, I like to throw up a short blog post about any great restaurant visit. Living 45 minutes northwest of Indianapolis doesn’t afford me many opportunities to get into the city to the better spots, but I make a point to eat well in Indy whenever I can.
An impending birthday (well, they can’t be avoided so embrace them) was the reason to head to Broad Ripple on Indy’s north side and a visit to classic – Mama’s Corolla’s!
Mama’s is a very busy spot for folks in the know looking for great Italian. I had been there once before and remembered it as good but Saturday night was off the charts good.
We started with the fried ravioli and a light marinara dipping sauce. The ravioli, with cheese stuffing, was toasty and delicious. We also had wonderful calimari – small pieces which were crispy and a great dipping sauce that had a hint of horseradish.
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| Mama Corolla’s on 54th near Broad Ripple! |
My dinner was a signature Mama favorite, the Rosemary Chicken Lasagna. The old-fashioned sweet marinara was a perfect companion to the chicken, herbs, and cheese. It was one of the best entree’s I’ve had in a long time.
We split a piece of Ricotta cake garnished with blackberries. All the time we were enjoying a big fruity and soft Italian Ripasso.
I love the new chef-driven and farm-to-fork restaurants popping up. But once in a while the classics can’t be beat!
Oh Mama, you make me so happy!
Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com
27 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS, IN. – It’s hard finding good wines, meats, bread and cheeses in small town middle America. Fortunately, such things aren’t far away. A drive of an hour or less to Indianapolis pays off with lots of good food stuff.
I had such a great day today while really just running errands. It’s worth sharing! I had to be on the city’s west side for what turned out to be a missed appointment. Then realizing I was very close to Chateau Thomas, one of Indiana’s oldest wineries, I headed over.
Dr. Charles Thomas has been making wine for more than 25 years. He takes a different approach though than most Indiana winemakers. Many Indiana wineries by fruit or juice from other states. Dr. Thomas buys all his fruit from California, Washington, and Oregon. It had been approximately 10 years since I had last visited. The tasting room has doubled in size.
I’ll write something more specific on the winery tomorrow or early this week and take a more detailed look at the wines. But I was very pleasantly surprised just how good the Carneros Pinot Noir, Amador County Cab Franc, and the Primitivo proved to be once tasted. The good doctor has quite a wine list. He also has pioneered, with a patent even, Slender wines with no carbs and only the calories generated by the alcohol. And guess what – I tasted one that was pretty good. I was warned it would be sweet, but it was not coylingly sweet at all.
The second part of my day was planned. That was a stop at Mass Ave Wine Shoppe downtown to meet of the most significant pioneers of Indiana wine – Dr. Richard Vine, previously of Purdue University. Dr. Vine is known across the country and has helped many wineries, especially in the Midwest, with site selection, terrior and grape decisions, and certainly winemaking and more.
He was promoting a book of wine stories, which I was happy to buy a copy of for a mere $20. You can read a review of the book here.
Dr. Vine and I had a great chat about Indiana wine and how he has seen it grow from non-existence to many Indiana wineries making serious and viable wines comparble to any in the world.
I’ll certainly have more soon from Dr. Vine!
Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com
Howard W. Hewitt 