Category Archives: Newspaper Column 2013

Some Great 2013 Wine Picks

21 Saturday Dec 2013

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Grape Sense LogoIt’s time again for the ‘best of the year’ lists including wine! Ranking wine is a difficult trick. How does an Indiana white stack up against a French red? Wouldn’t an Italian Barolo blow a little Oregon wine away?

WineLogo2That’s why Grape Sense’s year-end column just reviews 9 really good wines. The wines are ones you are likely to find at a neighborhood shop. And, these wines all come in at under $20. Why nine? Because I just had to warn gentle readers about the worst wine of 2013.

In no particular order or ranking, here are 10 of the best wines I tasted in 2013.

H3ChevauxColumbia Crest Horse Heaven Hills Les Cheavaux – It would be easy to mis-identfy this Merlot- blend as a Bordeaux wine. While not as nuanced as even inexpensive Saint Emilion ,it has the fruit characteristics to make you look twice at the bottle. It’s 80 percent Merlot, 13 percent Cabernet, and 7 percent Syrah. If you like big bold fruit, you’re going to love it at $15.

chateau-d-esclans-cotes-de-provence-whispering-angel-rose-provence-france-10209069Château d’Esclans 2012 Provence Rosé Whispering Angel – Rosé rocks and this bottle rocks off the charts. It has a wonderful hint of strawberry and citrus. It’s a beautiful salmon color, dry, light, and pink – what else is there to say about a great summer wine? $16-$23.

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La Maia Lina 2007 Chianti Classico – I find a lot of Chianti, usually at a lower price point, unbalanced and too acidic. This wine may not have huge fruit but has nice balance. It has the typical cherry flavors with some earthy or woodsy hints. $19.

powers_logo2 (1)Powers 2010 Spectrum – It’s big enough to please regular wine drinkers, rounded enough for wine novices, and pairs great with about any dish. The blend is 39 percent Merlot, 33 percent Syrah, 22 percent Malbec, 6 percent Cabernet. $10-$13.

234638Les Jamelles 2011 Syrah – It can be found in lots of wine shops and liquor stores. A simple wine doesn’t have to be bad. Not everything in your glass requires 4-5 adjectives to enjoy it. Sometimes plain and simple suffices. It’s got a little fruit and some spice. Not bad for $9.

HuberWinery-VignolesHuber’s Winery Vignoles – The Indy International Wine Competition Wine of The Year represents a movement among several Indiana winemakers to reduce residual sugar while maintaining the fresh fruit. The Vignoles is an outstanding summer sipper but would also be good with creamy cheeses or salty meats. $14.99.

2008_estate_pinot_noirDavid Hill 2011 Estate Pinot Gris – It has bright and pronounced acidity with aromas of stone fruit. Try this with some grilled shrimp. It’s great white wine from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. $18.

marchesi-de-frescobaldi-tenuta-di-castiglioni-toscana-igt-tuscany-italy-10053314Tenuta Frescobaldi Di Castiglioni 2010 – Toscana is a really bold wine perfect for steaks, roasts, and hearty pasta. The Tuscan blend is 50 percent Cabernet, 30 percent Merlot, 12 percent Cabernet Franc, and 8 percent Sangiovese. Has notes of currant, plum and dark fruit. Dynamite wine for around $20.

chateau-recougne-bordeaux-superieur-france-10456088Chateau Recougne, 2009 – This is a Superior which is the largest classification in Bordeaux. The wines are quite a bargain. This particular wine had a fresh palate from its 75 percent Merlot, 15 percent Cabernet, and 10 percent Cabernet Franc blend. A Bordeaux bargain at $10-$19.

And … drum roll please … the worst wine of the year:

Tongue-Out-Clip-ArtEvil Pinot Noir – This red juice made its way to the U.S. for Octavin’s boxed wines, many of which are pretty good. This $6.99 bottle enjoyed a big display in a high-end Indianapolis market that called to me like a siren’s song. Downside? Don’t buy wines with monkeys on the label! Evil just begins to describe it.

Next Column: Looking forward!

If you’d like to revisit my year-end columns from previous years: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.

Affordable Bordeaux is Out There!

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

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There is an old saying among wine enthusiasts: ‘The more you drink wine, the more you gravitate toward the French.’

And if you haven’t heard that one, certainly you’ve read and heard people talk about expensive French Bordeaux wines. The 2010 Chateaux Margaux sells around $1,000 a bottle. I found it for a palty $985.

Grape Sense LogoSince the worldwide economic downturn five years ago, you may have even read Bordeaux winemakers and marketers have tried to sell U.S. consumers on the idea of affordable second and third label Bordeaux wines.

As the market for those $1,000 wines softened, Bordeaux’s winemakers realized there was money to be made in countries that had, to some degree, turned their backs on the expensive and often snooty French production houses.

When I visited Bordeaux in 2012 the buzz was about marketing and tourism in the lesser known estates. Bordeaux has embraced marketing and created a “Today’s Bordeaux” campaign that features 100 wines at a price point between $9-$55.

The campaign is in its eighth year but taken a higher profile in the U.S. in the last 12 months.

Photo courtesy Conseil Interprofessional du Vin de Bordeaux

Photo courtesy Conseil Interprofessional du Vin de Bordeaux

“Today’s Bordeaux brings together wines that are meant to be enjoyed during every occasion — and these value wines can be enjoyed by wine aficionados and novices every day or when they are entertaining their nearest and dearest during the holidays. The program, in its eighth year, is a proud reflection of Bordeaux’s diverse terroir and vibrant and distinct appellations,” as stated in a Creative Feed release. The New York firm is marketing the campaign in the U.S.

The campaign is targeted on the northeast, west and interestingly Florida, Texas and the Midwest’s Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

The wines were selected by a panel of nine judges featuring wine educators, buyers, sommeliers and wine press.

The real value in Bordeaux wines is Saint Emilion. Of course you can find good prices on other Bordeaux but Saint Emilion offers beautiful wines at a wide price range. These wines are always Merlot driven with other grapes added to balance the flavor profile. They tend to be round and full bodied. And if you haven’t enjoyed the French Merlot-driven wines, just forget everything you know about Merlot.

Value Bordeaux is really inexpensive when in the country.

Value Bordeaux is really inexpensive when in the country.

Merlot from France’s famed right bank of the Gironde River is extraordinarily rich, spicy and smooth. Many of the wines can be consumed immediately or cellared for a long time.

Ask you retailer about “Today’s Bordeaux” and seek out a few recommendations. The wines range from $9-$55.

Howard’s Picks:

Chateau Lyonnat 2009, Price Range: $20-$29: Pure Saint Emilion with 90 percent Merlot and 10 percent Cabernet. The finish wasn’t particularly long on this wine but it would be good as a sipper or a light meal.

Chateau Phelan Segur 2010, Price Range: $20-$29: This was certainly a much bigger wine as one would expect from the left bank. It was a 51-49 blend of Cabernet-Merlot with big flavor, noticable oak, and a longer finish.

Chateau Recougne, 2009, Price Range: $10-$19: This is a Bordeaux Superior which is the largest classification in Bordeaux and produces 55 percent of all the Bordeaux consumed around the globe. The wines are often quite a bargain. This particular wine certainly had a fresh palate from its 75 percent Merlot, 15 percent Cabernet, and 10 percent Cabernet Franc blend. This one has been honored numerous times in French wine competitions for its price point.

Not All Celeb Wine is Scary

28 Monday Oct 2013

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winery MontageFall is wine shipping season. That means if you buy wine online or direct from a winery several states away, now is the time to get it shipped to your wine rack at home.

Grape Sense LogoThat also means it’s wine “sample” time for wine media. Yes, wineries and marketing firms ship wine to wine writers hoping they write about their product.

Several packages have arrived already this fall with a ‘wine for the holidays’ theme. Over the next couple of months let’s take a look at the stories and wines which seem worthy of your wine dollar.

There are plenty of celebrity wines on the market and, all too often, when you see the name of a musician, athlete, movie star you should run. But there are exceptions. Baseball great Tom Seaver makes great cabernet, Mario Andretti’s Napa wines are reasonably priced and worth your money. It would take the entire column to run all the celebrities who own wineries but the list includes: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Mike Ditka, Francis Ford Coppola, Dan Akroyd, A.J. Foyt, Madonna, Charles Woodson, Greg Norman, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump, Tommy Smothers, Dick Vermeil, and Sting. And that’s just a few from a very long list.

Dave Matthews

Dave Matthews

Singer, songwriter, and musician Dave Matthews is also in on the rich-and-famous wine boom. Matthews is best known as lead vocalist for the Dave Matthews band. And for those who may not know, in the last decade he sold more tickets and earned more money than any other act in North America.

Matthews owns Blenheim Vineyards in Charlottesville, Virginia. The 46-year-old musician got involved in 2000 helping design the winery building. More recently, he wanted a California presence to make wine from sustainably farmed grapes and sell it with environmentally friendly packaging.

Like the other smart celebrity wine owners, he went out and found a great partner. Matthews teamed with Steve Reeder in early 2011 to form Dreaming Tree Wines. Reeder is VP and winemaker at Simi Winery, and previously winemaker at Chateau St. Jean, and Kendall-Jackson.

The Dreaming Tree label comes from a song title on the 1998 Mathews’ album “Before These Crowded Streets.”

Crush hi resBut the two are serious about their affordable and easily approachable wine. They’re also serious about sustainability. The wine bottles are half the weight of most, featuring sustainable cork and recycled paper for the labels. Just for fun, there is Matthews’ song lyrics printed on each closure.

So far they’ve produced five wines. Their red blend Crush, Cabernet, and two Chards – a central and north coast version – sell for $15. They also do a Central Coast reserve cabernet with a suggested retail of $35.

I tasted three of their wines. The best of the lot was the Crush red blend which is mostly Merlot with smaller amounts of Syrah and Zinfandel. It had a rich texture with hints of spice and was a nicely balanced glass of wine. I would recommend it to a novice or serious wine drinker at that price.

I was intrigued by the Everyday white blend for its complexity. It’s a blend of Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Albarino, and Viognier. I’ve never been a fan of the hugely floral Gewurztraminer nor Viognier. But the more I drank this wine the more I liked it. It’s not much of a food wine but a great sipper. I could see this as a big seller.

The Central Coast Cabernet just didn’t work for me. I didn’t like the fruit nor balance. The wines are widely available and be good value picks for the holidays at $15. The first two will please most palates and are better than many at that price point. It’s not unusual to find these wines around $12 in bigger retail outlets.

Celebrity Wine: Some Good, Some Bad

24 Thursday Oct 2013

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What do these people have in common?

winery MontageThe 131st Grape Sense wine column is about celebrity wine! All of these folks – and many more celebs – own wineries. Can you name all of the wine owners in this pic? It’s a pretty easy list, really.

I’ll post the column over the weekend … and answer the quiz. How many can you identify. Lots of familiar faces!

Great French Good Neighbor Story

14 Monday Oct 2013

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A great story has long been an awesome ingredient to generating sales and good will. Often we Midwesterner’s think we have the market cornered on those feel-good, helping-the-neighbor out stories that move people – if not product.

Grape Sense LogoBut the more you see the world, you come to realize most of us are alike whether we’re from Illinois, Michigan, France, Spain or even Indiana. The story shared here has been repeated throughout the wine world but probably new to most outside that geeky little corner of the universe.

A tremendous hail storm hit Southern France July 1, 2012. The ferocity of the storm destroyed 62 acres of vines at Chateau de Roquefort owned by Raimond de Villeneuve. The storm lasted just seven minutes but devastated his 2012 crop and is expected to cut his 2013 harvest by nearly half.

Hail insurance is pretty rare in grape growing country, particularly in Provence near the Mediterranean Sea. Local growers called the storm a once in every-50-years event.

Raimond Villeneuve

Raimond Villeneuve

‘It all began at about 7 o’clock in the evening with an unexpected hailstorm of barbaric violence,” Villeneuve is widely reported detaling. “In a mere 7 minutes this wall of ice completely devastated everything growing in the vineyard … not a leaf or a single bunch remained; nothing survived the bombardment. I can still see myself running backwards and forwards through the vines, up to my knees at times in streams of hailstones, petrified, blue with cold. Shrouds of white mist were rising from the tons of ice lying on the still warm ground. When I had completed the tour of our 24 hectare of vines, I knew there wouldn’t be the faintest chance of harvesting anything. I knew that time would be required for the vines to recover from such a severe onslaught; I felt like somebody shipwrecked in the middle of nowhere!”

But then, much like any Midwestern farm field, Villeneuve’s neighbors arrived. Or more accurately, friends and neighbors from across Provence came to his rescue. Owners from 35 different estates, including some of the smallest and most prominent, offered up fruit so Chateau de Roquefort would have a 2012 production.

So Villeneuve, with the help, decided to make three wines – a red, white and rosé which they would call a “special anti-hail solidarity” cuvée. And they decided to call the wines GRÊLE, which in English means “hail.”

GreleWineEven more impressive than the solidarity of the winemakers, was the notoriously strict French winemaking governing bodies allowing the wine to be made. France has more legislation detailing what you can grow, where you can grow it, and how it goes into the bottle than most other countries combined. The Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Syrah, Cabernet, Cinsault, and more came from all over Provence and different appelations. That’s why the wine is simply called a cuvee.

Many others pitched in and provided needed help such as refrigeration trucks to move the donated grapes.

“This adventure still seems almost surreal today, and I think it will take me quite a while to appreciate what has actually happened over these last few months,” Villeneuve recently told the French press.

And by the way, the rosé is pretty terrific. The unique label with the names of the Domaines is distinctive as the wine. As a huge Provence fan, I was skeptical until the first taste. It’s a bit less crisp or acidic than many Rosé wines but has a very rich mouth feel. At $14-$16 is a great wine buy and and even better story.

Summer’s Last Gasp Wine Choices

30 Monday Sep 2013

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Leaves are turning yellow and they’re soon to be glorious red and brown so can the frost on the pumpkin be far behind?

Grape Sense LogoIt’s a gloriously beautiful time in vineyards across the Midwest as grape harvest has been underway for 3-4 weeks with another week or two likely in some areas.
But don’t leave summer behind just yet. There will be mild and warm days in October perfect to clear the shelves of those summer wines. Here are a few easy-to-find lighter style white and Rosé wines I’ve enjoyed this summer.

3134Myt5uUL._UX480_CR0,-5,480,490_Domaine Ott Rosé – The 2011 Les Domaniers was still on the shelves early this summer but the 2012 shouldn’t be hard to find. Wonderful floral scents with a well-rounded mouth feel that will hold up to BBQ and bigger meals or sip fine all alone. It’s a classic blend of Grenache, Cinsault, and Syrah. ($19)

Whispering Angel Rosé – My absolute favorite Rosé from Château d’Esclans of Provence represents Southern France’s best effort at pink wine. The 2012 is dry, light, and still delivers full flavor. It’s fabulous Rosé for the price point. ($16-$23)

david-hill-logoDavid Hill 2011 Estate Pinot Gris – This has bright and pronounced acidity with aromas of stone fruit. Many of these white wines don’t offer much of a finish but David Hill delivers. Try this with some grill shrimp on the BBQ. It’s great white wine from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. ($18, Trade Sample)

Franciscan 2012 Equilibrium – Red blends are all the rage so why not a good California white blend. Franciscan makes great wines and reasonable prices. The blend is a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Muscat. It’s a well-balanced glass of wine with a hit of peach. It would be a perfect match to a salad or spicy food. ($23, Trade Sample)

domaine-virgile-joly-languedoc-le-joly-blanc-languedoc-roussillon-france-10504697Joly Blanc 2011 – Okay, it’s pretty cool to say you have a friend, maybe acquaintance, who is a French winemaker. Virgile Joly’s Joly Blanc – Grenache Blanc – is consistently one of the best whites I taste from the land of fries and crepes. The wine is Grenache Blanc with a hint of Rousanne delivering great aromas and a hint of peach. It is delightful with grilled fish or lighter meats. ($13-$15)

Four Graces Pinot Blanc – This Willamette Valley winery makes small batches and highly-stylized wines. The Pinot Blanc is quite different than the valley’s Pinot Gris wines. This is a light bodied wine with hints of honey, banana, and perhaps apricot. It’s a great white for warm weather meals. (SRP, $24. I bought it in an Indiana shop for $16)

Matua 2011 Sauvignon Blanc – It’s impossible to write about warm weather wines and not have at least one Sauvignon Blanc on the list. If you like your whites with big citrus, big acid, and a crisp refreshing finish, you’ll love the Matua. This comes from New Zealand’s Marlborough region, known for its Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. ($16)

 

Huber Wins Top Indy Competition Award

19 Thursday Sep 2013

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Indiana is on a roll.

For the second straight year an Indiana wine won top honors at the prestigious 22nd Annual Indy International Wine Competition held in early August at Purdue University.

Grape Sense LogoHuber’s Orchard, Winery and Vineyards took the honor for the competition’s top wine with its Vignoles. A year ago River City Winery won the prize also with Vignoles.

“I think Vignoles really hits a consumer sweet spot,” Ted Huber said in explaining the second straight Vignoles win. “Consumers want nice fruit but more and more without the sweetness.”

The wine comes in with a modest .73 percent residual sugar and a light 12 percent alcohol. The Vignoles is grown on the Huber 80-acre vineyard. Vignoles is a French hybrid grape that has been found to grow well in the Midwest.

Ted Huber pouring in his Starlight, IN. tasting room.

Ted Huber pouring in his Starlight, IN. tasting room.

Characteristically, the wine is semi-dry with low sugar and tastes of pineapple, honey and melon. On my palate it was the honey and a maybe a Honey Dew melon flavor that dominated the wine. Some wine drinkers not familiar with Vignoles might compare it to a Gewürztraminer. It has a bit of a floral characteristic on the nose but doesn’t overpower the wine. The wine can have an odd banana-like flavor that is, fortunately, missing from Huber’s wine.

“It’s always very well-received in our tasting room,” Huber says. “People are bashful about trying a semi-dry wine but pleased once they do. The tropical fruit on the palate makes it approachable. There’s nothing else quite like it. It really holds its own.”

Success is nothing new to Huber’s 80,000 case operation and tourist destination. “I think we’ve won something like 20 Governor’s Cups,” Huber said. The Indy International presents the Cup to the Hoosier winery with the most medals each year.

Huber's were harvesting Traminette Monday.

Huber’s were harvesting Traminette Monday.

This year Huber won winemaker of the year, given to the winery with the most gold medals. They also won the Eagle Award for the Best Rose Wine, Huber’s Catawba Rose.

Don’t dismiss the Indy International as just any competition. The organizers bill the competition as ‘the largest scientifically organized and independent wine competition in the United States. Judges come from across the county and all wines are tasted blind. This year more than 2,500 wines were entered from 35 states and 15 countries.

“It all starts with agriculture – growing top quality grapes lead to award winning wines,” Huber said. “Southern Indiana has proven this many times with our ability to produce world class wines.”

Hubers won double gold, the highest honor before the top wines are chosen, for Vignoles, Starlight White, Chambourcin, and Raspberry wines. They won gold medals for six other wines, silver for nine wines.

Several Michigan and Illinois wineries also took home medals. See Indy International for full results.

Huber’s Vignoles ($14.99) represents a movement among several Indiana winemakers to reduce residual sugar while maintaining the fresh fruit qualities of their wines. The Vignoles is an outstanding summer sipper but would also be good with creamy cheeses or salty meats like prosciutto.

Odd Couple: Fruit Wines, Food

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013

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Michigan has long been known for its apples, cherries, blueberries and more. Indiana has raspberries, blackberries, and peaches, and more. Winemakers have been turning those fruits to wines for decades.

While fruit wine often gets the cold shoulder from snooty wine drinkers, those wines remain some of the best sellers throughout the Midwest.

Grape Sense LogoBut what do you do for dinner if your wine rack only has fruit wine choices? It’s just a matter of experimentation and perhaps a little direction from others.

“A lot of people just like sweet wines,” said Kim Doty, French Lick Winery. Many people like it for dessert. There is this mystique that you have to drink dry wines but many people like sweet … people are going to drink what they like.”

And if you like sweet wines just use a dose of logic – like pairing a cranberry wine with poultry.

Another classic pairing is raspberry wine with just about anything chocolate. The sweetness level of the wine will set the bar for sweet, semi-sweet, or a robust dark chocolate dessert. Of course raspberry wine makes a great reduction to use with chocolate desserts, cheesecake and other sweets.

Generally, wine drinkers will think of a sweeter Riesling or Gewürztraminer for spicy Asian food. Why not try a peach wine with a spicy pairing? You might be surprised how well it complements big strong flavors. You can always fall back to grape wines and pair a semi-sweet, Midwestern Traminette.

Huber Winery, with Indiana’s biggest vineyard and acres more of fruit and vegetables, makes Peach, Strawberry, Apple, and Blackberry wines.

Dana Huber

Dana Huber

“We partner one of our semi-sweet sparkling wines with a peach and a graham cracker as an appetizer,” said Dana Huber, Huber Winery, Starlight, In., “But obviously people just enjoy them as a perfect glass of wine independent as dessert in a glass. Certainly brownies or cheesecake can be a great match as far as sweet wines.”

Another wonderful pairing is just about any fruit wine with a salad. It’s simple, just think of your ingredients and if you’d add the fresh fruit to the salad or not. Add the fruit wine as a complement instead of the fresh berries or fruit.

Wine has always been a staple in most kitchens in reductions and traditional food pairings,

“We’ve had some customers marinate steaks in our blackberry wine which it gives it a really nice tenderness and a little sweetness on it,” Huber said. “The sweet wines are definitely something home cooks can use in their recipes.”

Another great fruit-based wine is infusions. An infusion usually is a wine infused with a complementary brandy. “You can take an infusion, and replace some of the water in a recipe and infuse your brownie bites. They’re really yummy and it’s a good addition.”

Doty’s winery produces an award-winning cherry wine that’s great with desserts. “One of the things with the cherry we recommend is to try it with goat cheese,” she said. “It sounds weird, but it’s really a great match.”

Wine Consumers Give Indiana an F

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013

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Anyone who has tried to buy wine at a winery, take a special bottle to a restaurant or buy wine on a Sunday knows Indiana’s laws are confusing and restrictive.

Grape Sense LogoNeighboring states aren’t much better off. Indiana and Kentucky prevent direct winery to consumer shipping while Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio allow it. All four of those states allow Sunday sales while Indiana does not. The American Wine Consumer Coalition, Washington D.C. issued a report and grade for all 50 states. It’s called Consuming Concerns: The 2013 State-by-State Report Card on Consumer Access to wine. The forward in the report bemoans the existence of laws ‘from the 1930s” that are still ‘in place in most states, despite a cultural, economic and commercial reality that is starkly different (today).’

David Honig, a wine writer, publisher of one of the country’s biggest online wine magazine – Palate Press – and attorney, says the laws make no sense unless viewed through the lens of distributor protection. “A wine lover can have their favorite bottled shipped to them, but only if (a) they’ve been to the vineyard or winery in person, and (b) left a copy of their Indiana Driver’s License, and (c) the winery has an Indiana shipping license, and (d) only if the winery does not have a distributor in the state,” Honig said.

Palate Press Publisher David Honig

Palate Press Publisher David Honig

“These laws don’t protect minors from their plans to set aside the usual adolescent need for instant gratification to order an expensive vintage for delivery in a week or two. Nor do they protect Hoosiers from bathtub gin or other adulterated hooch. They don’t even keep the streets, playgrounds, and schoolyards safe from Hillside Select swilling bums, hiding their $250 bottles in plain brown bags. They protect distributors, the top tier in the three-tier system, from suffering the indignity of seeing somebody enjoy a bottle of wine without getting a cut.”

By now you may have guessed, Indiana got an F and so did Kentucky. Michigan and Ohio came in with D grades while Illinois scored highest in the Midwest with a C.

The scoring standards were: winery to consumer shipping; retailer to consumer shipping; grocery store wine sales, Sunday wine sales, and bring your own bottle to restaurants laws.

Who scored near the top? Not surprisingly, California led the list followed by Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Indiana is joined by 11 other states on the stinkers list including Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah.

The hodgepodge of laws is largely the embarrassing work of state legislatures. In Indiana, the distributors’ lobby has controlled, or owned, our voting representatives. I’ve heard more than one distributor say there is little problem with allowing direct shipping because that is such a small portion of the wine-buying market. The hypocrisy is extraordinary even for state legislators. Write the representative in your state. The laws are ridiculous.

Consumers can buy almost anything through the mail and have it shipped to their doorstep – clothing, books, medicine, furniture, even pornography. This has nothing to do with under-age drinking – a favorite ploy of the distributors. You have to have a valid credit cart and a person 21 years of age available to sign when delivered to buy wine for direct shipping.

It’s about greed.

Indiana Grape Growers Expect Big Crop

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013

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The vineyards at Huber Winery stretch over 70 acres.

The vineyards at Huber Winery stretch over 70 acres.

The ideal growing conditions of 2013 has Indiana grape growers forgetting last year’s dry and scorching summer. Indiana wineries and independent vineyards are looking at the potential for a bumper crop of wine grapes.

Grape Sense LogoIndiana has nearly 600 acres of vineyard to support what’s soon to be 70 wineries. Most Hoosier wineries buy all or some of their fruit from in- and out-of-state suppliers. Most  winery vineyards often are just 5, 10, or 15 acres which provides fruit for a small portion of their production.

Two of the state’s biggest wineries, not surprisingly, have the biggest vineyards. Oliver Winery has its beautiful 50-acre, Creekbend Vineyard just a few miles off Highway 37 near Bloomington. Ted Huber has the state’s largest winery-owned vineyard with nearly 70 acres producing grapes on long-held family property overlooking the Ohio River Valley close to Louisville.

Oliver's Dennis Dunham at Creekbend Vineyard

Oliver’s Dennis Dunham at Creekbend Vineyard

“Everything looks perfect and ideal at this point,” said Oliver’s Director of Winemaking Operations Dennis Dunham. “We’ve had a fair amount of rain pre-veraison but it’s is not a big deal. And especially after last year I think there is general thought that getting moisture back into the soil, overall, is a good thing.

Veraison is a vineyard term meaning the onset of ripening. White wine grapes become more translucent and red wine grapes turn red.

Dunham said the vineyard had issues last year in the hot weather. The lack of rain forced vineyard workers to cut clusters from the vines to encourage ripening of what remained.

Ted Huber said the story was similar down south.

Ted Huber in his Starlight, IN., tasting room.

Ted Huber in his Starlight, IN., tasting room.

“We’re probably 15-20 percent in veraison and the rest of the varieties are a week out,” Huber said. “Right now we’re sitting very disease free considering the amount of rain we’ve had in June and July. We’re starting to dry out, because we’ve missed most of the late July rains

But like any Hoosier farmer, growers are never totally happy with the weather. “The problem we’re having now is excess vine growth,” Huber said. “So we have several different groups working almost seven days a week doing shoot positioning, leaf pulling, cutting, getting rid of the massive canopy we’re seeing right now. It’s necessary so we go into veraison and can ripen fruit correctly.”

But both men agreed a bumper crop is starting to look certain. “We’re seeing a very big crop right now and we can ripen a big crop.” Huber said. “Unlike last year, with the lack of shoot growth, we had to drop fruit because we didn’t think we could ripen it. This year we have a bumper crop of leaves and shoots, and a full canopy absorbing the sunshine.

“So if we get the fruit exposed to it and let mother nature take its course, we should be able to ripen everything. We should have a big crop.”

Dunham said Creekbend is set to deliver the biggest normal crop winemakers can ever expect. “So with the weather we got now, we have as much fruit as we can expect,” he said. “Overall, everything has looked pretty darn good and some of the crop estimates I’ve seen are pretty high. I think we’re going to have a large grape crop.”

But what does it all mean to Hoosier wine consumers? First, it means there are more Indiana grapes on the open fruit market and the chance for some producers to buy locally. Many Indiana wineries buy fruit from out of state. Second, great wine is made in vineyards and not by winemakers. A great crop should mean a great 2013 vintage.