Tag Archives: Butler Winery

2016 A Strong Hoosier Vintage

26 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2016, Uncategorized

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FRENCH LICK, IN. – Learning about wine means spending time in the vineyard. The next best thing is talking with the men and women worrying about rainfall, leaf canopy, and sugars in hot August fields.

Grape Sense LogoThe Indiana Uplands, nine southern Indiana wineries in the state’s only AVA, held its annual Uncork the Uplands tasting event the last weekend in July at the fabulous French Lick Springs Hotel. Muck like plants, flowers or an herb garden in many Hoosier backyards, the 2016 growing season has been a strong one.

“This year everything is growing, growing, and growing,” said Bernie Parker, vineyard manager for the 55-acre Creekbend Vineyard of Oliver Winery. “We’ve been applying some fungicides because of the wet weather. We’ve had more than eight inches of rain in July and we normally have half that.

“We have a great crop out there and as long as it dries out in next five to six weeks, we’re going to be harvesting a great vintage and full crop.”

Easley Winery 1

Traminette being delivered to Huber winery in 2014. The whites come first.

That’s really good news for the Oliver operation. Late frost cut the 2014 Creekbend crop by 70 percent and the 2015 crop by about 30 percent.

The story is very similar regardless of vineyard size. John Doty, owner of French Lick Winery, said the 2016 crop is going to be excellent. “We’ve had plenty of rain but it can rain another couple of weeks. Then it needs to quit raining; if it quits raining last two weeks of August and first of September I’ll be a happy man. We have a beautiful crop hanging.”

Doty’s 8-acre vineyard is actually in Martin County on family property on the hillside of one of the highest points in the area. The vineyard suffered some trunk damage to Chambourcin vines and lost a planting of Tannat over the past two years with the early chill but 2016 appears to be delivering a stellar crop.

Butler Winery also benefit from location during bad weather years. Butler sits atop a hill just north of Bloomington. Jim Butler said his 6 acre vineyard is better suited to withstand a late frost because of its elevated position.

“We have a great crop,” the veteran Hoosier winemaker said. “We’ve had a lot of rain, but if it dries out, and that’s what we look for in August and September, we’re in great shape.”

Times have been good in recent years for most Hoosier wineries despite the two years of frost damage in a few areas. Wine sales across the country continue to rise and Indiana wine quality continues to improve.

Winemakers across the state are now at a point where they’re ready to push the envelope and try new grapes. Butler is experimenting with the cold-climate Marquette. Doty and others are planting the hardy Norton grape. Ted Huber, in the state’s southern-most region, continues his work with traditional Bordeaux-style varietals.

A warm and dry late summer will apparently deliver one of the best crops of recent vintages for Hoosier wine drinkers.

 

Rain Impacts Indiana Vineyards

24 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Indiana, Midwestern States, Newspaper Column 2015

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Indiana’s corn and soybean crops have sustained $475 million in rain and flood damage this summer according to Purdue University agriculture economists. Indiana’s grape crop and vineyards haven’t escaped the soggy summer woes either.

Grape Sense LogoThe rains have hurt vineyards most in Central Indiana while southern vines have been spared. “All the rain this year has made it especially difficult to control diseases,” said Bruce Bordelon, Purdue Professor of Horticulture and specialist in commercial grape and wine production. He said many vineyards avoided disease problems thanks to a dry month of May.

Purdue's Bruce Bordelon

Purdue’s Bruce Bordelon

“But, I’ve seen a tremendous amount of anthracnose (leaf spots and blotches) and black rot. Shocking to see it so bad,” Bordelon said. “In some cases, it is due to a poor spray program, but in others, it is due to high disease pressure. We’ve had too many rains too close together to maintain adequate fungicide coverage.”

Purdue’s grape expert said many of the problems could still be overcome with the most critical weeks of veraison (grape ripening) still ahead.

Don Pampel, owner of Whyte Horse Winery near Monticello, owns one of those vineyards impacted by the downpours. “The heavy rainfall has made some of our vineyards extremely wet and holding water in the rows for extended period of time,” he said. “This has caused stress on the vines and depleted some of the nutrients that they depend on and we are having to spray nutrients where we have not had to in the past. The frequency of the rain has caused challenges to keep the vines protected from fungus that the rain spreads.

“We will not know the damage until it gets closer to harvest and then it is too late.”

Oliver's Parker

Oliver’s Parker

A big challenge with the heavy rainfall is vineyard management. There is the obvious cost of additional spraying and loss of crop but fighting the rainfall’s effect increases labor cost. Bernie Parker, Vineyard Manager for Oliver Winery, said his crews have tried to stay ahead of the heavy rainfall by working the vines.

“Mildews have been a problem but we have had a lot more midseason growth that requires more manpower to manage,” Parker said. “We are shoot positioning and leaf pulling to open the canopy.  This allows for good air flow which helps with drying the clusters and canopy, also reducing the mildew problems.”

Oliver’s Creekbend Vineyard, just north of Bloomington, is on glently rolling slopes allowing excess rainfall to run off preventing flooding. But Parker notes the heavy rains cause a proliferation of weeds to be pulled.

Creekbend was one of many Indiana vineyards to take a hit in 2014 and 2013 from extremely cold winter and spring weather. But Bordelon noted new vines and retrained vines should be benefiting from the additional moisture. Parker agreed that his re-trained vines were looking strong.

Jim Butler

Jim Butler

The rainfall’s impact lessens in the south. At Butler Vineyards, not far from Oliver, things are looking pretty good. “If we get drier weather starting around the first of August we will have a good year,” Jim Butler said. “We have a large crop set on the vines. We have run a tight spray schedule, by that I mean timely sprays of the right materials to prevent the start of fungal infections.”

Butler said normal August weather should deliver a strong crop despite all of the early rains. Rains have been mostly normal in the Ohio River Valley region.

”In Southern Indiana we have been very lucky in missing all of the large rain events and as a result we have remained very disease free,” said Ted Huber, Huber Orchard and Winery. “Vine growth has been very good plus we continue to remain warmer and sunnier than other parts of the state.

“Therefore, many of our varieties are already in veraison and picking up sugars quickly. We estimate that our harvest will being on August 15.”

Huber has the state’s largest vineyard with more than 20 varietals planted. Just down the road at Turtle Run Winery owner Jim Pfeiffer said the rainfall had not caused any problems for his vines.

Bordelon said the heavy rain and resulting challenges means some Central Indiana vineyards are likely to see a reduced harvest. A sunny and warm month of August could boost the crop as ripening gets underway.

Legislature Right – For a Change

22 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Indiana, Midwestern States, Newspaper Column 2015

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Indiana’s legislature showed a small bit of sanity in getting a shipping law passed for Hoosier Wineries before closing the most recent session. Governor Pence signed the bill into law.

Phil Boots

Phil Boots

Grape Sense LogoSen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, gudied the legislation removing the face-­to-­face requirement for Indiana wineries to ship wine to their customers. At one point, the licensing fee went from $100 annually to $500. That was plain and simple another case of the legislators bowing to the powerful liquor lobby, funded largely by alcohol distributors.

He urged supporters to keep the foot on the gas and in the end the fee structure was set up on a graduating scale depending on production and alcohol shipped. A fair, if not arguably unnecessary, solution.

Kim Doty, standing center, with husband John and family.

Kim Doty, standing center, with husband John and family.

Indiana wineries could not be happier.

“When the law requiring an initial face to face transaction became effective, it literally destroyed our shipments to wine customers,” said Kim Doty, owner of French Lick Winery.

“We lost 95 percent of our wine shipping sales. Our wine sold and shipped to customers in 2004 was about 10 percent of our total sales. Today with the face to face requirement, our shipping sales are less than one tenth of 1 percent of our total sales. This requirement has also had a negative impact on the growth of our wine club with 99 percent of our wine club sales are shipped directly to the home.”

Again, that face­-to-­face requirement was added to legislation in 2008 as a token to the alcohol lobby but crippling, in particular, to small wineries.

Wineries like French Lick were forced to play along but at a steep price. “We have accumulated over 5400 completed verification forms to date. We would have sold and shipped at least twice that if not for the requirement.”

The new law requires age verification but all shipping laws generally do. Wineries can meet the requirement by using an age verification delivery service like FedEx or UPS.

“We are thrilled with having the requirement rescinded,” Doty said. “Age verification will still be performed by the delivery company and we will pay additional fees for this service. We are confident that our wine shipments are properly handled in accordance with Indiana’s age requirement for liquor.”

Jim Butler

Jim Butler

Jim Butler, Butler Vineyards near Bloomington, has long been one of the industries leading spokespersons and advocate for sanity in wine shipping laws and more.

“We are basically back to where we were 9 or 10 years ago,” Butler said. “With the face to face requirement we l lost 90 percent of our shipping business. Perhaps now we can build it back. This is a nice step forward. It is always a battle of the titans at the statehouse about alcohol issues, big money. big players. We are just little guys. It is one small step toward sanity.”

Sanity? That seldom happens with the legislature and liquor laws. Just look at what happened this year with Sunday sales. A simple law was mangled with requirements that would have retailers build walls in existing stores to sell alcohol on Sundays.

Fortunately, the legislature got it right for Indiana wineries, big and small, in 2015.

AVA Adds to Midwest’s Wine Credibility

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013

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

Grape Sense LogoThe 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.

bordelon4Blog“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.

Oliver4Blog“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.

Fall - Christmas Good Time to Visit Uplands Wine TrailJim 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

Fall – Christmas Good Time to Visit Uplands Wine Trail

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Indiana

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Southern Indiana’s beautiful roads in late October
 Wine country and Indiana aren’t exactly words often found in the same sentence but neither does it create an oxymoron.  Indiana has several wine trails and more than 60 wineries.
If Indiana has a wine country region, it’s southern Indiana’s Uplands Wine Trail. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other viable wineries elsewhere but several of Indiana’s best wineries are part of the Uplands.
With fall slipping away, a weekend winery visit makes for a great day. Several of the wineries are close in proximity and offer pumpkin picking, live music, or food to draw huge crowds.
Huber Vineyards just a few weeks ago.
The biggest celebration is probably at Huber Orchard, Winery and Vineyards. Huber’s has thousands of pumpkins, live music, food, hayrides, and huge crowds every weekend in all fall. And frankly,
Huber is one of a small handful of Indiana wineries making better Indiana red wine than most Hoosiers have ever tasted in state.
Huber Vineyards set atop the hills overlooking the Ohio River near Louisville. The elevation, old glacial soils, and environment make it arguably Indiana’s best spot to grow grapes.
Just 10 miles away is Jim Pfeiffer at Turtle Run Winery.  Pfeiffer is a blendaholic by nature and takes Indiana’s sometimes eclectic grapes and makes very drinkable wines.
Check out Huber and Turtle Run’s Chambourcin red wines. You will be surprised how Pinot-like these wines can be when they’re well-made. Huber has very nice light style whites while Pfeiffer’s are uniquely tasty. And both winemakers have worked steadily to reduce the natural sweetness of Indiana grapes. If you are into Brandy, Ted Huber has been making and aging award-winning spirits for several years.
Pfeiffer
The Uplands Trail gives the individual wineries marketing power and identity. “Validity, validity, validity,” said Pfeiffer, winemaker and owner of Turtle Run Winery. “When you have event marketing and have big events people take notice.”
A shorter Uplands Wine trip would be to Bloomington to Oliver and Butler wineries. Who hasn’t visited Oliver? The winery made its name with the sweet reds and whites but the Creekbend line of Oliver wine and other bottlings are very solid choices. Try Oliver’s Chambourcin and his Syrah. Bill Oliver makes his Syrah in a lighter French style that’s fruit driven with a hint of spice. I’d challenge anyone to blind taste his Syrah and guess its origins.
Next wander into the colorful countryside to Butler winery. Jim Butler is another of Indiana’s wine pioneers. He got his start at Oliver and then branched out on his own. He owns the unique distinction of winning the initial category first place in the Indy International Wine Competition a few years back with his wonderful Dry Rose’ wine.
Butler
But the Uplands area is more than just marketing. It soon may get validity well beyond good marketing. Butler has put in years of effort to get the Uplands designated as an American Viticulture Area approved by the federal government. It gives the area a unique labeling for its style and quality of wine. It’s an achievement that wine aficionados will recognize as serious winemaking.
“We probably started four or five years ago and we’re in the home stretch,” Butler said. “I’m hoping by the end of the year we’ll have it.”
All nine Uplands wineries have good websites with directions and hours. The wine trail also plans a holiday event Nov. 15-Dec. 31. The state has two other wine trails, another through Southern Indiana known as the Indiana Wine Trail, and the Indy Wine Trail around Indianapolis.
Indiana’s Uplands Wine Trail
Best Vineyards Winery
{Est. 2008}
Brown County Winery
{Est. 1986}
Butler Winery
{Est. 1983}
Carousel Winery
{Est. 2003}
French Lick Winery
{Est. 1995}
Huber Winery
{Est. 1978}
Oliver Winery
{Est. 1972}
Turtle Run Winery
{Est. 2001}
Winzerwald Winery
{Est. 2002}

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Indiana Wines Improving, Still Room to Grow

30 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Indiana

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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.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com