Tag Archives: Dennis Dunham

Oliver Sources High-End Grapes

31 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by in Indiana, Midwestern States

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BLOOMINGTON, In, – Any discussion of Indiana wine has to always include Oliver Winery. The iconic Hoosier winery, synonymous with sweet wines, is Indiana’s biggest player on a big stage. Oliver is one of the nation’s biggest producers not located on the West Coast.

Bill Oliver, who took over from his pioneering father in the 1980s, has grown the winery and expanded the operation’s wine footprint beyond Soft Red and White wines. I spent a couple of hours Friday morning with Bill Oliver at the winery. He was cordial, excited about the future, and enthused about a new higher-end venture that might surprise a few wine purists.

Oliver chatting, tasting Chambourcin in the tasting room.

Oliver chatting, tasting Chambourcin in the tasting room.

Anyone dismissing Oliver Winery as ‘that sweet stuff’ is missing the mark. Yes, Oliver is a leader in sweet Concord red and Niagara white wines on a regional level and perhaps a national level in the next decade. But Oliver Winery is also producing very well-made wines from its nearby Creekbend Vineyard. Traminette, Vignoles, Chambourcin and more are featured at wineries across the state. But few, if any, are making those wines any better than Oliver.

The initial purpose of my visit was to talk to Oliver about his “Flight” series of wines featuring carefully sourced fruit from California vineyards. The current release getting lots of deserved attention is a 2013 Pinot Noir from the legendary Bien Nacido vineyard on California’s central coast. That name may not mean much to many wine drinkers but to real wine geeks Bien Nacido is one of the most sought-after vineyard designate wines in the Santa Barbara area.

Bill and I tasted wines with winemaker Dennis Dunham. We tasted the 2015 which had not even made it to the barrels yet. We sipped the 2014 which has seen its time in oak and now rests in stainless steel before bottling. And we tasted the mid-summer release of the 2013. I had previously tasted the 2013 and thought it was outstanding. The 2014 is going to be even better with a more extracted fruit flavor. It’s too early to tell on the 2015 juice.

The Oliver Bien Nacido Pinot sells almost exclusively in the Oliver tasting room for $45. That’s a big price jump for a winery known for the under-$10 sweet wines. But the solid Creekbend entries sell in the high-teen to mid-20s range. Oliver said one of the reasons to make the Pinot was to show people what his team could do with really great fruit.

An aside for the wine geeks, buying California fruit for Hoosier-made wine is nothing new for Oliver or many others. Oliver has access to some great California Central coast fruit and scored with his catch of Bien Nacido Pinot. It’s an expensive experiment but one the winemaker and owner clearly are enjoying.

At the other end of the spectrum is Oliver’s new Bubblecraft red and white wines. The $9 “fizz” is in the traditional Concord and Niagara grapes and in grocery stores already. Oliver produced and expects to sell about 10,000 cases this year with an expectation of nearly 25,000 cases in sales next year.

I have several story ideas from my time at Oliver today. Most of those will be posted or promoted here. There is even some bigger news coming from Bill Oliver not mentioned here.

Stay tuned.

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.