Tag Archives: Oliver Winery

Uncork Puts Wine Fans In The Vineyard

03 Sunday Aug 2014

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Grapes in Oliver's Creekbend Vineyard starting verasion - or ripening.

Grapes in Oliver’s Creekbend Vineyard starting verasion – or ripening.

Parker leading wine fans through Creekbend Pinot Grigio vines.

Parker leading wine fans through Creekbend Pinot Grigio vines.

BLOOMINGTON, IN. – Vintage Indiana brings nearly 30 Indiana wineries and 10,000 people to Indianapolis’ Military Park each June. It’s a great event. But if you want something a bit more intimate try the up and coming Uncork the Uplands held each summer in Southern Indiana.

Both events give wine fans an opportunity to taste a lot of Indiana wine. But the Uplands event is my pick for the intimacy of chatting with wine makers, owner, and vineyard managers and really taking advantage of a great educational experience beyond just sipping. The nine Uplands wineries in the new Uplands AVA host the event, now in its fourth year. Uplands draws about 300 people making it a more laid-back and intimate event.

The 2014 Uncork featured live music, food, plenty of wine, along with vineyard tours at Oliver’s Creekbend Vineyard. I’ve long been an advocate, as have many others, that you learn farm more walking a vineyard with a winemaker or vineyard manager than you can in a tasting room or just sipping wines. It’s, perhaps, one of the oldest cliché’s in winemaking. ‘Great wine is made in the vineyard and not the winery.’

That’s why a walk through Creekbend with Oliver vineyard manager Bernie Parker was so valuable to the 20-or-so I joined for a warm evening stroll through the grapes. Indiana’s frigid weather wreaked havoc in many vineyards across the state with low temperatures that damaged vines and will cost many a year of production. Parker noted he and his crews had to restart 9,000 of the 36,000 vines at Creekbend. I spent some time talking to Bruce Bordelon, Purdue University wine and grape team, along with several winery owners about the cold weather. The impact certainly varies cut hurt Indiana’s crop from about Bloomington on north, Bordelon said.

That will be an upcoming column or two in the next few weeks.

The event not only is a great education experience, but good food, music, and the opportunity to taste wine of the nine Uplands wineries. I tasted at least one wine from each and continue to be impressed how the quality across the board continues to improve in Indiana wine.

My real picks from hit-n-miss tasting were Winzerwald’s Vidal Blanc and Turtle Run’s Traminette. Both were really nice dry Indiana wines. I also liked Huber’s great 2010 vintage of Heritage (a traditional Bordeaux style blend) along with Oliver’s new Noir – a blend of Marahel Foch and Corot Noir.

But even the sweet wines, which are not to my taste but thousands of Hoosiers, were well-balanced and well-made wines. Put Uncork on your radar for next summer. It’s a great way to taste a wide range of Indiana wine – with out the crowds.

“Uncork” Presents Great Food, Wine

15 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013

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Grape Sense LogoIndiana’s best wine region is pairing up with some of the state’s better-known artisan food producers for the third annual “Uncork the Uplands.”

Ten Uplands wineries will pour wine beside artisan food businesses at 6-9 p.m., July 27, at the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center.

The Indiana Uplands grape growing designation (AVA) was awarded by the federal government earlier this year. The designation adds authenticity to a region for growing grapes and producing wines unique to the geographic area. The Uplands group is capitalizing by moving its young event from near Louisville to Bloomington.

Visitors can tour Bill Oliver's Creekbend Vineyards Saturday afternoon

Visitors can tour Bill Oliver’s Creekbend Vineyards Saturday afternoon

“The Uplands area is very large geographically so we are moving the event to different venues around the trail to be accessible to a larger and more diverse audience,” said Kim Doty, Uplands president and owner of French Lick Winery. “This is our signature event. We want to show people what we can do. We’re making world-class wines.”

The evening features 10 wineries:  Best Vineyards,  Brown County, Butler Winery, Carousel, French Lick, Huber, Owen Valley, Oliver, Turtle Run and Winzerwald. A few of the food vendors include: Fair Oaks Farm, Piccoli Dolci, Peacetree Mountain Truffles, Yours Truly Foods , Maple Leaf Farms, Smoking Goose Meats, Inga’s Popcorn, and Steckler Grassfed (beef).

Butler

Butler

Judy Schad, Capriole Farmstead Goat Cheeses, will be one of the featured speakers. Jim Butler, Butler Winery, will talk about the significance of the AVA designation. A silent auction will be held to benefit the Local Growers Guild, and three chefs will compete in a wine/food pairing competition judged by all visitors.

Bill Oliver, Oliver Winery, is opening his Creekbend Vineyard to visitors as part of the Uncork event. Winemakers from many of the 10 wineries will be in the vineyard Saturday afternoon to talk about grapes grown in Indiana and their winemaking.

Tickets for the evening event are $55, which includes tasting at all of the winery and food tables. The combined evening program and Creekbend Tour is $75. Tickets are available at the Convention Center box office and any of the 10 wineries.

For the winemakers, 2013 has been a very good year.  The American Viticulture Area designation provides legitimacy to wine enthusiasts.

Pfeiffer in his vineyard neary Corydon.

Pfeiffer in his vineyard neary Corydon.

“It’s all about validity,” said Jim Pfeiffer, winemaker and owner of Turtle Run Winery, Corydon. “When you have big events people take notice. I’m a big subscriber to Robert Mondavi’s mantra of promote yourself, promote your industry and get others to grow with you.

“It’s sort of like we’re trying to do things Napa Valley does. We want to be noticed.”

The wine trail has benefited from the publicity. Already this year, the Uplands added a 10th winery after the AVA announcement, Owen Valley Winery, Spencer, IN.

“Indiana Uplands was Indiana’s first wine trail,” Doty said. “We are celebrating our 10th anniversary. With the new AVA designation, we are seeing more wineries take root in the Uplands and the expansion of established vineyards.”

Pfeiffer said the wine trail brings more credibility to each winery’s effort. “Would anyone know of Napa Valley if there were 1-2-3 wineries? You have to partner up with people who are like minded. It creates validity and excitement.

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

Indiana’s Biggest, Oldest Winery Still Evolving

04 Saturday Aug 2012

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BLOOMINGTON, In. – It’s a bit of an old adage that as businesses age adaption to changing times can determine continued success. No one can accuse Indiana’s oldest and biggest winery of resting on it’s size or laurels.

Great Indiana limestone, landscaping which leads to tasting room.

Oliver Winery’s name is synonymous with Indiana wine. IU Law Professor Dr. Bill Oliver is one of the “fathers” of the Indiana wine industry. In a certain age bracket, author included, many probably remember Camelot Mead as one of their first ever tastes of wine.

After four years of wine writing I finally made my way to Oliver winery Friday to interview Bill Oliver, the founder’s son, for a story on Indiana wine I’m doing for Palate Press.

Too many Hoosiers only know Oliver for its sales powerhouse Oliver Soft Red and Soft White. Indeed, you can go in many supermarkets, Wal-Marts, and other such places and find pallets or stacks of their famous sweet wines.

But Oliver has always had a lot more to offer. Now they have an entire line of very well made traditional varieties under the Creekbend label. They’ve also jumped into the cider craze with delightfully refreshing fruit-flavored ciders.

Oh, and Camelot Mead – or honey wine – is still around. It’s clean and crisp and they’ve added a flavored line of honey wines as well. I was anticipating not liking those because of a pre-conceived notion of sweetness and Oliver. I loved the honey wines and the cider. They were some of the most refereshing beverages I’ve tasted in a long time.

Bill Oliver during our walk/ride through the vineyards.

My time with Bill Oliver was very productive. And I’ll save most of that material for the Palate Press story or other writing efforts afterwards. I’ve toured a lot of wineries in recent years but was really impressed with Oliver’s state of the art winery capable of producing more than 400,000 cases annually.

A real treat for me – educationally and as a wine enthusiast, was hopping in the car and driving over to the Oliver Vineyards. Bill and I jumped into a golf cart and rode around the 50 acres of vineyard. He showed me how the weather has stressed some vines and not others, how some varieties like Traminette thrive in the dry and heat and how Chambourcin has struggled.

We tasted grapes! Verasion (or ripening) is not quite complete but close. The grapes are formed but a few weeks from full ripeness. The Pinot Grigo tasted absolutely awesome right off the vine.

I tell wine friends all of the time that a good winery tour will really aid your understanding of wine. A good vineyard tour takes the education to a master’s course. Wine makers love to tell you that great wine is made in the vineyard and not the winery.

A few quick notes on the wines I tasted. I started with a 2010 Viognier. I’m a so-so fan of the grape but liked Oliver’s interpretation that gets stainless steel fermentation. The wine was not as floral on the nose as many and lighter on the palate. It was delightful at $14 a bottle.

I also liked the Creekbend Chambourcin Rose. Indiana’s best Rose wines, to for my palate, come from the Cambourcin grape. This one has a few drops of traditional white wines but had the hint of strawberry that most good Rose wines show. For $12, it’s among the better choices in Indiana Rose.

The always-busy Oliver tasting room

For those who only think of Oliver’s sweet wines, the skeptics should get a taste of the 2009 Shiraz Reserve. I loved the oak-aged Syrah for its dark coffee, chocolate, and vanilla hints. It reminded me of a Rhone Syrah, done in a much lighter style than most traditional American Syrah wines. It sells for $22. Oliver is also one of those wineries really getting Chambourcin right. It’s light on the palate with some characteristics of Pinot Noir but a spicier finish. The 2010 Chambourcin sells for $22 and well worth trying.

I’m generally not a fan of things like cider and honey wine. But now I willingly admit tasting the honey wines and ciders might have been the best part of the tasting room visit.

I sampled the Camelot Mead and the Peach-flavored version. I just loved the peach. It tasted and smelled like a fresh peach off the tree. It was really refreshing.

I was “convinced” to try the ciders and just loved them. A local artist came up with great humorous art work for the aluminum bottles. I tried the raspberry Beanblossom hard cider and enjoyed the freshness and effervesence,

I think sometimes Oliver is overlooked because of its longevity and those grocery store sweet wines. If you’re one of those folks, you’re making a mistake. They really make something for everyone.You might not like Soft Red and Soft White but if you like well made reds, specialty wines, crisp and light white wines — take a drive to Bloomington.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com