Tag Archives: Ted Huber

Huber sons could change Indiana wine, perception

15 Thursday Oct 2020

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STARLIGHT, IN. – Becoming a part of and eventually taking over a family business is a big challenge. Christian and Blake Huber are thriving and planning as they join the family’s day to day operations.

The Hubers have been on the same hilltop property near the little town of Starlight and just up that hill from New Albany since the early 1800s.

Huber Winery and Starlight Distillery have become industry leaders with the guidance of Ted and Dana Huber along with Ted’s cousin Greg and his wife. Dana and Ted’s sons have completed impressive wine education degrees and gained practical experience at a few of the world’s top wineries. The sons are ready to help the already-growing business and make their mark with a few bold new ideas.

Christian, the oldest of the two, is a graduate of Niagra University in its Viticulture/Oenology program at Ontario, Canada. He spent time at IU’s Kelley School of Business and has worked harvests for California wineries like Joseph Phelps. Younger brother Blake graduated early this year from Cornell University’s wine study program. Among his internships was time spent this summer at Petrus in Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, France. He’s currently working at Napa Cab powerhouse Dominus.

Christian Huber pours for our tasting

Christian is working at the winery now and Blake will soon join his brother in full-time status.

So the young men are more than ready to help the family move forward in exciting directions. And, it’s not like Dad has been standing still. Huber Winery’s production has grown over the past couple years from 50,000 to 90,000 cases. The relatively new spirits business has become very successful and nationally recognized for excellence. Last year the spirits business sold approximately 10,000 six-pack cases. Christian said that growth could reach 15,000-20,000 this year.

Two years back, patriarch Ted said the goal was to match spirits production to the wine number.

Walking the grounds Wednesday (Oct. 14) with Christian and tasting wines and spirits, his enthusiasm alone forecasts interesting things.

He has planted Chardonnay, not Indiana-grown hybrid Cshardonel, and Pinot Noir on a recently acquired piece of property. The vines must age before you can taste and buy the wines but it’s a challenge. Pinot Noir is notoriously difficult to grow.

I’ve long told others Hubers has the best vineyard site in Indiana. They are successfully growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Tannat, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. Right now the Cab Franc is the best of that lot. The vinifera blend Heritage is arguably  the best red wine you can buy grown and made in Indiana.

But the Huber boys, let’s call them that, have their eyes on becoming known for the vinifera grapes instead of the hybrids grown in most of the state. Christian wants to soon plan Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Riesling, and perhaps Syrah.

His dream is to develop the Knobstone area with the family’s Indiana Uplands property as it’s own Agriculture Viticulture Area (AVA) or as a sub region. Knobstone is a rugged geological region in southern Indiana which has potential of growing difficult grapes with a traditional vinifera taste profile. The Pinot Noir is planted within the area now on top a limestone base. Those grapes aren’t ready to make wine yet but could be in the next year or two.

Christian also sees a Chardonnay made as an unoaked Chablis-style wine which would please wine fanatics.

The big picture is to create a Knobstone winery with its own label and even tasting room. The wines would be a premium product, at a higher price, unlike anything in the state.

But with all of the ambition and big plans, reality sometimes bites. The late frost in early 2020 devastated the vineyards. A normal harvest of 250-300 tons of grapes was just 100 tons this year.

I’ve long thought Huber diversity, with a new generation coming on board, and Oliver’s explosive growth are the two best wine stories in Indiana and maybe well beyond Hoosier borders. Wednesday’s visit proved that’s still the biggest news in Indiana wine.

Distillery rivaling Huber’s wine success

24 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Indiana, Uncategorized

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The explosion of the craft cocktail in bars and specialty distillers, driven largely by millenials and women, is skyrocketing the growth of distilled spirits.

It’s happening in across the globe, the U.S., and in Indiana. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, whiskey and bourbon exports surpassed one billion dollars in 2015 and the three years prior.

Distilleries are certainly popular in the Hoosier state. Official statistics can be hard to track down but Indiana featured 25 distilleries as recently as last year. Kentucky, home of brown spirits, had 68 distilleries for an increase of 250 percent in the last decade.

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Ted Huber

Ted Huber, of Huber Orchard and Winery along with Starlight Distillery, was and continues to be one of the pioneers in the Indiana artisan distiller business. Huber, whose family has roots in Southern Indiana near New Albany, leads one of the state’s most successful wineries. Adding a distiller was a natural part of his ever-continuing growth. He started with fortified wines in 1998 and started distilling in 2001. Changes in Indiana law now has Indiana distilled spirits on shelves across the state but only a handful of wineries have made the leap.

The iconic winery, situated in the rolling hills near Starlight, In, produces approximately 60,000 cases of wine. Three years ago Huber said he’d like to grow the distillery to about 50,000 cases. But the two products are different. Any given year’s grape harvest will produce a wine to go on the market within one to three or four years. Spirits take longer from a few years to 10 or more.

The distillery’s signature product is Carl T. Bourbon. The whiskey is named after Ted Huber’s grandfather Carl. Ted is the sixth generation winemaker and now distiller on the family farm. The Carl T. represents a growth product. It sells for $34.99 on the distillery’s website.

Production-wise Huber is making almost 50,000 cases but not yet selling nearly that much. “What we produce in the distillery is mainly bourbon (corn whiskey),” Huber explained. “After the bourbon comes rye and malt whiskey. So those finished products are a blend of four to six year barrells. So with the age requirements there is still another three years before we have enough product in the pipeline to hit those kind of numbers (50k).”

Huber said he wants to develop Carl T. with blends of 6-7-8 year old whiskeys. During a walking tour of one of his giant aging facilities, he poured several examples of bourbons aged and blended in several different ways.

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Huber discusses aging his whiskies.

“We need that age,” he said. “We were patient with our brandies. When they first came out we sold only 10- to 20-percent before upping production. Even today with our brandy production, even though we’re going on 18 years, we will never sell the same amount that we make. We’re getting older and older barrels in our warehouse for blending. And we plan to do that for several more years with our whisky.”

Huber has been a major player in numerous national and international brandy competitions winning top awards and awards for best in specific categories. His whiskeys are beginning to be recognized by top spirits critics as well. One critic wrote that Huber’s bourbon was one of the top 10 in the nation not made in Kentucky that afficionados must sample.

The boom in female brown spirits fan is not lost on the veteran winemaker. He said it’s been the biggest surprise during the growth of his spirit sales.

“Our clientele who came here for an experience of wine and spirits had the women dominate with wine and the men the spirits,” Huber said. “That is long gone over the past four years. We have as many women, or more women, coming here to enjoy and taste the different bourbons or whiskeys. The women who absolutely know their whiskeys from a quality standpoint has blown my mind.”

As a result of that burgeoning interest from women, Huber adjusts some single barrel whiskey’s to full cask strength (110-120 percent alcohol) and unfiltered. “And when we have clients come here from all over the United States to pick out barrels they are looking for products they think women will like. They’re looking for a little more complexity, a little bit more fruit and less oak.”

Huber wines are distributed in five states while the spirits are sold in 12 states. The Huber product line includes several whiskies, straight and flavored brandies, infusions and ports, rum, gin, and vodka.

Huber Sons To Continue Tradition

07 Saturday May 2016

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2016, Uncategorized

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Christian and Blake Huber made career plans not long after learning to walk. If that seems silly, it makes perfect sense in a nearly 175-year- old family business.

The Huber family has farmed property near Starlight, In., atop the hills overlooking Louisville and the Ohio River valley, since 1843. The youngsters’ plans assure the Huber name and tradition will continue for a seventh generation as Huber’s Orchard, Winery, and Vineyards.

Grape Sense Logo“I was in kindergarten,” 20-year- old Christian said, stifling a laugh. “We had one of those ‘what do you want to do when you grow up?’ things. I wrote down winemaker and my teacher thought, ‘who is this guy?’ His family alcoholics or something?’ “

Turning over a growing business with 130 full-time employees and 700 acres in agricultural production was never a given. Blake said his parents never pressured him or his brother to consider the family winery as a career.

The young mens’ first steps are underway. Christian attends Niagra University in its Viticulture/Oenology program at Ontario, Canada. He is in the second semester of a two-year program. He spent parts of last year at IUPUI studying marketing and supply side economics. Blake is a senior at Providence High School.

Blake, Christian Huber

Blake and Christian Huber

Christian has considered California’s UC Davis, the country’s most prominent winemaking program, but cannot enroll until he turns 21. Blake is narrowing his college choices and trying to decide between winemaking or chemistry.

The proud parents couldn’t be more certain that when retirement comes, and Ted assures anyone listening he’s not ever retiring, the boys will carry on the legacy.

“They both have natural ability,” Ted said. “We really officially can’t taste wine with them because they’re under 21. But both boys have an unique ability to be phenomenal blenders.”

Dana said her sons are passionate and have a strong desire to learn. “Neither is going to quit until the job is done,” she said. “They’re both competitive and that will serve them well. They’re community leaders and they’ve shown that on their high school sports teams.”

Ted is just 50 years old. His concern for the sons is turning over a business experiencing rapid growth. “Turning over a business experience small growth is fairly easy,” he said. “But 20 percent-plus is pretty substantial number to keep up. You’re growing a business and buildings have to be built, new vineyards are rotating in and out, and new vines have to be planted. Taking over and running a company while it’s growing is a much bigger concern than when I took over.”

The sons aren’t shy talking about the future and admit to more than a few late nights talking about putting their stamp on the family business.

“It will be about expanding our distilled products and our line of wines,” Blake said. “We want to have a viable whiskey on the market. We’ve talked of getting a new tasting room, creating a new atmosphere but keeping the (original) barn.

“My dad has the product quality at a high level and hopefully Christian and I can keep up the legacy dad and grandpa started.”

As the next generation prepares to take over, the Starlight Distillery business is booming. Huber purchased 100 acres of farmland near the winery to grow corn for the distillery. Efforts in the distillery have recently focused on whiskey. The distillery is bottling just a small portion of the finished product now while the remainder goes into barrels for aging.

The distillery has ramped up to 130 percent of capacity, Ted offered, with more construction planned for later this year. As a matter of fact, in 4-6 years the total distillery production should match the current wine output of 50,000 cases annually.

The seventh generation of Huber farmers is ready to continue a Southern Indiana tradition.

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 Could Boost Wine Sales

30 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2015

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UPDATE: The bill passed the Indiana Senate this week, 40-10, and now goes to the House. I’ll have an update this coming week on the bill’s status. I’ve also learned of some controversy of an increase in the licensing fee – $100 to $500 for Indiana wineries if bill passes.

Wine enthusiasts have read about the great wines of Huber, Butler, Oliver, and Turtle Run wineries in Southern Indiana. But what if you’re reading Grape Sense in Marion or Peru Indiana? You just can’t pick up the phone and order some wine to try these great bottles. It’s prohibited by state law. And let’s admit, it’s a long drive.

Grape Sense LogoThere is seldom good news in Indiana on direct shipping laws but there is hope in the ongoing session of the Indiana legislature. Current law, in place since 2006, requires consumers to visit on site and make a face-to-face purchase before they can order online. It hurt Indiana wineries significantly when enacted and winery owners are excited it could disappear.

Such statutes used to be fairly common across the country but are now disappearing. Indiana Senate Bill 113, introduced by Crawfordsville Senator Phil Boots, would require customers to provide name, address, phone number and proof of age but remove the onsite restriction.

The good news is the bill passed out of the Senate Public Policy Committee, 9-0. But Jim Butler, who often is involved on behalf of Indiana wineries on governance matters, knows there is still a long way to go.

Jim Butler

Jim Butler

“It’s a great start, but the session is never over until the last hour of the last day, and as you know adult beverage legislation is always a labyrinth,” said Butler, who owns a winery near Bloomington. “Back in 2006 we lost the shipping rights that we had had for over 30 years and as a result we lost about 90 percent of our shipping business and have never really regained it.  This bill will be a great help to our customers as well as us as a business.”

So any Hoosier who supports free commerce should support the bill. You need to encourage those ‘pro-business legislators’ to support Senate Bill 113.

Besides killing profit, the 2006 change created more bureaucracy for Indiana wineries, which already are burdened with regulations and mounds of paper work.

Huber, Ted

Ted Huber

Ted Huber, one of the state’s biggest producers and most-visited wineries, said the current system has been a mess. “Obviously, this type of tracking is cumbersome and complicated,” he said. “It is hard for Huber’s to track Indiana customers among the other visitors that we have traveling through from other states.

“This process becomes frustrating to our Indiana guests as they often leave our tasting room and forget to sign the affidavit.” Huber’s welcomes more than 500,000 annually.

The usual suspects have lined up against the change with tired arguments which have never been proven to have merit. The Indiana Beverage Alliance represents retailers and wholesalers and doesn’t want to lose any business. While that’s understandable, don’t we all support a free marketplace?

“There are lots of Pinot Noirs on the shelf at Indiana retailers,” said Marc Carmichael on behalf of the Alliance. Sure there are lots of choices on those shelves. But Indiana wines take up a tiny portion of the inventory of most retail outlets. If you want to drink Indiana wine, shouldn’t you be able to buy it conveniently?

You can bet the underage-drinking crowd will chime in with their hysterics. Such organizations do an important and great job educating young people about alcohol. That argument gets most of us who support direct shipping de-regulation the most riled up. There is no documented evidence this has ever happened – any where!

Today’s column is a call to action, winos! Contact your local legislator and ask them to support Senate Bill 113 and to change this terrible anti-business law.

Indiana Vineyards Took Vortex Hit

15 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2014

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Creekbend vineyard vines in renewal.

Creekbend vineyard vines in renewal.

When most Hoosiers think of weather problems and crops it’s cornfields that come to mind. But the winter cold is the big issue of 2014 for farmers of a different type – vineyard managers.

Grape Sense LogoThe frigid cold of early 2014 damaged up to 25 percent of the state’s grape crop, according to Purdue’s Bruce Bordelon. “It’s very widespread in the northern part of the state,” he said. “From the Bloomington/Columbus line and north the damage is pretty severe.”

The extreme cold temperatures damaged the vine structure in many vineyards. “So a lot of us are retraining vines from the ground up,” Bordelon explained. What that means to those with the cold weather issues is that sections of the vineyard restarted may be out of production for two years. “We’ll have a light crop next year,” Bordelon said. “There should be a partial crop in two years then back to full production in 2017.”

Oliver's Parker

Oliver’s Parker

One of the hardest hit vineyards was the state’s second largest at Oliver Winery. The Creekbend Vineyard just west of Oliver’s tasting room on Hwy. 37 suffered damage to 20-25 percent of its vines, according to vineyard manager Bernie Parker. “We’ll be making less than half of the Creekbend (label) but Creekbend is only about three percent of our total production. There is an economic impact because we’re still having to put in the same effort in the vineyard to re-grow these vines. It may take more effort.”

Parker had to restart 9,000 of 36,000 vines in the 54 acre vineyard. The largest portion of the Oliver wines though are produced from grapes purchased to produce their signature and popular sweet wines. The higher-end Creekbend wines are grown in their vineyard. The bulk of that vineyard is planted in Chambourcin, Traminette, Vignoles, Chardonel, and other typical Indiana wine grapes.

BruceOthers who suffered damage may have been able to recover a crop with good vineyard practices. “Grapes are an amazing plant in their ability to produce fruit,” Bordelon said. “We always adjust the production through pruning and cluster thinning. We usually have way more fruit than we really need. With some of these (grape) varieties, with lighter pruning, we’ll still be able to have close to a full crop.”

Down south Ted Huber saw little damage in his vineyards atop the Ohio River Valley hilltops. We’re probably going to pull off an 85-90 percent grape crop,” Huber said. We had a little bit of minor damage in one vineyard so by choice we decided to do a renewal on it. It still had one-third to a half crop on it anyway, but it just made a lot of sense to take it out of production.”

Huber has the state’s largest vineyard but is the second biggest wine producer. Oliver is by far the state’s biggest wine producer with the second largest vineyard. Oliver buys the fruit for much of its 300,000 case production. Approximately half of the Oliver total production is the popular sweet wines.

Huber Wins Top Indy Competition Award

19 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in Indiana, Newspaper Column 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.

In Vineyard at Harvest is an Education

16 Monday Sep 2013

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Worker framed

A harvest worker reaches through the thick vines to grab this bunch of Indiana Traminette.

STARLIGHT, IN. – The Monday overcast morning wasn’t necessarily the idyllic setting many wine enthusiasts vision for fall harvest. There is this romantic notion of Napa-like sunny skies, smiles and the colors of fall and wine grapes.

All of that holds true, to an extent, in Southern Indiana but a day in the vineyard during harvest quickly brings the realization that harvest is hard work. It’s hectic, its difficult, and it’s rushed – because it has to be to make fine wine.

Ted Huber scooping out stems.

Ted Huber scooping out stems.

Ted Huber, Indiana’s largest vineyard owner, was kind enough to let me hang out today. I shot a ton of photos. Here is the album of more than 30 shots.

I’ve been telling people for a long time that you learn about great wine in the vineyard and not the winery. And it couldn’t possibly be more true than walk the vineyard during harvest then watch the fruit being delivered to the production facility.

All of the workers, along with Ted, were great  explaining the process and what they do during this incredibly busy time of the year.

I’m headed back up the hill to Huber’s Tuesday morning. This will be a shorter visit but they’re probably doing some bottling – something I’d like to see. Maybe buy some peaches or something!

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.

Huber Stands Up to Any Pedigree

31 Sunday Mar 2013

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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.

HuberOne 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.