‘Uncork’ Shows Indiana’s Best

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by Howard in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2016

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French Lick Springs Hotel, French Lick Winery, Indiana Uplands AVA, Indiana wine, Uncork the Uplands

Indiana’s top wine event is unquestionably Vintage Indiana held in Indianapolis in early June each year.

Vintage Indiana brings 30-plus Hoosier wineries to Military Park in Indianapolis and gives thousands an opportunity to sample hundreds of Indiana wines. Unfortunately, the event was nearly drowned out this year with a day of heavy downpours. (Pun intended).

Indiana’s second-best wine celebration might be Uncork the Uplands, Saturday, July 30, French Lick, IN. Uncork celebrates the nine wineries of the Indiana Uplands Agricultural Viticulture Area or AVA.

The AVA thing is significant. The Uplands is the only AVA in Indiana. If you’re a wine drinker and like Pinot think of the Willamette Valley’s Dundee Hills, or Howell Mountain in Napa. An AVA is a federally-recognized agricultural area which produces quality grapes for quality wines.

The 6^th annual event runs 4-7 p.m. at the wonderful French Lick Springs Hotel. Last-minute tickets are $60. Wine fans can find a lot more information on the official website uncorktheuplands.com Unfortunately, getting a hotel room in French Lick on this summer weekend might be tough. The two resorts are sold out. But there are other small chain hotels nearby.

The event features wines from all nine wineries. Visitors have the chance to talk to winemakers and winery owners. Past Uncork events featured plenty of small bites of food and even entertainment. The 2016 early evening wine tasting is the first not to be held at Oliver or Huber wineries.

French Lick is a great location, though a bit of an effort to get there in the Hoosier heartland. French Lick Winery will become something of an official/unofficial host. The Doty family has a long history with Indiana wine and the Uplands event. The French Lick Winery is using the Saturday event to introduce its new distillery. The VIP event is sold out but signals another Indiana winery entering the competitive distillery business. Ted Huber has been the real pioneer among Indiana winemakers to jump into the distilled spirits business. French Lick seems like a natural with the two fabulous, Indiana landmark hotels and a bustling casino.

There is another event coming up that seems to get less attention. Indiana wineries pour their wines throughout the Indiana State Fair, 1-9 p.m., each day of the fair, Aug. 5-21.

State Fair attendees, who are also wine fans, should definitely stop by the Grand Hall across from the Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The event showcases wine and Indiana beer. Attendees must be 21 to enter.

Time Again to Uncork the Uplands

13 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Indiana, Newspaper Column 2015

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Huber Winery, Indiana Uplands, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Oliver Winery, Turtle Run Winery, Uncork the Uplands, Uplands Wine Trail, Winerwald Winery

One of the state’s best, if not the best, wine celebrations returns to Huber Orchard and Winery 4-7 p.m., July 25 in southern Indiana.

Uncork the Uplands is in its fifth year celebrating the wines of Indiana’s only designated American Viticultural Area – the Indiana Uplands. The annual celebration returns to Huber’s after two years at Oliver Winery near Bloomington.

The Indiana Uplands has nine Indiana wineries coming together for one night of wine, food, and celebration. The event is hosted by Huber in its large Plantation Hall. Huber’s is located in the rolling hills of southern Indiana overlooking the Ohio River Valley near the very small town of Starlight. It’s a short drive from New Albany.

The nine wineries pouring will be Best Vineyards, Brown County Winery, Butler Winery, French Lick Winery, Huber Winery, Owen Valley Winery, Oliver’s, Turtle Run and Winzerwald. Those nine make up the Uplands Wine trail and grow grapes within the Indiana Uplands AVA.

The unique Indiana event also brings in a number of Indiana artisan food purveyors offering samples to pair with the wine. Live music and other events highlight the evening activities.

Touring vineyards at Uplands last year at Oliver Winery.

Wine fans can also participate in two guided tours. In one, guests will tour one of Indiana’s largest and oldest vineyards. Huber’s almost 800-acre farm has contributed to Indiana’s agritourism for over 150 years. In the second, tour Huber’s production facility, and see how wines and spirits are created from the ground up.

This year, Uncork will feature add-on tickets for an exclusive VIP event that will take place in Huber’s Starlight Distillery’s new 20,000 square-foot stillhouse an hour before the main event.

VIP tickets include special cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a keepsake glass and personal interaction with the winemakers from around the trail. Tickets to this event are limited.

One of the best parts of the Uplands event is the chance to talk with the winemakers and family members who make some of Indiana’s best wine. But be sure to get there early and take the vineyard tour. If you’re a real wine fan, there is no better way to learn about wine grown in any region of the world than a walk through a production vineyard.

Tickets are $60 per person and are available at the participating wineries and at the door the night of the event. The fee covers all the food and wine tastings throughout the evening.

With Huber located in the southern most region of the state, you should consider spending the night near New Albany or Jeffersonville and enjoy the historical district, restaurants, and new walking bridge across the Ohio River. The area is going through big positive changes. There are several national chain motels near I-64.

Uncork Puts Wine Fans In The Vineyard

03 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Howard in Indiana

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Oliver Winery, Uncork the Uplands, Uplands, Uplands Wine Trail

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

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.

NUVO Spreads #UncorktheUplands Message

26 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Howard in Indiana, Newspaper Column 2013

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NUVO, Uncork the Uplands

Last fall NUVO, the Indianapolis alternative newspaper, picked up Grape Sense – my newspaper column. They run it every other week much like the other 22 newspapers. They usually have to edit it down to about 300 words.

But I’ve done a few special pieces and a few of my regular columns for them as a feature. It was great to see this week’s column featured promoting Saturday’s Uncork the Uplands event in Bloomington!

“Uncork” a Great Indiana Event

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Howard in Indiana

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Uncork the Uplands, Uplands Wine Trail

My every-other-week newspaper column Grape Sense went out to newspapers yesterday. It’s about the Uncork the Uplands event July 27 in Bloomington.

I attended last year and was blown away – a great adventure and great time for Hoosiers. The deadline for advance tickets is Monday so here is the group’s publicity poster with all the details. I have my column up sometime over the weekend.