Sunday, December 5, 2010

Nick and Knacs

Oh boy do my arms hurt! We got 20 new barrels in and I have been trying to make room for them and five big tanks in the winery. Yes, here at the peak of the winemaking season we are bringing more juice so we’ll have it when we need it next year. The winery is going to be chock full of barrels and tanks and there will be little room to work around in there. Oh well…

So we are very happy with the feedback from our 2010 “nouveau” wine, VAN BUREN, made with the Indiana-grown Chambourcin grapes. We serve it slightly chilled, but I like it room temperature myself. Its pretty fruit-forward, as we say in wine-speak and I like it better than any other nouveau style wine I’ve ever made.

We are trying to get the BUNKER HILL sweet Concord wine in the bottle, but its just not quite ready. We are going to bottle the new vintage SWAYZEE, HANGING ROCK, and WILDCAT CREEK WHITE very soon. I’ll let you know.

Our “Black Friday” promotion went much better than we thought it would, a lot of people took advantage of our early hours, special deals, and free eats. It was fun and we sold a lot of wine, yea!

Just a few weeks left in 2010 and this has been great year for the winery. Thanks to all those who visited, tasted and took home a few bottles. We are working on some new stuff at the winery we hope you will find interesting and exciting. Keep an eye here and we’ll keep you up to date. We will also make the announcement here when the 2009 BUNKER HILL is (finally) in house and for sale.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Black Friday

So, some of you will not even go to bed on Thursday, because a few of the crazy retail stores open at midnight or 3 am, right? Well, we are not so crazy at the Oak Hill Winery. But we will suggest you stop by and see us after walking your tootsies off and wearing down the stripe on your credit cards. Ok, we might even have a deal or so for you, but what you will really need is a time-out to recoup and rest-up. So here we go...

--yes, even we will open early this friday!
We will open at 11:00 am to give you two extra hours in the winery and...

--from 11 am to 1 pm only:
Save a dollar more per bottle off our regular discounted price!

--Join the Wine Club:
Join at the regular price for one year and two extra free bottles just for joining!

--need to mellow out?
Mugs of hot, spiced Kokomo Cider are just three bucks Friday only!

--One more enticement:
Free cookies and snacks, while they last...

Ok, one more:
--we'll be releasing our NEW NOUVEAU RED wine called VAN BUREN - Its a 2010 Indiana Chambourcin!

- So don't miss the fun from 11 am to 6 pm on Friday at the Oak Hill Winery!!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Fire and Wine

I am sure many of you have heard the news that Grape Inspirations Winery in Carmel burned down last week. I cannot imagine where you start after having your whole business reduced to ashes. I suppose you start out by designing a new building and getting it built. That would shoot a year at least. Then you would probably find another winery where you could start making wine again, under their license, so you’d have product when the new building was ready. Maybe the ATC (state) and TTB (federal) agencies would allow you to use a temporary building to make your wine, but the hassle of setting up such a facility would most likely lead you back to finding another winery where you could work.

Problem is; how many Indiana wineries have space to handle such a process? Every winery I have visited is pretty tight on climate-controlled square footage, although I know a few have helped some new wineries get started before they had a building. So it’s possible, I guess. I hope we never have to face that problem!

What’s new at the winery? We bottled our “Nouveau” style red wine this week, which we will release next Friday (11/26) as our salute to the French Tradition of releasing their new wines on the third Thursday of November. For those wine enthusiasts among us, that is this Thursday (18th) and I am sure many local wine stores will have a batch to sell. Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

“Beaujolais nouveau is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is the most popular 'vin de primeur', fermented for just a few weeks then officially released for sale on the third Thursday of November. This "Beaujolais Day", or "Beaujolais Nouveau Day" sees heavy marketing from the producers, with races to get the first bottles of the vintage to different markets. Beaujolais Nouveau is a purple-pink wine that is particularly lightweight, even by the standards of Beaujolais. The method of production means that there is very little tannin, and the wine can be dominated by fruity, ester flavors of bananas, figs and pear drops. These are enhanced by the frequent recommendation to serve the wine lightly chilled, at approximately 55°F.”

Last year we had several of these new-style wines, but this year we have only a small batch of some Indiana-grown Chambourcin that we handled to be drinkable at this very young age. I am very pleased with the result, as the grapes were picked on September 18; the fermentation began on the 19th and completed (for-the-most-part) by the 28th; then we left the new wine on the skins for two weeks; then pumped off the free-run; and pressed the skins on October 9th. So the wine has only been tanked for five weeks or so and out of the vineyard for two months.

So what does it taste like? Hard to answer, because I have been riding this wine almost daily, watching and tasting. I feel its got a strong Chambourcin flavor, with overtones of ripe fruit, blackberries and currants. I drank about 500ml of the unfiltered stuff left in the hose and filter housing last night and was very pleased. I want to try it well chilled and see how that impacts the flavor. I am quite happy with the color of the wine, although there is a noticeable “muddiness” as you might expect with a young, naturally made wine. Well anyway, stop by on BLACK FRIDAY and enjoy a taste of this new wine. Have a seat and rest your feet after slogging through the malls, enjoy a glass of wine and some Indiana-made cheese.

By the way, last spring I said I would do three things: (1) paint the house; (2) install the new background music system; (3) finish the downstairs trim and paneling. Ok, well the music works now, OK, but its not the end of the year yet, I might still (haw-haw) get some carpentry work done.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Accepting Complaints in this Line...

Ok, Ok, Ok! I know it’s been a while since I posted on here, but gosh-darn-golly-sakes its THAT TIME OF YEAR! Yes, we do just shy of 50% of our business in the last three months of the year, fairly typical for the winery business in general. So we’ve been working hard in the winery and we HAD to take a little get-away for our Fall Missouri Winery Tour. No, you did not miss a notice, every fall we go west with some friends to drink wine and canoe the clear waters of the Ozark Hills. But that’s all over now and we are back in the saddle and riding hard! So what’s going on in the winery?

The press of the 2010 fermented Chambourcin red-grapes went very well, it was the first use of the new, bigger press and I am delighted with the result. A bladder press has a rubber membrane that you fill with water while it squeezes the wine-juice out of the skins. You do not want to press too hard though, the wine will begin to taste bitter as the skins and seeds break down and put undesirable flavors into the juice. With the help of my able assistant, Jamin, we monitored the juice closely until it was just starting to give us that bitter taste and cut it off.

We have set aside a small barrel of this wine to re-ferment and bottle in just a few weeks as our 2010 "NOUVEAU" red wine in the French tradition. You might recall last year was our first effort at a nouveau style red wine and it went well. We will introduce that wine (name to be determined) on November 26th, so plan to stop in on BLACK FRIDAY to relax from the shopping and set a spell and taste some wine.

The winery’s “gift shop” is now pretty well stocked and if you have not seen some on the neat new stuff, you should stop in! The wife is cranking out the gift baskets day by day, every year we sell more than the year before and they start at just $19.99. Keep in mind she will design a basket for you (with notice) to meet your needs and price point.

Well, I’ll try to squeeze in more time to post here, there is much going on to talk about, several new wines coming out in the next 30 days; the winter Free Seminar schedule will be forthcoming; and in December we will have a special program to sign up new Wine Club members, so if you’ve been thinking about that, watch the website and here for a special offer coming in December!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Taking the Fall and All

As the first crisp notes of Fall whirl around us, we start to think about years ago, things past, and nostalgia often sets in. This is not bad, especially for those of us over 45 years of age, as we have so much to remember and ponder over.

For me, the last ten years of starting a winery has many fond memories and lessons learned. But the point of matter is I have never seen a better year for grapes here in Indiana. What I am wondering is, 2009 was a tremendous year for apples and we are introducing this weekend the new vintage of both KOKOMO CIDER and INDIANA APPLE, unquestionably the best batch of apple wines I have ever made. So how will 2010 be?

So, in a few weeks I will head out to see the Hainlens at the orchard just outside of Converse to order the 2010 apple juice we will turn into next year’s apple wine. The late summer has been very dry. Will that cause a more intense flavor in the apple? Or did the heat keep the fruit from maturing and the lack of rain allow the acids to be out of balance with the sweetness? Only time will tell…

A few weeks ago we did a loop around Jackson, Michigan and hit four of the wineries on the Pioneer Wine Trail as a kind of scouting trip for a possible bus tour up there. The first stop was SLEEPING BEAR winery, right on I-94, in what was formerly a tasting room outlet for St Julian’s Winery based in Paw Paw. They are new and just have an initial offering of wines, but had some winners that were very good. Now, they take what some will call a “cutsy” approach to wine, using cartoon characters on their labels, but the wine stands up well. The 2009 Vignoles and the Cab Franc were both very tasty.

Next stop was SAND HILL CRANE vineyards and they had a huge tasting list and insisted we try every one! They had a superb 2006 dry Traminette; a Sassy Rose’ made with dry Cab Franc; and the Vignoles Pyment, just kissed by a dash of Michigan honey, all were excellent choices.

In the small town of Tecumseh, we found PENTAMERE winery, saying they are an “urban” winery. Located in a historic building with an open wine-making area with elevated walkway for tours, I’d say they are right, in a small-town kinda-way. I want to highlight their Morningstar, made with Seyval Blanc and Pinot Gris, plus their Michigan Cherry, a semi-dry wine I thought said “cherry” without messing the thought up!

Our last stop for the day was the very popular CHERRY CREEK CELLARS, the busiest winery we visited. Being a red wine drinker, I loved their Pinot Noir, but the people with me approved strongly of their wines named Jazz, a red wine and raspberry (!!!) blend; and a off-dry red, La Mia Famiglia. It took some time to get in and out of their small, brick school-house, tasting room, but the wine was worth it.

We missed the other four due to time constraints, but will plan on going up to see what else the area wineries’ offer. I have been asked before about a Michigan winery tour, but we generally go out in March (too early to go north) and August, a much nicer time to visit Michigan. So we’ll talk and see what we can put together for the Summer 2010 Bus Tour. We have tentatively set SE Indiana as out 2011 Spring Winery Bus Tour destination, returning to Madison and the surrounding countryside. If you’d like to get email notices iof our bus tours, send us an email with the subject line BUS TOURS and we will get you a notice when available.
www.oakhillwines.com oakhillwinery@yahoo.com

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Winners and winners???

Ok, we had 19 amateur entries in the contest this past weekend and now the Cheesecake winners are known: TOP PRIZE goes to CHERYL YOUNG for her Pina Colada, yum!

First runner up was MARK SILER’s Pecan & Carmel creation;
Second runner-up - MARLA LINES for her New York Style with Red Raspberry Sauce.

I tell you folks, I did not taste a bad one in the bunch and how you can say one is better then another. THANK YOU to all the entrants, we had a very busy day at the winery for the Cheesecake Festival and I believe a good time was had by all!

The COMMERCIAL division was won by SAM’s CLUB, but I forgot to see whose cheesecake they entered on their behalf, so I’ll get you the who and what of the winner very soon!

With our biggest event of the year over, what’s do we have to look forward to in the months to come? As mentioned previously, on October 2 we will release two new versions of our apple wine. First is the ever popular KOKOMO CIDER and we will have it hot & spiced for you to try, as well as chilled. What we are all excited about is the new INDIANA APPLE, an off-dry apple wine that several people have said is the best apple wine they have ever tasted. I felt that’s a bit strong to say about a barrel sample, but we were sipping some of this at the Festival, nicely chilled, and I will say its better then I expected.

We have a little of the 2008 Indiana Apple left, just a few cases. We are blowing it out at $5 a bottle while its lasts!!! A good dry apple wine that is excellent for cooking, sipping, or makes an fabulous spritzer (add 1/3 ginger ale).

In an upcoming blog, I will review our visit to the Pioneer Wine Trail near Jackson, Michigan, where we found some very good wines, well worth the drive up there for.

Friday, September 17, 2010

I got behind!

Sorry! I have gotten behind on my blog updates, primarily due to the CHEESECAKE festival (Saturday, September 18, 1-6 pm), plus we are having website problems that have eaten up a lot of time trying to fix. I want to get started on the TWO wine tours we have been on in the past few weeks. Let's do one at a time:

First, the 2010 Summer Bus Tour went very well! Everyone showed up on time to get on the bus (7 am is early on a Saturday) and we did not lose anyone along the way. But how did it go?

Our first stop was Oliver Winery and the folks there opened up a bit early to accommodate us and we had a great time! Half went on tour of their impressive production facilities; the other half did a tasting. The results were quite surprising, in my view. Too often the “Big O” gets forgotten in the search for great wine, we think of Oliver as the “sweet wine” winery. But in truth they knocked us out with the variety and consistency of their wines, not to mention very nice tastes. A lot of wine was bought and not much was sweet, don’t miss Oliver’s next time you are in the neighborhood.

A few minutes away we visited Butler Winery’s winery & vineyard and found another great selection of wines. I think Jim has a real style to his wines and his vineyard was gorgeous.

The next stop was lunch, but the next winery was Carousel, right on the highway as we headed south towards New Albany. I found some reds there I really liked and a Pinot Gris my wife found very tasty.

Our last stop was in New Albany’s River City Winery, where we found more (repetitive?) great wines and a very nice dinner as well. If you visit the winery, come for food too!

Our stay at the Hampton Inn went well and all were ready for a Sunday morning tasting at Turtle Run Winery. Jim, the owner, looked a bit ill to me and he admitted he had went to bed at 2 am and got up about 5 am to be ready for us. Why? Because harvest was running well ahead of schedule due to our hot weather! Jim is one of the most entertaining and informative winemakers I know and the group of 44 wine “tourers” all agreed. For the first time, we were running behind schedule because everyone wanted some Turtle Run Wine. We wound our way through the scenic countryside to BEST Vineyards where we enjoyed the view from the deck while tasting excellent wine from this newer winery. The Chardonnell was wonderful…

We headed north and hit Chateau DePique where everyone was impressed with the wedding chapel as well as their wines. We hit Buck Creek, a winery the group had specifically asked if we could visit again and the gang there kept us moving towards dinner at a local buffet.

We made it home a bit after 9 pm and everyone scattered for home. The wife and I both agreed the trip went very well and we look forward to next spring’s winery bus tour. I think we need to return to Madison, its been two years and there are some new wineries down that way that need checking out…