Review: Butler Winery Blueberry

In the ongoing agony and ecstasy I feel in my battle with fruit wines, I opened my bottle of Butler Winery's Blueberry this week. This retails at the winery for $11.95, but I managed to get it in a closeout bin at Kroger for $5.50. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have tried this wine otherwise, since I am not a big fan of blueberry wine. In fact, of all the more common fruit wines that pop up on Indiana wine lists, blueberry is my least favorite, by a considerable distance. I have gone so far as to say it is pretty much unsuitable for even a dessert wine. Still, I am not one to pass up a bargain, especially one I can make a blog post about it.

I served the wine slightly chilled, and noticed a nose of currants and cocoa. Upon tasting, the wine was surprisingly dry and did not have the cloying factor I anticipate when I taste blueberry wine. It reminded me of some of the lighter bodied reds. Blueberries are on the palate, but this wine does not adamantly betray its source, instead giving snippets of multitude of berries, plus plums. And I have never tasted a blueberry wine with tannins, but this one has it, though the quantity is pleasant and not overwhelming.

On the second day, the wine mellowed some under the Vinvac, but the differences in taste were marginal. The tannins mellowed slightly, making the wine as good as, if not better than, the second day.

One rave I can give to this wine is that I finished the whole bottle, something I struggle to do with fruit wines. The other I can give is that this is not only the best Indiana blueberry I have tasted, it the only blueberry wine I have tasted from anywhere that does the berry any justice.

In writing this article, I went to the website, and learned that the blueberries come from Northern Indiana. I also learned this is Butler's biggest seller. I can see why.