Signs, Signs, Nowhere Are There Signs

In Indiana, this is the sign you see along the road to let you know a winery is near. (This picture, taken from Indiana Wines website, is the sign directing you to Easley Winery, I believe from the Ohio Street ramp off of I-65.) There are also blue "tourist marker" signs that one sees directing you with specificity to a particular winery or other popular spots.

However, you may have noticed that not all Indiana wineries get such signage. On several recent tasting trips, I have been downright frustrated by the difficulty in navigating to a rural winery, especially when I am accustomed to looking for signs like you see on the right. I have always ended up finding the winery. But how many people decide to take a detour from their drive to visit a winery off the beaten path, only to be frustrated and turned back by lack of signage?

In speaking with winemakers over the past several months, I have asked several, via email or in person, why they lack signage. The answers range from mystification to anger.

I contacted Jeanette Merritt with the Indiana Wine Grapes Council to see what the qualifications were for the signage. She was kind enough to respond. She confirmed what a few winemakers had already told me-that a winery must have regular operating hours to receive signs. This is defined by being open at least five days a week, six hours a day.

This is obviously bone-headed, given that the costs associated with the start ups require most beginners to continue to work in their primary jobs during the week.

I should note Ms. Merritt's positions in this issue is neutral, since the IWGC cannot get involved in government or agency decisions such as this. The blame for this rests purely with the Department of Transportation.

I have been, and still am, very critical of wineries not having a website, or of not maintaining said website. There is just no excuse for it, especially considering how cheap it is to have a website.

However, on this issue, the government is entirely at fault. The government controls the easement near the highways, allowing them to help market wineries in ways that not even a website can. Plenty of other signs have hours on their sign as well, so one does not need to worry about visitors driving up without some idea of the hours. This can be done at no charge to the winery. The costs can easily be offset by the increased traffic and revenue the sign will bring to the State's coffers.

Wineries don't have this same luxury. In order to put a sign up near the road in the State's easement, you must obtain permission from the State. This, like any other sort of government action, is a pain in the rear, complete with meetings and specifications. The alternative is to find someone with land in a good location, and get their permission to display your sign on their land. If they allow it, you will probably have to pay rent. The other problem with several of Indiana's smaller wineries is that they tend to be more rural areas where the citizens might not be so keen to advertise a winery. One winemaker told this was case with them. The pleas to get some signage in the easement went unanswered, or were answered with a simple letter citing the rule mentioned above. No compromise, no offer to help, no other alternatives being proposed, just a simple form letter.

I am constantly amazed at the fact that the State just doesn't get the basics of marketing here. For all their talk about promoting agritourism (see here, here, here, and here, just to start) they forget that a small amount of publicity can reap big rewards. The rewards are even greater when the signage is pretty much permanent, assuming the sign doesn't blow away.

Not being able to see the forest for the trees. Our government at work once again.

A Promotion to Make You Laugh

I received Easley Winery's monthly newsletter today, and they were showing the support for firefighters by running the following special:

The week of April 20-25, Easley Winery in downtown Indianapolis is running a special promotion just for Firefighters. Everyone with ID will receive 20% off wine and gift purchases. An additional 5% off will be awarded if anyone (usually the rookie) in the squad is willing to don our grape suit. Green tights optional.

I assume the annual firefighter convention is in town that week. Clever.

Michigan To Become a VQA?

Mich Wine asks if the time is becoming ripe for the state to do what Ontario has done and form a Vintner's Quality Alliance (VQA). Wines with a VQA stamp are guaranteed to be completely from the appellation, and undergo a screening process, including a taste test, to ensure they are high quality. Considering where Michigan is in their development process, it makes perfect sense.

Indiana is nowhere near considering a VQA, but I do find myself frustrated by the inability to find the origin of many Indiana wines. I found this passage from the Mich Wine article particularly telling:

"This is the Michigan wine industry's dirty little secret: how many wines made and sold by Michigan wineries contain, in whole or part, juice from non-Michigan grapes. And how many wineries go out of their way to blur the distinction."

Amen to that. I agree there are plenty of wines not suitable for Indiana's climate, and juice must sometimes be imported. But why blur the distinction? I have never been outright lied to about the source of the grapes, but have seen plenty of obfuscation. Why?

We know all the grapes didn't come from your vineyard-and trust us, we're okay with it.

The Banning of Chateau

By now, everyone who follows wine has heard about the boneheaded idea by the EU to ban the use of certain words on foreign wines sold in EU member countries. The words that would be banned are "chateau, classic, cream, crusted/crusting, fine, late bottled vintage, noble, ruby, superior, sur lie, tawny, vintage, and vintage character."

Well, what do Indiana wineries think about this? Who better to ask than one of the deans of Indiana wine, Dr. Charles Thomas of Chateau Thomas Winery for his thought on the proposal. Dr. Thomas emailed me his thoughts:

My opinion is that I was not upset by the EU’s move several years ago to set aside names of places, regions, etc., such as Burgundy, Chablis, Port, etc. because these are places with unique identity that should be respected. But I think attempts to ban the entire French language is taking it too far. So, I can’t have a ”rendezvous” with my wife, or put “mayonnaise” on my sandwich, or have “hors d’oeuvres” before dinner, or keep the name Versailles, IN or study American “cuisine.” If the United States Government started banning French businesses whose names or products contain English names, we would have a real trade war on our hands.


My choice of the name “Chateau” as my winery name 25 years ago was intended to be complimentary to the French as well as to suggest the style of wine I produce. I have been to France more than a dozen times. I currently have a French oenology exchange student working at my winery. I love the French people, although the government has problems (as does ours). I draw the line, however, with this proposed ban."


I couldn't have said it better than the good Doctor.

A New Appreciation for Hoosier Hospitality

Things are getting back to normal here after my Florida vacation. I went to visit my sister, who lives in the Keys. The weather was perfect, and a great time was had.

One thing that was disappointing to me was my visit to The Key West Winery. They specialize in "fine tropical wines" which made me curious to taste some. Their wine list was interesting, and included some unique, if perhaps inappropriate, selections. But really, how often does one get to try carrot wine? Or tangerine champagne? Or tomato jalapeno?

When I arrived one afternoon to taste, there were two ladies being assisted, so I browsed around first. After the ladies completed their tastings, I went up to the counter and asked for the wine list.

"We don't have one. Just look around, find out what you want to taste, and come back. I'll pour it then."

Really? Whoever heard of a winery not having a list for customers? I've been to wineries with four wines, and even they still had a printed list. Still, I looked.

Upon looking, I was even more frustrated this winery did not have a wine list. If I was browsing the racks of a regular winery, I could keep the Cabs and Rieslings straight. But this winery, with its guava, watermelon, and banana offerings, made that impossible. Still, I managed to find three varieties I thought would be good to try.

And that is when I realized why there is no wine list, because now there was a line at the counter. It was a clever and subtle way to get you to cut back on your tastings by feeling rushed. This was a new concept to me. I've been to wineries in tourist traps before, but those tourist traps are tourist traps because of the wine industry. This was a winery built to satisfy tourists looking for something exotic (and many of the tourists were on shore leave from the cruise ships). In this place, the goal is not to encourage contemplation on the wine, but to encourage you to plunk down money for some fruit wine you've never had before and get the hell out. The fact they had only one person behind the counter, and an unfriendly one at that, only made the experience less pleasant.

Still, I persisted, and upon getting to the front, selected only three wines for tasting, since there were people behind me. I can't remember what I tried, but think it might have been banana, orange, and lime. The wine was served in the tiniest plastic cups I have ever seen. The pour was so small one couldn't get a second sip. When I tried to smell the wine, all I could smell was the plastic from the cup.

And the taste? The wines I tried tasted like watered down Schnapps, and were not pleasant at all.

I should also note than none of the wines retailed south of $18.

However, what irritated me the most was the advice the counter help gave to customers on how to break Key West's open container law. While many people think you are able to carry a drink down the street like one can in New Orleans, Key West forbids this, and has started to become more aggressive in enforcing it. This should have been carefully explained, but was not. Instead, the customers were advised to keep the bottle in their purse and "just be discreet."

After hearing that, I was done. While this put a crimp in my plans to buy several souvenirs for those back home, I was fine with it.

On the flip side, I am even more appreciative of the hospitality I encounter each and every time I go into an Indiana winery. I don't feel rushed, I don't get shorted on tastings, and I don't hear winemakers encouraging old ladies to risk arrest.

One final, amusing, note. When I toured the bottles, what did I find around nearly every wine? A medal from the Indy Wine Competition. I guess I should be thrilled, but this only reinforced my earlier thoughts about these medals.

Judging the Judges

Since I started this blog in November, I've wobbled quite a bit on what topics I want to cover. I've tried to move away from posts I think are too "press-releasey" while still reporting on Indiana wine and wineries. Strangely enough, one thing I haven't been interested in covering is that of wine competitions.

Anyone who has been to a winery has seen them. Look up, because the bottles are usually placed on a high shelf, wearing three or four necklace-like medals the wine managed to win at some competition or another. What regulars at wineries tend to notice now are the wines that have no medals, sad and stooped like the child who received no valentines.

Those who wish to immerse themselves in local wine culture quickly learn that just about any winery can win a medal for a wine they made. Those who immerse themselves in local wine culture learn pretty soon after that that medals are not really indicative of quality.

Now, a study in the Journal of Wine Economics confirms what a lot of people already knew. As the abstract puts it:

Wine judge performance at a major wine competition has been analyzed from 2005 to 2008 using replicate samples. Each panel of four expert judges received a flight of 30 wines embedded with triplicate samples poured from the same bottle. Between 65 and 70 judges were tested each year. About 10 percent of the judges were able to replicate their score within a single medal group. Another 10 percent, on occasion, scored the same wine Bronze to Gold. Judges tend to be more consistent in what they don’t like than what they do. An analysis of variance covering every panel over the study period indicates only about half of the panels presented awards based solely on wine quality.

The article has lots more goodies and stats that show wine judges are all over the map in grading wines, which explains why just about any wine can win an award.

I understand medals are valuable PR tools. I would submit, however, they are only paid any mind by beginners. I think just about every wine fan can remember the first time they bought a wine because of the award it had "earned." This is usually followed shortly thereafter by said wine fan drinking said wine and realizing the medal should be melted down and sold for scrap.

Ignore those medals on the shelf. Try everything you can sip the next time you visit a winery. Expand your horizons, and you will be surprised at what you like.

Find more about this topic at the wonderful "sister" site Michigan Grapevine, as well an article in Wines and Vines.

PS: Think I have any chance of getting media passes to the Indy Wine Competition?