Indiana wines

Return trip to Harmony Winery

/ Roadtirementvintage / 23 Comments

We discovered the Harmony Winery last summer when we were set up at the Highway 40 yard sale a few miles down the road. The winery is in Knightstown on Historic US 40 in a building that used to house a chicken hatchery at the turn of the century. The wines we tried last June during a tasting really impressed us. Thus we were ready for yet another tasting flight of any of the new selections available.

Full shelves, wide selection

Our choices

After the tasting

There were several new wines and some old favorites in the case that we purchased. It is always fun to try new and different wines. The people who own and run Harmony Winery are friendly, helpful and always carry our case of wine to the car. It is one of our favorite places to visit.

A fun Saturday discovery

/ Roadtirementvintage / 20 Comments

Wine bar to serve you

Sher and I wanted to have a new experience Saturday. We had been looking for nearby attractions, and found that there was a winery near Batesville, Indiana, about half way between Indianapolis and Cincinnati.  Ertel Cellars Winery is a well established winery and bistro, offering both excellent varieties of wines and varied and delicious menu selections in the restaurant.

Loving that wine!

Studying the wine list

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s a burger

We decided to have our meal on the outside covered patio. The seating was in very comfortable wood rocking chairs, and overlooked a beautiful green valley through classic rough stone masonry. We each received a complimentary flight of three wine samples. Of the samples we both preferred the Pink Catawba, one of the Estate wines, meaning grown, fermented and bottled on site at Ertel Cellars.

The meals we ordered were from the lunch menu. I ordered the Smoked Gouda cheese burger, and Sheryl had the Spinach salad with all the trimmings. Both of our meals were superb and very filling. We had a bottle of the Pink Catawba with our meals and took the specially packed unfinished bottle  home with us. Sarah was perfect as our wait staff and made our visit most memorable.

Gorgeous view from our table

Some of Ertel’s vineyards

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dining patio is an absolutely delightful place to enjoy a quiet and calm Saturday afternoon. With the best company (no question there), great food and excellent wine we had an adventure that turned into a romantic Saturday date. Ertel Cellars should be on any traveler’s agenda. We’ll be returning.

 

Indiana’s Madison County Winery

/ Roadtirementvintage / 10 Comments

Sher and I found another winery to visit north of the place where we were having our big yard sale. The Madison County Winery is, for sure, in the country. In fact without our phone navigation app I doubt I could have found it!

The winery building is a great facility, and it was set up for safe tasting with all the COVID shields.  We tasted several wines, including a couple of blueberry wines, including Blueberry Moscato. They also have one very different wine, a Chocolate Covered Pear Wine. Interesting, but not our favorite.  We ended up buying a bottle of Blueberry wine, and we also got a large Blueberry Moscato slushy to go.

Store and tasting room

This large farm site has not only vineyards, but also an RV park. Local complaints about of all things smoke from their outdoor firepits  have shut down the RV park until permitting is completed. Outdoor concerts are planned, and we look forward to visiting again when we can catch a concert,  enjoy some wine and stayover in our RV.

Trying out Mallow Run Winery

/ Roadtirementvintage / 24 Comments

A hot sunny day with no rain in sight so we decided to try a new (to us) local winery.  The Mallow Run Winery near Bargersville, Indiana has been open to the public since the early 2000’s. The land where the grape arbors stand have been in the family since 1824, and is a Hoosier Homestead Farm.

Coming off of Whiteland Road you pass through perfectly manicured grape arbors. When you reach the tasting room you are immediately impressed with the barn structure. The original hand hewed timbers were salvaged from and repurposed from the 1824 barn.

The tasting is free for up to four samples, which of course is a great deal and not that common anymore. Sher and I tried different and in a couple of cases the same wines. One we really were interested in was the rhubarb wine. The wine is sweet, but with the distinctive rhubarb taste.

Beautiful arbors

Outdoor stage

 

 

 

 

 

Mallow Run Winery has a beautiful outdoor stage and lawn area behind the barn. There is a full set of summer concerts planned for the 2021 season. We will defiantly be taking in one of the concerts. Our hostess shared that there will be wine slushies available for the concerts!

We decided to purchase two bottles of wine. We did go for a bottle of the rhubarb wine, and in addition, we got a bottle of “Picnic Red”. There were other wines on the list that we tried, some we liked, some we didn’t. However we think that along with the concerts, we’ll be returning for more wine. Click here for the Mallow Run website.