Chateau Ste Michelle
Washington state’s founding winery, this is the oldest and most acclaimed vineyards in Columbia Valley. Originally built in 1912 by Seattle lumber baron Frederick Stimson, the winery’s roots date back to the repeal of prohibition. Chateau Ste. Michelle has two state of the art wineries, one completely devoted to white wines while the other is devoted entirely to reds. Recently, it has received “Wine Brand of the Year 2008” by Market Watch Magazine and “2005 Winery of the Year” by Restaurant Wine.
Chateau Thomas
Originally found in 1984, it is located on the southside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Charles Thomas decided to bring about his hobby and passion for wine with the help of his wife, Jill, and launched this local winery. This small venture now produces more than 15,000 cases of 50 difference varieties of wine annually. One of the most recent ventures include their Slender wine, which is the world’s first naturally-sweetened carb-free wine. Innovation, passion, and delicious, unforgettable wine. It’s all there, at Chateau Thomas Winery.
Huber Orchard Winery and Vineyards
Huber Orchard Winery & Vineyards was originally settled back in 1843 by Simon Huber on 80 acres of land. Since then it has been cared for by 7 generations of Huber’s living and working on the farm which has grown to 600 acres. In 1978, Huber diversified and opened the doors of their winery. Huber is now Indiana’s largest wine-grape producer, with the capacity of producing 400,000 pounds of grapes per year. Patience, passion and planning have been vital to the overall success of Huber.
French Lick Winery
This winery was establish in 1995 and has become one of Indiana’s premier wineries. It is located where the former Kimball Piano Factory was located in West Baden, Indiana. French Lick wines have received over 250 medals in state, national and international wine competitions. The winery uses a variety of Chambourcin, Traminette, Vidal, and Vincent varietals to create their great wines.
Oliver Winery
Oliver Winery started off as a hobby of Indiana University law professor William Oliver in the 1960’s. He eventually established a vineyard on the Northwest side of Bloomington, Indiana and noticed that he had an excess amount of wine produced and helped pass legislation to create small wineries in Indiana. In 1972 Oliver Winery opened and over the next 40 years grew to create the Camelot Mead and Oliver Soft Red that made them so famous. In 1994 Creekbend Vineyard was created as a sub brand of Oliver to show off the wines that are totally created on property. Now they distribute to 14 states and are one of the most well known regional wines.
Mallow Run
Mallow Run was originally a regular farm growing corn and soybeans, but when John Richardson retired from teaching school, he came back to Mallow Run with the intent to grow grapes for other local Indiana Wineries. In 2000 the first grapes were grown and the decision to create their own wine was quick to follow. Now they produce Chardonel, Traminette, Cayuga, Catawba, Vignoles, Chamourcin, Chancellor, and Leon Millot.
Wente Vinyards
Wente Vineyards was founded more than 125 years ago, and is the country’s oldest, continuously operated, family-owned winery. Today, the winery maintains its leadership role in California winegrowing under ownership and management by the Fourth and Fifth Generations of the Wente family. Blending traditional and innovative winemaking practices, the winery draws from approximately 3,000 acres of sustainably farmed Estate vineyards to create an outstanding portfolio of fine wines.