Wineries of Indiana

The Indiana Wine Trail Welcomes Spring with "Buds, Blossoms and Bread"

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Spring comes to southeastern Indiana as the Indiana Wine Trail partners celebrate the new season with "Buds, Blossoms and Bread!" April 10th - 11th and 17th - 18th. The Trail partners, Ertel Cellars Winery and Restaurant, Lanthier Winery, Madison Vineyards Estate Winery, The Ridge Winery, Stream Cliff Farm Winery and The Thomas Family Winery- kick off Spring with a 2 weekend celebration of the iconic symbol that everyone visualizes as the beginning of this new season. "Flowers! Our vineyards always signal the start of the green season" said Brian Ahaus of Ertel Cellars. "Wildflowers in the vineyards, the flowering trees and then the buds on the vines!"
All the Indiana Trail Partners have their own unique way of celebrating the awakening. Lanthier Winery is offering garden workshops and tours twice daily Saturdays and Sundays, 1pm and 3pm. Breads and spreads will be featured in the tasting room- spreads will demonstrate the use of spring herbs, flowers and flavors with butters, cheeses and honey. There will be special discounts on all blush wines.
Ertels Cellars Winery and Restaurant will show off Spreads & Wine- Sun dried Tomato Pesto with the Foch wine, Roasted Onion & Cream Cheese with their Blush and Basil Garlic infused Olive Oil with the Gold Cap Chardonnay. The bread offerings will be Ciabatta, Flat Bread, French Baguette and Focaccia.
Madison Vineyards Estate Winery will be offering event guests a sampling of Sandy Palmer's' well-know chocolate zucchini bread matched with "Z", a natural
raspberry wine available exclusively at the winery. They will also be giving
escorted vineyard and winery tours at no cost and will offer free grape
cuttings for those future winemakers interested in planting a few of their own
vines.
The Thomas Family Winery hosts "The 14th Annual Hot Luck and Fiery Foods Exhibition" on the first weekend of the Trail event. It's a celebration of all things "Chile", the "Hot Luck" on Friday night and "the Exhibition" on Saturday. Highly featured is the Jalapeno Cheddar bread. "It's a rich, cake-like bread with tangy hoosier-grown peppers and silky cheeses" said Elizabeth Thomas, winery owner. "A loaf is a meal by itself!" Saturday is when vendors of hot sauces, salsas, fresh & dried peppers, even pepper plants offer their wares for sale. The second weekend the Thomas Family Winery will feature more breads and a CD Release party on Saturday the 18th, by "The Ellie Maze", an acclaimed Americana Duo from Columbus, IN.
Getting ready to open for the season, and sure to have wonderful suprises is
Stream Cliff Herb Farm and Winery in Commiskey, IN. And the cheery staff at Ridge Winery is always ready for a Spring fling themselves!
You can contact all the Wineries, Visitor Bureau partners on the trail, or check in at www.indianawinetrail.com for more details.
Those interested in more information about the Indiana Wine Trail can call the Madison Area CVB at 1-800-559-2956 or log onto the website at
www.indianawinetrail.com.