30 Jun Bill Oliver Shows Wine’s Best Pairing Is Beautiful Setting, Great Conversation
My fiancé and I were perusing the countless wine offerings inside of Oliver Winery’s tasting room when I happened to look up and notice a man walking toward us, pointing at my shirt.
This must be Bill Oliver, I think to myself.
“Cory?” he asks politely.
I shake his hand.
“I saw the word beer across the outline of Indiana on your shirt and figured,” he says with a smile. “Nice to meet you and thank you for coming.”
My fiancé, Carolyn, and I are humbled by how personal he is.
From the infamous Soft Rose Red to Bean Blossom Cider, we have just met a man who has built an Indiana wine empire and shows no signs of slowing down.
Bill leads us outside of the beautiful tasting room to one of the elegant decks surrounded by magnificent amounts of foliage and explains that in the near future the tasting room will be rebuilt.
“A makeover inside?” I ask.
Without flinching he says, “Rebuild it. Start from the ground up. We (Oliver) want to completely rebuild it and make it better.”
Better?
The tasting room inside of Oliver Winery, in my opinion, couldn’t get better.
But this is who Bill Oliver is. What he stands for. He is always looking to improve. He wants to stay on top of the wine industry and not only offer an exceptional product, but an exceptional experience. An experience to appreciate his craft.
Then Bill leads us into a lab where we meet Vice President of Operations Dennis Dunham. Dennis has three glasses in front of him and explains that he’s been “working” on the Riesling.
“Go ahead and try them,” Dennis urges.
I immediately feel droplets of perspiration form on my forehead. I am in no way – shape or form – an expert when it comes to wine. I’m a beer guy. But not right now I’m not. So I sample all three and can detect subtle differences, as can my fiancé, who is much more graceful when it comes to wine.
“I liked the first one,” I say somewhat hesitantly, afraid that this might be a trick where all three wines are the exact same. I’m prepping myself to be the butt of a joke.
But then Bill steps up, and with poise and grace, swishes, sniffs, and tastes each sample. Finally he declares, “The first one is standing out to me, but let’s keep working with them.”
He is always looking for the best. That is a standard that’s well ingrained within the products Oliver puts forth.
Oliver telling us of the winery’s history and its future.
Next Bill gives us a behind the scenes tour of Oliver Winery – we even meet his amazing wife Kathleen who helps run the everyday operation.
We then walk through a room housing the small batch fermenters, which in my eyes seem huge (remember, I’m a beer guy).
Next, it’s on to witness the insanely cool bottling line. Bill informs us that wineries from all over fly out to observe the machine as it precariously cranks out bottle after bottle.
After that, we behold the massive 92,000 gallon fermenting tanks.
“A company from Missouri had to build these on site,” he says with a laugh. “It was really cool!”
It really was.
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He has 20 years as a winemaker and that’s not counting the countless times he spent watching his father make wine in the family basement while was growing up.
“When we moved to Ithaca, New York in 1965, my dad thought that if they can make wine here (New York), why not Indiana? The geography is similar,” Bill said, reflecting back.
The question of why not? has been answered. That answer has become Indiana’s largest winery.
How large?
In 1983, when Bill Oliver took charge of Oliver Winery, they were producing 7,000 cases. Now?
They produce 320,000 cases a year.
That’s a lot of grapes.
The final leg of our tour proved to be the most special.
My fiancé and I followed Bill from the Oliver tasting room down a few curvy backroads until we arrived at Creek Bend Vineyards – 60 acres of lush Indiana grapevines that provide the fruit for Creek Bend wine – Oliver’s line of exquisite wines.
Creek Bend Vineyards is also home to the Cork and Fork Live Music Series on the farmhouse lawn. (Click here for more info on Cork and Fork)
Once we pull off of the gravel drive, going off-road, we finally park on a small hillcrest. Rows and rows of grapevines surround us (this was my first experience in a vineyard and certainly one I will not forget). Opposite the lavish fields of vines, the sprawling scenic hills of iconic Monroe County roll captivatingly in the distance. (At one point we actually drove between rows of grapes and it was truly an awe-inspiring experience.
This is what it’s all about, I think to myself as I take in the view.
Walking through the vines, Bill shows us different variations of grapes and explains how each strand should develop – from the directional growth of the vine to the spacing between the clusters of fruit. Listening to him talk with such passion was inspirational and allowed me to appreciate the craft of winemaking that much more.
As I sat at that table I remember smiling to myself, listening to Bill talk passionately about his craft. I smiled because in the brief period I was lucky enough to meet and hangout with Bill Oliver, I realized that he indirectly taught me the greatest thing one could teach to a wine novice.
And it’s this:
Good wine goes best with good conversation and good company.
Oh yeah, before I have you scratching your head convinced I’m not a beer guy, Bill Oliver has a favorite brewery….Upland.
Lance Ryskamp
Posted at 03:34h, 30 JuneOliver is a wonderful destination, especially if you have kids at IU (one step-daughter is a ’14 grad, and we are taking down my youngest in a month for her freshman year). The tasting room and surrounding grounds are picturesque. Their Zin is probably the best wine I have ever tasted! Cheers!
Phillip P.
Posted at 11:14h, 30 JuneSimply amazing!