Saturday will mark the 15th event in Indianapolis that celebrates the Indiana wine industry and promotes Indiana grown food. Vintage Indiana Wine & Food Festival is at Military Park on June 7 from noon to 6 PM, and the organizer, Jeanette Merritt, Marketing Director at the Indiana Wine Grape Council, says the event, just like the Indiana wine industry, has come a long way since the first one.
“Going back to the first year I actually went as an attendee, someone who went and enjoyed the festival and I remember a great event with just a few wineries there, a few restaurants who were there, a smaller event,” she told HAT.”Now 15 years later this is the 10th festival I’ve actually managed and it’s grown leaps and bounds to where we’ll have almost 30 wineries, 15 restaurants, arts and crafts and music, and a lot of people who are going to be there to enjoy Indiana wines.”
The state now has 75 wineries and the 30 who will be at Vintage Indiana will offer samples of over 200 award-winning wines. As always, the festival promotes many different aspects of Indiana agriculture.
“We showcase grapes and vineyards and wine production as part of agriculture and agri-tourism here in the state, and it’s important then for me to showcase the other parts of agriculture. So we have partners like the Indiana Dairy Association coming to teach people how to pair wine and cheese and what type of great meals you can cook in the summer that feature dairy products. Indiana poultry farmers will be partnering with us again this year. They’re a long standing partner to this event and will talk about the poultry industry in the state and do some great demonstrations on their food products. And we partner with Indiana’s Family of Farmers, an organization that represents all of agriculture here in the state and they come to educate people broadly about agriculture’s impact in Indiana.”
The first 10,000 Saturday will receive an etched wine glass and Merritt recommends purchasing a $25 advance ticket at participating wineries, Marsh supermarkets and online here.
Music will be provided by Zanna-Doo, My Yellow Rickshaw and Jennie DeVoe, Your blankets and lawn chairs are encouraged and the adults-only event is for those 21 and over.
Hear more from Merritt in the HAT interview:Jeannette Vintage 14
Participating wineries are:
Best Vineyards
Brown County Winery
Buck Creek Winery
Butler Winery & Vineyards
Cedar Creek Winery
Chateau de Pique
Easley Winery
Ertel Cellars Winery
French Lick Winery
Harmony Winery
Holtkamp Winery
Huber’s Orchard, Winery & Vineyard
Madison County Winery
Mallow Run Winery
Monkey Hollow Winery
Oliver Winery
Owen Valley Winery
Rettig Hill Winery
River City Winery
Satek Winery
Thomas Family Winery
Traders Point Winery
Turtle Run Winery
Whyte Horse Winery
Wildcat Creek Winery
Windy Ridge Winery
Winzerwald Winery