Brewing and fermenting down-home great tastes

Home brewing and winemaking, and enjoying quality beverages of distinctive cultural heritage, are part of Indiana’s re-invigorated story, underscored during the recent visit of the lord mayor of Cologne, Indianapolis’ sister city, when he approvingly sampled our versions of Indiana Kolsch beer and Rhine wine. Evidence of Hoosiers trading up to cosmopolitan taste over insular bland is quantified in growing attendance at tastings and brew pubs and increased sales of distinctive domestic and foreign labels.

Follow NUVO’s wine and beer writers, Jill Ditmire and Rita Kohn, as they chronicle individuals carrying on family traditions or discovering the joys of real beer and wine. Just as each sip of or each experience in making a quality beverage reveals something new, so will these stories. They’re NUVO readers making news.

Not your grandmother’s wine

By Jill A. Ditmire

Martha Stewart feasted on its greens while in prison. My next-door neighbor Kelly used to hand pluck them from her yard. Bees love them. Lush lawn lovers hate them. Mahlon Butz drinks them. Well, sort of.

Dandelions. The butter yellow button-like flowers — or weeds, depending on your take — make a fine wine and the greens make a plucky salad. Dandelion root is also a traditional liver tonic. So I guess if you drank too much dandelion wine while eating dandelion greens you’d want to take a teaspoon or two of ground dandelion root in your water before you go to bed for the night.

“My grandmother made dandelion wine and my parents made it, too, in the basement. Everyone grew Concord so we always had wine for Thanksgiving and Christmas but it was homemade wine,” says the man who was underage when he first started tasting wine and now claims he is over-age when asked about selling the scrumptious fruit forward award-winning wines that he makes in his home.

“I like the heavy reds,” Butz chuckles.

“The fun part is blending. I have an artistic family and for me blending the different grapes is the creative part,” he says of the grapes he grows, prunes, sprays and harvests on his Tippecanoe County property, as well as the grapes he buys from the West Coast that get pressed in the basement cellar.

Butz’s Shiraz is dense and peppery and could go glass to glass with many of the bottles of the grape found on store shelves. But profit is not his passion. Smiling faces and empty glasses and dozens and dozens of awards from Non Commercial (the PC wine world lingo for “amateur”) is the point.

“Maybe if I was younger I’d do it professionally, “ says Butz with an easy laugh.

His 17-year-old grandson told him that he wants to learn the craft. So perhaps one man’s hobby becomes another man’s career. But don’t expect to see a bottle of dandelion wine with the BUTZ label on it.

“About 30 years ago my son wrote a letter to my mother asking for the recipe. It was hit or miss because it was hard to read but we gave it a try,” says Butz of his mother’s recipe. Two quarts of solid pack yellows, raisins, sugar and yeast.

They made it once. That was enough.

Home brewing: challenges and awards

By Rita Kohn

Ron Smith’s Castle Rock Irish Red Ale was distributed to select stores, pubs and restaurants throughout Indiana following its release at Kahn’s Fine Wines & Spirits on Jan. 30. Upland Brewing Company of Bloomington (www.uplandbeer.com) brewed and bottled Smith’s unique recipe after it won the 2005 Indiana Ultimate Beer Geek Challenge.

Conducted by World Class Beverages, the annual award also recognizes the contributions home brewers are making to the craft beer industry.

Smith has been home brewing for 15 years. His awards include Best of Show in the 1999 Indiana State Fair and a coveted gold medal in the 2000 National AHA (American Homebrewer’s Association) Competition, which includes entries from across North America. NUVO visited Smith at his home brewing operation, a sparkling clean set-up in his garage.

Smith: I have a 10-gallon, all-grain, tower system that is a permanent set-up in my garage. I have a dedicated drain and hot and cold water lines running to the brewery area. I serve all my beer on tap in small kegs. I use the same ingredients, processes, computer software, etcetera, the micros and brew pubs use. Most people are pretty amazed by all of this once they realize how professional it is, but I am only one of many that take brewing to this level these days.

The Ultimate Beer Geek Challenge is an incredible award for a home brewer to win. Having your brew bottled and distributed statewide is an experience I will long remember.

NUVO: What are the changes in home brewing since 1990, when you started?

Smith: More people are doing it; excellent ingredients, including pure liquid yeast strains, are readily available; the equipment has improved as well, with a more efficient and effective device for everything. Also, the general public is more educated on better beers, so the hobby is more accepted and people don’t fear what we make, like it is some sort of witch’s concoction. All of this [home brewing] has led to many brewers making truly excellent beers.

In addition to being more flavorful and complex, craft beer tends to be higher in alcohol than most domestic beer, so more mature beer drinkers have learned how to appreciate the “quality” rather than the quantity.

NUVO: What special quality does a touch of molasses bring to a brew?

Smith: Molasses adds a complexity and depth to the flavor. It adds a toffee and rich caramel-ly character to the malty sweet component of the beer.

The yeast strain is where a great deal of the flavor of a beer comes from. The yeast I used for the Brown [Wyeast 1028] finishes drier, and has a harder, more minerally profile. The yeast I used for the Red [Wyeast 1318] creates a softer, more balanced character and finishes a bit sweeter. Thus, using the same wort — wort is unfermented beer — but different yeasts, can create a very different beer.

The style guidelines for an English Brown Mild and an Irish Red are very similar. I probably never would have thought to put molasses in a Red, but I think my future Red recipes have changed. The moral to this story is never decide what your beer style is until you’ve finished it and tasted it.

NUVO: How do you typically brew?

Smith: I start with 10-gallon, all-grain batches that I split into two 5-gallon batches in order to experiment with different yeasts, dry hopping and other conditioning variables, while still remaining true to the requisites of the specific style.

NUVO: What learning process is underway for drinkers of craft beer?

Smith: The explosion of craft beers and breweries has settled down, so the successful micros and brew pubs are now less focused on survival and making a beer for the broader masses, and more focused on differentiation and making new and different beers.

To learn more about the Irish Red Ale style, check out http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category9.html#style9D.

Side by side

By Rita Kohn

Upland Brewing Company of Bloomington, Ind., altered its schedule to brew and bottle Ron Smith’s award-winning Castle Rock Irish Red Ale. NUVO spoke with brewer Caleb Staton, a Muncie native who started as a cellarman at Upland about two years ago following an internship at Berkley Trumer Brauerei. Staton is a graduate of Hanover College and University of California-Davis where he earned a master’s degree in brewing.

NUVO: What was fun for you while working with Ron Smith’s brew?

Staton: Ron’s Irish Red Ale has a characteristic that makes it stand out. My theory is that the molasses stabilizes the color and the head. He created a recipe that is easy to translate from 10 gallons to 1,000. The one challenge was the molasses. We had to find 30 jars of the same brand to keep it consistent. The groceries in Bloomington wanted to know what on earth we were doing. Well, I got back with the jars, opened one, turned it over. Whoa, nothing was flowing out. I started laughing. We had to figure out how to get molasses out of the jars pretty fast. The other challenge was getting the label OK’d. We referred to it as “Castle Rock’s sticky journey through the hallways of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Tax Bureau.” They had a hard time with molasses in an Irish Red. They insisted we specifically list molasses on the label.

NUVO: What would it take to make Ron’s beer a regular for Upland?

Staton: It would have to prove to be commercially viable. Then we would decide if it’s year-round or seasonal. People would have to ask for it. Upland tries to look for that “new thing.” Our market is for the mature beer drinker. There’s a lot of good beers out there. We invite people to start finding them.

A priceless balance

By Jill A. Ditmire

“I got fired five times,” laughs Mark Easley, current owner and winemaker of Easley Winery in downtown Indianapolis.

His father Jack Easley was the henchman who let his son go over and over and over and over and over … but Mark kept coming back. Even a history degree from Wabash College didn’t sway his desire to be in the vineyards and winery started by his parents over 30 years ago.
Jack and Joan Easley made wine at home for fun since both enjoyed successful careers, his in law, hers in market research. Add four kids and there wasn’t much time for a side business. Then in 1971 they found Cape Sandy along the Ohio River in Southern Indiana.

“They said it reminded them so much of Europe but it needed people. So they decided to plant grapes and make wine,” recalls the marketing mastermind of the business, Meredith Easley, Mark’s wife, whom he met during one of those “winery firings” as she was the beach manager at Eagle Creek Park and he was an out-of-work beach bum.

Jack and Joan found a warehouse on the corner of College and New York Street to make and sell the wine and the Easley Family Winery was off and running.

“They didn’t just plant a row or two, they planted acres,” Mark says. Acres of hybrids, crossbred grapes that were just gaining fame and good fortune thanks to Midwest soils and the guidance of Ohio State University wine professors. Easy growing grapes like foch, baco noir, cascade and seyval blanc became easy drinking wines and bustling sales as the family bottled that juice and then sold those and other grapes to up-and-coming Indiana wineries.

They also landed the contract to produce the sacramental wine for the Indianapolis Catholic Archdiocese.

“It’s a precise balance of sweetness and acidity and we have a lot of Catholic customers come to the winery and want to buy that wine. But Joan is adamant about not selling the wine to anyone but the diocese,” Meredith says.

Easley makes three varieties: a white, a red and a blush. “The red is most popular as it represents the Catholic interpretation of the blood of Christ. But during Lent we get more orders for white,” Meredith says.

Jack died in 1997 and the often-dismissed son became the keeper of the family business. Mark used his touch to make some badly needed improvements. Top-notch equipment and thorough wine keeping from grape to bottle plus customer first priority are daily endeavors for the 21st century Easley Winery. “Now it’s quality over quantity,” Mark says.

A statement that not only applies to the almost 30 wines produced but also to the Easley daughters. The next generation of Easleys may be more interested in Hello Kitty than Reggae Red now, but mom and dad hope daughters Madeline, 8, Mary Joan, 4 and Maggie, 2, will continue the business. “Madeline will be our saleswoman, especially when it comes to dealing with the distributors,” Meredith laughs. “Mary Joan can do the PR and Maggie is quiet and thinks, so she gets to be the winemaker.”

Easley’s three most popular bottles

Reggae Red: sassy sweet “get your groove on” red wine made from blend of concord and Fredonia. Chill and thrill!!

Barrel Select Red: just a smidgen softer than Oliver Winery Red. Both from same grape, Concord, but the Easley take is lighter bodied. Sweetness lingers less but still fabulous flavor.

Reggae Blush: This soft, pink, easy-to-drink wine boasts more fruit than sweet and gives you a balanced best of both. Catawba is the grape to thank for this creation that should make white zinfandel shy away as wine lovers partake of a wine that offers the same satisfying flavor but lighter, crisper finish.

Easley Winery
205 N. College Ave.
317-636-4516
easleywinery.com

Expert taste

By Rita Kohn

NUVO asked Bob Mack of Indianapolis-based World Class Beverages to describe the basic styles of beers our readers might like to sample, and to list some of his favorite brews that are locally available.

Wheat ales

The four basic ingredients of beer are barley malt (germinated barley), hops, yeast and water. With wheat ales, some of the barley malt is replaced with wheat, usually about 50 percent depending on the desired final product. Today, the hefeweizen (or weisse) is the most popular and common of German wheat beers. Hefeweizens are pale colored ales and often taste of banana or clove. The banana, clove or other flavors are produced by esters, which are a by-product of the fermentation process. The word “weizen” simply means wheat, while “hefe” means yeast.

Examples available in the Indianapolis area include Indiana’s own Upland Valley Weizen.

Other examples include Ayinger Brau Weisse, Franziskaner Hefe Weiss, Flying Dog’s In Heat Wheat, Paulaner Hefeweizen and Pyramid Hefeweizen.

American wheat ales tend to be very crisp and clean, with a grainy, nutty and slightly sweet flavor. The bitter flavor of hops is typically very low in American wheat ales. Examples available in the Indianapolis area include Bell’s Oberon, Anchor Summer Beer, North Coast Blue Star Wheat and Three Floyds Gumballhead. Unibroue Don de Dieu is another great wheat beer, though it is more of a “Belgian wheat” than the others.

White ales

Belgian Witbiers or white ales are the staple of Belgian wheat beers. Adding coriander, orange peel or other spices, the Belgian white ales achieve a very refreshing flavor profile. The ale itself is tart and crisp and the spices are pleasant and refreshing.

Examples available in the Indianapolis area include Indiana’s own Upland Wheat, Oaken Barrel Alabaster and Barley Island Sheet Metal Blonde.

Other examples include Allagash White, Arcadia Whitsun, Avery White Rascal, New Holland Zoomer Wit, Ommegang Witte, Unibroue’s Blanche de Chambly and Wittekerke White.

Fruit beers

Many brewers have created flavor profiles that satisfy the true beer lover, while providing a refreshing taste of fruit that can balance well with a quality craft beer. The best fruit beers provide a fresh, solid taste of the fruit, while not obscuring or detracting from the taste of the beer itself. Popular fruit beer flavors include apricot, raspberry, cherry, peach and black currant.

Examples available in the Indianapolis area include Indiana’s own Oaken Barrel Razz Wheat.

Other examples include Abita Purple Haze, Dark Horse Red Raspberry, Dogfish Head Aprihop, Lindemans Framboise (raspberry), Lindemans Kriek (cherry), Pyramid Apricot and Unibroue’s Ephemere (apple).

Pale ales

Pale ales cover a wide range of different beers and are often thought of as a British or American style. Pale ales are typically light-colored beers that have a clean but firm taste. The emphasis in most pale ales is usually balanced between malty (sweet) and hoppy (bitter), but the hop flavor often shines through and is cherished by pale ale drinkers.

Examples available in the Indianapolis area include Indiana’s own Oaken Barrel Gnaw Bone Ale, Upland Pale, Three Floyds Alpha King and Barley Island’s Blind Tiger Pale Ale.

Other great examples include Anchor Liberty Ale, Bell’s Pale, Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale and Samuel Smith Organic Ale.

Fans of the hops will enjoy India Pale Ales, the hoppiest versions of a pale ale. Barley Island’s Barfly and Upland’s Dragonfly are Indiana examples, while other examples include Avery IPA, Bell’s Two Hearted, Dogfish 60 & 90 Minute IPA, New Holland Mad Hatter and Rogue I2PA.

Spit take

By Jill A. Ditmire

My fingernails are starting to turn blue and my nose threatens to run. I pull the white lab coat a bit closer to my body. I stick my nose in the glass and inhale. Then take a sip. The wine swishes around my tongue and mouth. Then I spit into a plastic cup.

I repeat this process 150 times in one day. Then come back and do it again the next day. And the next.

Why? It’s Indy International that’s why. Held in the crisply cool (to keep wines and judges fresh) Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the Indy International Wine Competition is the largest International wine competition in the United States. Yep, it’s bigger than contests in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Just goes to show you there IS more than corn in Indiana. Or maybe I should say unfermented corn.

The 2006 competition drew 3,859 total entries from all over the world with 3,024 entries in the commercial division. Judges come from all over the world, too. Where else can you taste a Grand Cru Burgundy and an amateur rhubarb wine in one day? OK, maybe at your Uncle Vic’s. But while Indy judges are treated like royalty it’s still serious business. And when one judge thought his experience allowed him to swallow and not spit on day one, he was told not to come back for day two.

The competition started as part of the Indiana State Fair 34 years ago as a way to boost the young yet productive Indiana wine industry. (If you offer medals, they will come. And they did.) But the competition didn’t get the respect or international interest until 1992 when Dr. Richard Vine, PhD., (yes, that really is his name) started running the show.

The prestige of Indy brings in the best of the best from both commercial wineries and amateur winemakers (the “non commercial” wine competition is the second largest in the U.S. with 271 entries in 2006) seeking bronze, silver and gold medals. The professional competition includes honors for Best of Show, Best Red, Best White and Best Dessert and Best Sparkling.

So how does it work and why should you care?

Twenty panels of five judges comprised of wine journalists, wine educators, wine marketers, winemakers and knowledgeable wine consumers don a lab coat at 8 a.m. and sniff, swirl, sip and spit “flights” (10-12 glasses of a particular varietal like Chardonnay or Seyval Blanc), usually five in the morning and five after lunch, meaning a normal judging day involves about 100 wines judged.

After each flight, judges vote to give the wine bronze, silver, gold or no medal. Wines that get five gold medals go to the “best of the best” or Concordance Gold round where the best red, white, sparkling and best of show wines are determined.

“Gold means SOLD,” Vine says. Which is why this and other wine competitions are not only important to producers but great for consumers as well. Five independent but trained palates select taste- and price-worthy wines rather than the rating of ONE wine writer as is done in many wine magazines. That diversity of palate and product means better value wines for consumers.

“We have a great cross section of wines from all over the country and the world and Indiana, which means more choices,” says Ellie Butz, competition coordinator. In addition to managing all of the wines and judges and outside events, she also oversees the “Pit Cru,” 70 wine lovers who volunteer their time doing everything from opening bottles to washing glasses — several thousand an HOUR.

“These folks are the heart and soul of the competition and without them we would be lost, “ Butz says.

I agree. I’d rather spit than wash. You don’t have to do either as you will find complete results at www.indianawines.org.

Winners

American Airlines Grand Champion Commercial Wine: ’04 Mission Hill Family Estate, Five Vineyards, Riesling Ice Wine

American Airlines Trophy for Best Commercial Red: ’03 Martin, Dry Creek Valley,
Petite Syrah

American Airlines Trophy for Best Commercial White: ’06 Sileni Cellar Selections, Marlborough, New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc

American Airlines Best Sparkling Wine: 1998 Pommery Millesime Grand Cru Champagne

Matters of taste

By Rita Kohn

Judging for the eighth annual Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup awards took place July 7-8 in the State Farm Building at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Two hundred professional breweries and almost 300 home brewers entered. Ace Discount Liquors Best of Show trophies went to Oaken Barrel’s Uberweizen for professional and to Thomas Alstadt’s IPA Hopsia for home brewing. Oaken Barrel and head brewer Ken Price were named Brewers of Indiana Guild’s “Champion Brewer” for the second straight year.

Information: www.brewerscup.org or call Great Fermentations at 317-257-9463.

NUVO: Visited with Paul Edwards, veteran beer judge and “Indianapolis’ grandfather of home brewing,” at his favorite Brugge perch just outside the brewing room to learn something about the dichotomy between judging and selling alcoholic beverages at the Indiana State Fair.

NUVO: Why is the competition held prior to the State Fair itself?

Edwards: In 1997 and 1998, Brian Hasler, then Indiana state representative from Southern Indiana and a lover of craft beer, introduced bills to change the law to allow taking home brews off premises. The bills got no place. By 1999, we had a better understanding of the Indiana legislative process, and I had collected other state laws on home brews. In the hearing, the Miller lawyer wanted to know just one thing, “Do you want to sell?” When I told him “no” objections disappeared.

I wrote the bill that eventually became law as of July 1, 1999. Winemakers and home brewers living in Indiana are now allowed to take wine and beer off property, not to sell, but for personal use, educational purposes, competitions and into licensed premises. We immediately set up the Brewers Cup, which has brought positive attention to an Indiana industry.

We were just doing what makes sense. Since it didn’t cost anything except for the minimal amount for the State Fair to run the competition we got the votes. It’s a state event like all other competitions at the State Fair, except that since you can’t sell alcohol during the State Fair, the judging has to take place on the fairgrounds separate from the State Fair itself. The second Saturday in July was set as the date for the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup.

NUVO: Why did you get into judging?

Edwards: I made wine in college, working for a winery in Cincinnati. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati and taking a job in engineering in Indianapolis, my wife gave me a book on brewing. In 1989, I attended an American Homebrewers Association [AHA] conference in Oldenburg, Ky. Among the attendees were people from Indiana. We formed a loose-knit group to meet at each other’s homes to compare processes and generally help each other.

After 1999, when we could take our brews to meetings, we organized as the Foam Blowers of Indiana. Ron Smith created the logo and the slogan: “F.B.I. We Tap Kegs, Not Phones.” [www.FoamBlowers.com]

In 1992, I decided to study on my own to get certified as a judge. Indiana did not have a roster of certified judges. Anita Johnson, judging coordinator for the Indiana State Fair, has had to recruit qualified judges from Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. So I felt we needed to start getting certified in Indiana. I also felt judging would help me become a better brewer.

NUVO: What’s involved in certification?

Edwards: A lot of drinking of different beer styles and knowing what the standards are for each based on the Beer Judge Certification Program. We take a three-hour comprehensive test that is graded by three qualified judges and reviewed by a fourth judge who gives the final grade. We are rated on our depth of knowledge that includes stylistic accuracy, technical merit and intangibles like writing a report that helps the brewer make a better beer. We’re not allowed to write, “This beer stinks.”

NUVO: Why should NUVO readers be interested in beer judging?

Edwards: With beer, most people think in twos — pale or dark. People think dark means strong and pale means weak. Wrong. Guinness, probably the best-known stout, is 3 percent alcohol. Some pale ales are 8 percent. Knowing the profile of a beer makes drinking it more pleasurable. For instance, while stouts share some ingredients in common, there is a range of differences that makes each distinctive. Knowing what judges look for in taste, aroma, visual qualities to earn a medal helps a craft beer drinker make good personal choices as well.

Craft beer drinkers tend to be people who like to be informed. Professional brewers like to get feedback from knowledgeable patrons who have a discerning palate. Regulars are a brew pub’s best friends. We tend to follow our nose when we travel and find the brew pub with the best food and beer. We make a lot of friends.

It helps to know what the color of the bottle does to the beer that we’re buying off the shelf. Shelf life is about three weeks for best quality. Check the code for freshness. Heat and light are enemies of finished beer. Brown bottles keep out ultraviolet light. Green lets ultraviolet through. Beer is destroyed in green. UV light creates a skunky aroma.

There are 74, and still counting, styles of beer. Discerning beer drinkers follow the competitions to learn what’s next in the constantly evolving craft beer industry.

Want more information? Log on to www.FoamBlowers.com, www.ciabj.org, www.bjcp.org.

Home to brewing

By Rita Kohn

Great Fermentations, the motherlode of supplies and training for home brewers and home winemakers, is vacating its base across from the Broad Ripple Brewpub for larger, more cost competitive quarters at 65th and Binford (5127 E. 65th St.; 317-257-9463). NUVO caught up with owner Anita Johnson just before the move.

NUVO: Why leave this quaint, vintage space, pun intended?

Johnson: We took a survey of our customers and recognized that they would find us as accessible if we moved due east from here. Yes, we will miss being in Broad Ripple, across from the oldest brew pub in Indianapolis and just down the street from the newest, but it’s costing $16-$40 a foot to rent a retail space in Broad Ripple. We really need more space. We are going from 1,600 to 4,000 square feet. We’ll be able to set up our own brewery so we can teach inside, instead of having to set up outside when weather permits.
We also took a look at our growth as being bigger than Indianapolis through Internet business. People spend a lot of money on home bars and we can help them make good decisions. We need storage space to meet that demand.

NUVO: How did you get into this business of nurturing and supplying the needs of home brewers and winemakers?

Johnson: It started with beer. I’ve always loved beer; good dark beer. One day a friend served my husband and me the best tasting beer. We asked where he got it. He said, “I make my own beer.” I asked, “What will it take to have you teach my husband and me?” We settled on his choice of a dinner at our house, and my husband and I have been part of the home brewing culture ever since. It’s something we can do together. It’s scientific and creative.
About a dozen years ago we had the opportunity to become the next generation from the establishment’s original location in Nora. We discovered a neat community of people through home brewing. Somehow we find each other, even on vacations. Brewing is more than a passion. It’s a family way of life. You choose places to eat by the beer they are serving.
I look at this as almost a dream store. Customers are friends who bring their family. They come in and stay to chat. It seems people are searching for a place to be recognized. People are so flattered we remember their names and things about them.

For more on Great Fermentations: www.greatfermentations.com.

Nurture nature, get good grape

By Jill A. Ditmire

We stand at the top of a hill overlooking the Loire River, which is flooded into nearby fields this time of the year. We are on a slope so the water is not a threat to our camera crew or the rows of naked vines before us. The passing trains give us more reason to pause while videotaping the interview.

Nicolas Joly pulls a pocketknife from his wide wale taupe cordoroy pants and scores the ground as if he is marking the bottom of a brussels sprout. He raises a handful of the earth towards the sky and with his French accented English explains what he finds.
“This soil is alive, see how it falls apart? I can cut anywhere and it breaks apart. That means it is full of microbial life.”

Celebrating that life, the energies of the soil and the elements of nature is what biodynamic winemaking is all about. Winemakers are caretakers and work to balance the energies of the soil, light, humidity, heat and any living organism, whether matter or mammal, that shares space with the grape vines. No chemicals, very little machinery. Appreciating and perpetuating the basics of the Earth and solar system is the daily vineyard task. Some claim “hocus pocus,” but it all boils down to simple science.

Agriculturist Rudolf Steiner developed the biodynamic principles in 1924. His teachings are used by organic producers worldwide and helped develop today’s standards for “organic” goods.
His biodynamic beliefs are a conscious step up from organic. Know your soil, site and the fact that great wine is made in the vineyard and not the cellar. That means no adding yeasts or messing with the juice during fermentation. Clones should be suited to the site and if not, rip them out and plant vines that would normally grow on that ground. Not necessarily more work than today’s industrial winemaking process, but a lot more thought and patience and passion is required.

Joly is the 21st century troubadour of Steiner. He only grows Chenin Blanc in his vineyards at La Coulee de Serrant near Angers, France, on the same ground that Cistercian monks first planted vines in 1130 AD.

He practices what he preaches but doesn’t preach to other vintners, which is why those that share his passion of “nurture nature, get good grape” joined his Renaissance des Appellations/Return to Terroir. Seventy-eight wineries around the world including 11 in the U.S. believe and practice varying levels of the biodynamic charter (see sidebar).

Our day in the vineyards ends with lunch in Joly’s home, the original monastery where those vine-planting monks lived hundreds of years ago. His wife offers a simple yet sumptuous meal made from ingredients on their property. Pureed spring vegetable soup, potato and herb salad, mixed greens, cheeses from the milk of sheep that graze the vineyards, fresh baked bread and, for dessert, white peaches drizzled with fresh cream. And, of course, Joly’s wines.

Same grape but different locations and each offers a unique taste of terroir, which means that Nicolas Joly knows what he is doing when it comes to creating biodynamic wine.

• Les Clos Sacres (AOC Savennieres): crisp, clean, smooth with refreshing hints of white peach and minerals

• Clos de la Bergerie: rich, silky, round layers of apricots, peaches, vanilla

• Coulee de Serrant (AOC Coulee de Serrant): fresh, crisp aromas and flavors of honeydew melon, white peach, herbs and hint of honeysuckle

www.coulee-de-serrant.com

Return to Terroir Quality Charter

Nicolas Joly makes it clear that the intent of the charter is not to separate or discourage vineyards but to encourage them to make wine from grapes that have a distinct taste of place. The French respectfully call this “terroir.”

Level 1: Natural practices in the vineyards and the cellar

No herbicides, no chemical fertilizers, no genetically engineered vine plants, no genetically modified yeasts, no aromatic additives, certification of organic or biodynamic practices by a recognized organization.

Level 2: The next step

Manual harvesting in at least one picking; natural fermentation; enzymes, bacteria, additives are banned as are methods of concentrating the must; manual selection of future vine plants: true field selection without clones.

Level 3: When conditions are right

No modification to the natural balance of the must and wine, no acidification or de-acidification or chaptalization, no fining, no sterile filtration.

Taste buds

By Rita Kohn

Just how does one acquire a taste for good beer? “One sip at a time” is the mantra for “educating palates” at Deano’s Restaurant & Wine Bar at 1112 Shelby St., in the heart of Fountain Square.

At home in the original Theatre on the Square building at the convergence of Virginia, Prospect and Shelby streets, Deano’s opened last fall as the dream-come-true for sommelier DeanWilson, executive chef James Bryant and co-managing partner Chris Bowen.

A wine tasting event is scheduled every Wednesday from 6-7 p.m. with Wilson, followed by the music of singer/songwriter Hal Gerard starting at 8 p.m.

Beer tasting is the second and last Tuesday of each month, from 7-8 p.m. with a beer maven from World Class Beverages, located in Indianapolis. DJ Dicky Fox mellows with modern classics every Tuesday from 9 p.m. until midnight closing.

The cost for tastings is $5 per person; no cover for music. A changing seasonal dinner and small plate menu is Chef Bryant’s choice, along with a short list of standards, to entice vegans along with carnivores, and is served 5-10 p.m.

The atmosphere is neighborhood.

At a recent tasting, personal favorites surfaced among the crowd. Upland’s misty ale was described as a good bridge to craft brews from the one-beer-fits-all mega-breweries. Avery’s was deemed a nice merger between a Belgian farm house brew (with flavors indigenous to the particular brew location) and an American pale ale. “It’s a really nice appetizer, good for pairing with a salad.”

The Piraat got nods as an all-around good brew, but especially fine with just about any entrée. Its aroma is unique and holds throughout an entire meal, tasting as good when it warms up as when cold. “It’s relaxed.”

The Gulden Draak “is a great way to finish out the night” just as a non-beer drinker might savor a fine cup of coffee as a digestive.

And so novices and old hands at tasting exchanged their points of view and either hung out for dinner (with another round of beer) and the music, or went home, promising to show up for the next session.