About each month, I uncork a new bottle of wine. It takes a month for me to drink a bottle by myself, but that gives me many opportunities to taste the wine. The first glass is the best in this setup, but the others are also delicious. And in this way, I can try 10 to 12 wines a year at home.
Of the various wine brands that I've tried, my favorite is Oliver Winery. Oliver Winery is also the first winery that my wife and I have visited. It's a great little winery with lots to see and do, but that's for another day. Started by Bill Oliver Senior, an IU Law Professor at the time the Winery was founded. He was instrumental in jump-starting the Indiana Wine industry by authoring Public Law 77, which was passed on April 8, 1971 thanks to his many connections as a Law Professor. With this law, Indiana Wineries can sell wine directly to the public instead of relying solely on distributors.
Oliver Winery makes a wide variety of wines including blends, and single grape wines, but have a variety of cheaper fruit and honey wines, including a Mango Honey Wine and a Blackberry Wine. I'm fond of their Sweet Red and Sweet White blends, but right now, I'm enjoying a bottle of their Black Cherry Wine, made with honey. With a dark red hue and a fruit odor, it's a sweet, yet not too sweet wine with a bit of a spicy bite to it. To me, it tastes best chilled to around 40 degrees, but not as sweet when tasted at room temperature. The addition of Black Cherries to the grapes make for a refreshing wine with a unique character. The alcoholic content of the wine is on the low side at 12%. This, along with a note on the back label stating that grape concentrate was added for color points to one of the differences of Oliver Winery: some of their wines contain a small amount of grapes, if any. Since the added grape was concentrated, it is likely the grapes came from lower quality grape, either those grown at Oliver Winery not fit for their wines, or other cast-offs from other vineyards.
Oliver Winery's current list of wines does not include a red wine labelled Black Cherry, but they do have a Black Cherry Honey wine that would be categorized as a white wine. I haven't tried the white version yet, but stay tuned. It might appear in my wine rack soon...
While the quality of the grapes included in the wine are questionable (if even necessary), the wine is still pleasurable, sweet, tangy and for around $8 from a few online sources, a good deal. Overall, I'd rate the Oliver Winery's Black Cherry wine a 65, out of 100 possible points.
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