Oliver Winery is the largest and oldest

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. It operates in

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

north of Bloomington at 8024 N. State Road 37. Oliver Winery also offers special event spaces available for personal or corporate celebrations, from rehearsal dinners to holiday receptions.

History

Professor William Oliver, a law instructor at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, moved to Bloomington in 1959 with his wife and children and began making wine in his home from grapes purchased at an

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

. In the 1960s he purchased land near Bloomington in order to grow his own, and by 1970 operated some of

. Oliver Winery opened in the spring of 1972 and reached an annual production of 38,000 gallons by 1978. It was in 1972 that the winery also began making Camelot Mead, which generated increasing sales. William Oliver was an integral part to the creation and passing of the Small Winery Act of 1971 in Indiana which permitted direct sale of wine to the public not through distribution channels. Oliver's first tasting room was opened to the public in 1973 where William's wife Mary worked alongside a few other employees. William's son Bill assumed the management of the winery in 1983 and introduced the use of grapes from outside Indiana in Oliver wines in 1988. Annual production exceeded 100,000 gallons by the late 1990s, and the winery expects to produce 500,000 to 600,000 gallons in 2007. Oliver Winery established the Creekbend Vineyard label in 2004.

Competitions

Oliver winery brought home two Concordance Gold medals for their Blackberry and Viognier wines in the 2007 Indy International Wine Competition.{{cite web , url=http://www.indianawines.org/media/iwc/TOI%20-%20Commercial%20Indiana.pdf , title= 2007 Commercial Wine Awards by Brand, access-date=2008-06-24

Notes

External links

Oliver Winery websiteWineries of Indiana: Oliver Winery Indiana Wine Competition website
Monroe County, Indiana Wineries in Indiana 1972 establishments in Indiana