Agigantic bottle filled with red wine, equivalent to over 300 regular sized bottles is the ultimate party starter. Unfortunately it costs over $3,000 and is more of a novelty, but it shows a side of the creativity that has Oliver and Butler Winery squeezing new life into the booming wine business. \nWith free daily wine tasting, and home kits to make your own wine, Bloomington's wineries are appeasing wine lovers and creating new ones every day.\nCustomers aren't getting drunk, but visitors to Bloomington's two wineries, Oliver and Butler, are provided with half a dozen samples of homegrown Indiana wines with expert help to guide them to their new favorite wine and a nice afternoon buzz.\nFormer IU law professor, William Oliver, began the business by brewing wine in his basement, and after literally writing the law on wineries in Indiana, he opened the first Indiana winery in 1972. Oliver Winery has grown dramatically since then, tripling production from 166,000 gallons of wine in 2001 to approximately 500,000 gallons in 2006.\nSince then over 30 other wineries have sprung up in Indiana to provide a tourist attraction for wine enthusiasts and amateurs coming to find a new favorite or just enjoy a tour of the vineyards. Promotions Director Sarah Villwock said the staff is there to help, and after having tasted all the wines and discussed them with other employees, they are great guides as they lead tasters down the list from dry to sweet wines.\n"We have an educated staff," Villwock said, "They'll guide you through it. If you know a lot about wine, just come in and taste. If you want to learn, we'll help you with that too."\nBrown County resident Pam Flowers has been drinking Butler wines since before they even opened their winery. Their original location in Bloomington on N. College is now a tasting room and the spot to buy wine and wine-making kits.\n"You're not going to taste any wine?" Flowers said to her husband at a tasting at Butler's Winery. "You're nuts."\nOliver is the Big Red of Wine, dominating the market with over 2,000,000 bottles distributed a year across ten states, but Butler Winery is growing quickly and has distinct attributes which make it well worth a visit. Not that there's any real competition between the two. \nButler said there's a friendly competition among the Indiana wineries, with each trying to make the best wine they can. He pointed out that it's good for there to be a number of wineries in an area to draw people from out of state, saying that Indiana has 32.\n"The more the better," he said. "As long as they make good wine."\nOwner and Founder of Butler winery, Jim Butler, worked at Oliver Winery from 1976 to 1982 before deciding to open his own winery. The Butler tasting room has sandwiches and salads on weekends, but the focus is on the wine. They sell around 25,000 bottles a year and have expansion plans which include a new bar, to be finished in a month, in addition to planting more grapes.\nOliver has wide expansion plans, opening a new vineyard just to specialize in their favorites.\nVillwock stressed that Oliver wines has more than just the sweet wines that they're known for. She said Midwesterners traditionally have sweeter palates, but that they have something for everyone.\n"We're not just sweet wines, Villwock said. "We have a wide variety from dry to sweet."\nMany tasters say Butler's blueberry wine is their favorite and employees agree it's definitely worth a try. Making it involves a process of freezing the berries, thawing them in a mush, adding yeast, and bottling. Employee Jeremiah Bainbridge said it's the most popular and went on to describe the dessert wine.\n"It's smooth, goes down easy, and tastes like Blueberries," he said.\nAll of Butler's wines are homemade. They grow Indiana grapes, and go through the whole production process in-house from de-stemming, crushing, pressing, and bottling. Oliver brings in some grapes from other regions, but once the grapes are there, they go through the whole production in house. \nTheir owner is even a homegrown Indiana boy. Founder William Oliver handed the company over to his son Bill and his wife Kathleen after Bill graduated from IU in 1983.\n"It's the best job I've had, Bainbridge said. "I've had some that paid better, but it's low stress. It's nice to be able to have a sip of wine while working."\nJim Butler studied Water Limnology (study of water) in college and said the transition to wine making was natural.\n"It's just water with ten percent alcohol, he said."\nHe likened the culinary art of wine-making to being a chef, saying that after you learn the basics, you find you can do it on your own and find what works.\nWhen asked about his favorite wine Butler said, "It's like asking me which of my children I love more," Butler said. "It depends on the day."\nMaking wine is a lot harder than just squeezing grapes and adding yeast. It takes four years to plant the grapes and another two years to develop. \n"You're looking at six years before you know what you've got," Butler said. "I like to say it takes three hours to make bread, 30 days to make beer, and three months to make wine. It's a slow learning curve."\nHe recently checked out other states wineries when he went with his wife and co-founder, Susan Butler, on a trip where they visited 22 wineries in five days. His work and dedication has paid off, with rave reviews from customers.\nA Long time customer, Guy East of Indianapolis, stopped in to Oliver for a quick visit and tasting before picking up a couple bottles of his favorites, Vineyard Rose and Indiana Red.\n"It's a little Utopia for us to escape to," he said. "This is our favorite winery. We've come to really enjoy wine through getting to know these folks. It's great that they keep it local too."\nOliver Winery is the biggest and oldest in Bloomington, but their thirst for better and bigger production keeps the wine business booming.\n"We have so much to learn in the wine industry," Villwock said. "It's a growing industry, an ever-changing industry. There's always something new to learn."
Oliver Winery is located on North State road 37. Butler Winery has two locations with the tasting room and home wine kits available at 1022 N. College Ave. and the winery and vineyard at 6200 E. Robinson Rd. off of Old 37.
