Wine fest gives connoisseurs a treat

Jim Butler, owner of Butler Winery, says that when people taste wine, it sells itself. \nAt one of 52 tables on display, Butler took part in the \n14th Annual Wine Festival on Friday night at the Bloomington Convention Center. \nWine appreciators of all levels were there to swirl and sniff the beverages. \nMost of the bottles served Friday are available locally at Big Red Liquors, the sponsor of the event. \nEasley Winery, however, which has a tasting room in downtown Indianapolis, is trying to break in to the Bloomington market. Available for sampling was its series of Hello Wines. In blush, red and white varieties, their sweet flavors are great for new wine drinkers, salesperson Kelly Miller said. \n“When you’re starting to drink, it’s good to start with sweet wines,” Miller said. “You have to train your palette.” \nFor IU senior Erin Root, the wines quickly became a new favorite. \n“And we tried all of them,” Root said. \nRoot attended the festival with two friends for a “girls’ night out.” \n“We do wine tastings all the time at each other’s houses, so we might as well do it on a bigger scale,” sad IU senior Francesca Smith. \nOliver Winery, another local vineyard, was also a favorite at the festival, said the vineyard’s events manager Pam Feeney. \n“A lot of people come back and say this is the wine I started with, and this is the wine I still love,” Feeney said. Looking around at the wines in the room from all over the globe, Feeney encouraged drinkers to support local growers. \n“You can taste wines from around the world,” Feeney said, “but it’s nice to taste what is growing in your background.”\nOutside of the local vineyards, grapes were fortified and bottled from across the country and around the globe. Jim Chetrick, who works as a wine distributor, poured glasses of Goats do Roam, a South African wine that he called the most popular wine in the United States. \nThe connoisseur room, which required an additional ticket fee, feature expensive wines, alongside expert rankings and comments. Senior Danielle Riley said she paid the extra fare to bolster her wine knowledge. Along with friend Teryn Owens, Riley works at Bloomington restaurant Little Zagreb, which has an extensive wine list. \n“They have a huge wine list, so we thought it would be good to try some nicer wines,” Riley said. \nProceeds from the evening went to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington, particularly SMART Moves, a drug and alcohol education program. \nSMART Moves is an extensive program used year round by Boys and Girls Club to teach, “anything and everything that you can think of in relation to drug and alcohol education,” said Jeff Baldwin, executive director of Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington. \nBetween the Wine Festival, and its fall counterpart, Beer Fest, Big Red provides the Boys and Girls Club with a guaranteed $10,000.