Winemaker Wins Award at Indy 500: Steve Somermeyer

It isn't quite the usual award in the wine business that Steve Somermeyer, assistant winemaker at Chateau Thomas Winery near Indianapolis, won last week.  It was a special award related to the Indy 500. 

I've followed Steve's career on various lines related to both winemaking and his love of racing ever since I met him as a judge at the Indy International Wine Competition a few years ago.  (click here to see the June 2009 post).   Steve, in addition to his winemaking career, has a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA too; he retired from Eli Lilly and Company after a long career.  Steve is also the Head of Safety, Garages and Pits, Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

His wine industry credentials include Lead Judge, Indy International (35 yr.); judging at Finger Lakes International, Illinois State, and Iowa State competitions.  But his proudest award is perhaps this, and he wrote quite modestly:  " I was surprised and honored Monday evening at the 500 Old Timers banquet to receive their annual Indianapolis 500 Official award. I'm the first safety person to receive this and it is a reflection of my entire group."

This was his footnote to his May 27 Indy 500 preview, which I am sharing with all you race fans.  I'm a Hoosier too, and I was there!  It was a great and exciting race! 

"Sunday will be the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500 but not the 100th running due to the track being shut down during World War II. There are some new faces in the Speedway Marketing Department including someone hired from Red Bull and they want to try some different activities to appeal to different customer segments. So it wasn't a surprise that the month of May this year has brought many new events to the track:

- Emerging Technology Day was on the first Saturday and there was a ton of activities including races including college electric go-karts hosted by Purdue, solar cars, and formula hybrids. Electric and hybrid cars could take a lap around the track. Fans could take a demo drive in a Chevy Volt and there were many displays and other activities. This was the same day as the Mini Marathon so the entire day was filled with activity. They even had a large yoga event. It drew a decent crowd and since the track was originally conceived as a technology proving ground, I would expect this new event to continue.

- Celebration of Automobiles was held on the second Saturday in conjunction with the normal Opening Day activities. This was a classic car show featuring 250 vehicles more than 50 years old with half of them being brands which competed at the 500. There were also displays of Mormans and Stutz's which were manufactured in Indianapolis years ago. We had a lot of angst largely because we had never done something like this and anticipated dealing with some 'problem' car owners. My group had to park them in the different classes over much of the infield early Saturday morning but it ended up being easier than anticipated and the owners were very easy to deal with. Entered cars were from across the country and several were shipped in from Europe. A significant number of the cars were valued >$1,000,000 and the display was very impressive. I wish that I had had enough time to see all of them. I did get to talk to several car owners and they were very pleased with the show and would gladly come again. A big feature for them was getting to drive their cars around the track the day before.

- World's largest autograph event - On the Saturday before the race 500 drivers will sign autographs. Normally the qualified drivers sign autographs before the public drivers meeting and 500 Festival Parade downtown but this year all living 500 drivers are invited to participate in an autograph session Saturday afternoon. According to historian Donald Davidson, there are 260 living 500 vets and close to 200 are expected to be here.

Rain has played a significant role this month by limiting practice time and impacting both qualifying days. Let's hope that race weekend is dry.

There were 40 or so drivers entered this year which is the largest field in quite a few years. With 25 or 26 fulltime drivers - participating in all the IndyCar races - that meant that at least 15 drivers and crews were depending on the week of practice to get their cars dialed in. Rain eliminated about 1/3 of the available practice hours so few teams felt comfortable and fully prepared for Pole Day.

The way qualifying worked this year is that 24 starting spots were available for qualifying from 11am-4 pm with the fastest 9 competing for the Pole between 4:30 and 6 pm. The first surprise came during the morning practice session when Ryan Briscoe (Penske) lost control and hit the wall in turn 2. That meant that the team that rarely makes a mistake had to put one of their drivers into his back-up which had only been driven a few laps in practice. Ultimately it meant that he wouldn't be able to go fast enough to qualify the first day.

Speaking of accidents, Simona da Salvestro, last year's Rookie of the Year, had a scary one on Thursday when something broke in the right rear suspension and she hit the wall hard and ended upside down with the car on fire. Getting out of the car she had to put her hands on the burning track surface and suffered burns to both hands. Her right hand suffered 2nd degree burns and the track doctors didn't OK her driving Friday but released her Saturday morning. It had to be painful to pull her gloves on and off. After trying to find sufficient speed during the day she finally made the first day field in the 24th and last spot on her 3rd and final try.

A great feel-good story finished the day with Alex Tagliani, racing for Sam Schmidt Racing, winning the Pole and it's $150,000 prize. This is easily the biggest success, IndyCar wise, that this team has achieved. Sam was paralyzed while racing and started his team on a very small shoestring. He's had quite a bit of success with the feeder series, Indy Lights, but has 3 cars in the field. A low-budget team yet a fan favorite is Sarah Fisher Racing which made the fast 9 with Ed Carpenter driving.

Ho-Pin Tung, trying to be the first Chinese driver to made the 500 field crashed during practice Saturday morning and suffered a concussion which ended his chances for this year. KV Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing both got 4 cars into the field which is good performance for them as they don't have nearly the resources as the prominent teams below.

The large budget teams - Penske, Ganassi, and Andretti - did not perform particularly well on Pole Day. Andretti in particular had a really bad day and pretty much for the whole qualifying weekend. The only Andretti car to make the Pole Day 24 starters was the single-race driver, John Andretti. None of the 4 full-time drivers could get enough speed to not only not make the Fast Nine run for the Pole but not even make the fastest 24 for the day. As mentioned previously, the Briscoe accident cost the Penske team a first day starter and only one driver, Will Power, made the Fast Nine and will start in the middle of 2nd row.

Ganassi provided quite a bit of drama, particularly during the runs for the Pole. While the 2nd Ganassi team of Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimble didn't make the top 24 qualifiers, both Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti qualified for the Fast Nine and their runs for the Pole were eventful to say the least. Dario first three laps were in the 227 range and he was contending possibility for the Pole and certainly for the front row when he suddenly slowed down on the back stretch on his 4th lap. Yes, he ran out of fuel! He coasted into the pits, jumped out of the car, and walked back to the garage with his helmet on and with no comments. A bit later Scott was on his run and seemed to be Pole worthy until his 4th lap speed was announced - It was 3-4 mph slower than his first 3 and he ended up starting second. We later learned that he ran out of fuel coming out of the last turn. For one of the teams that is very organized, the mistake on how much ethanol to put into the cars for their 10 mile qualifying runs seems inexcusable.

One note on the Fast Nine qualifying period - It was supposed to last from 4:30-6 pm but rain prevented it from starting until after 5 pm. With the limited time, each of the cars were given one shot at the Pole. This meant that official runs started after the traditional qualification end time of 6 pm. Had this ever happened before? I asked historian Donald Davidson the question and he replied once before in 1968. It was bump day and the field wasn't full. It was nearly dark when the track got dry enough. Chief Stewart Harlan Fengler told the drivers that if they wanted to they could give it a try. Two drivers, Bill Puterbaugh and another whose name I don't remember, went out and came right back in because they couldn't see the turns. They had to qualify to fill the field on Monday that year.

Only 2.5 seconds separate the fastest qualifier, Alex Tagliani, from the slowest, Ana Beatrize so this is the tightest field ever for the 500 in terms of qualifying time and speed. To put this in perspective, after 4 laps or ten miles, Alex would be 843 feet ahead of Ana if they started the run side-by-side. At straightaway speeds of over 230 mph, that seems like a blink of an eye.

Controversy and Ryan Hunter-Reay: With the poor performance of the Andretti team as a whole during qualifying weekend plus what I perceive as a major strategic mistake as the time ran out on Bump Day, owner Michael Andretti had some significant sponsors - DHL and Sundrop - to appease so it wasn't a surprise that a financial arrangement was made with AJ Foyt to have Hunter-Reay replace Bruno Junqueira in the second Foyt car, #41. Ryan has some history with the Foyt team as he filled in for much of a season when Vitor Meira suffered a broken back in a previous 500. Foyt did not have enough sponsorship for the second team car so he financed it out of his own pocket. It was pretty common knowledge that the seat could be purchased. I have to assume Bruno knew of the possibility beforehand and was handsomely paid for his qualifying work.

The strategy glitch happened because two Andretti cars were adjacent to each other in the bumping order. That meant that it was probable that one team car could get bumped and then when requalifying fast enough to make the field would bump the teammate out. The team could hope that there would be enough time to requalify that car but that's not what played out. Marco pushed away from the qualifying line just seconds before the 6 pm deadline and got into the field bumping out Hunter-Reay. What they should have done is to pull one of the two cars - Marco or Ryan - out of the field and attempt to requalify at a faster speed (faster than adjacent to the teammate) with plenty of qualifying time remaining. Each car had 2 more attempts left for the day. The downside could be a slower speed and not making it back into the field or even crashing. But Andretti yielded control of at least one of the cars by letting the time tick by. Just making the field means a last place paycheck of over $300,000 and that's probably in the neighborhood of what they had to pay for the 41 ride so we're talking serious financial consequences. The team also fired their Director of Competition this week.

Double file restarts: Prior to this year when the races are resumed after a caution period, the race leader leads the field to the green flag in a single file. To generate more excitement, the league has implemented double-file restarts. This has generated much discussion among the drivers as there have been several accidents during restarts so far this year. The 500 will be the first oval race to give these restarts a try and the 1st turn can get pretty narrow. Watch the caution restarts during the race.

In a related note, the start of the race is supposed to be in the traditional 3-wide rows. In the recent past the field, particularly at the front, has staggered themselves out for more room between the cars. If in fact, the field is in formation for the start, it should be a very exciting start.

Who is going to win the race? Despite the bumps that Ganassi and Penske teams had, one still has to consider them as favorites. Helio and Dario have won the race multiple times and Scott Dixon once. Penske's Will Power is perhaps the quickest driver racing today and has already won 2 races this season and Briscoe runs up front. One would normally include some of the Andretti drivers as Mike Conway has already won a race this year and both Marco Andretti and Danica have run strong in previous 500's. It'd be tremendous publicity if a gal won the Hundredth Anniversary of the 500, especially Danica.

With the limited onboard fuel capacity, cars running the 500 miles will need 8 or so pit stops. Races can be won and lost in the pits, especially during green flag stops, and this favors the fulltime, professional crews. It's not a coincidence that Penske Racing has won the last 3 pit stop competitions. They make pit stops a 'science' and seem to practice more than anyone else. One innovation that hasn't gotten any publicity that I'm aware of is that Penske has an electric motor powered Dallara pit practice car. It's pretty quick and even has a reverse gear. I'll be other teams will copy this soon.

Because of owner Sam Schmidt, it would be great if Alex Tagliani or even one of his other three drivers won. Ed Carpenter has been fast consistently fast here and would also be a feel good story. Other veteran drivers to consider would include Vitor Miera and '05 winner Dan Weldon. Former winner ('04) Buddy Rice is back after several years absence. Rice, Weldon, and Carpenter are all starting in the first 3 rows as is Orel Servia driving for Newman Haas Racing. Newman Haas hasn’t had much success the last several years but appear strong this year with Servia on the front row and rookie James Hinchcliffe starting 13th.

Other drivers who could run up front include Tony Kanaan, Tomas Scheckter, Paul Tracy, and Townsend Bell. The downside of these drivers is that either they are driving a limited schedule, some just this race, or are joining a new team. Simona is a very driver but will her burns be a problem over 500 miles. The odds on favorite for Rookie of the Year has to be JR Hildebrand driving for Panther Racing with National Guard sponsorship. This team/car has finished 2nd the last 3 years so their record is impressive.

These cars are very evenly matched and the overall driver field is impressive talent-wise so it's almost anybody's game. Don't be surprised if someone I haven't mentioned ends up in Victory Circle but..... it's hard to bet against the deepest pockets of Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi.

Let's have a fast AND DRY race Sunday! "  - Steve Somermeyer

If you are a race fan, I suggest you get on his personal email list.  He also sends out notes from his wine judging experiences too.  steve (at) somermeyer.com

Butler Didn't Really Lose

I was there at Green's Sports Bar in San Francisco along with a lot of testosterone-laden guys, all of us cheering Butler on. I grew up playing basketball -- I'm a Hoosier and proud of it. So when someone asked me "what do you pair with March Madness?", the answer was easy. Indiana Wines. And don't forget those made by Jim Butler.


In Indiana, most of the wineries would be what we now-Californians consider "boutique". They're not big, with the exception of Oliver Winery. Not long ago, I tasted a Marechal Foch Nouveau 2008, which is an estate bottled wine from Oliver's own Creekbend Vineyard and it was yummy. But Oliver also made another contribution to the Indiana wine scene -- that is, Jim Butler. Speaking of Butlers.


Jim spent 25 years as the winemaker at Oliver before establishing his own vineyard, Butler Winery & Vineyards. Along with his father John, he's the author of the book "Indiana Wineries……" And he is a credit to the industry in the Midwest.


Jim and his family produce many good wines. One of my favorites is their 2008 Chambourcin Rose, whch received a double gold and won Rose Wine of the Year at the 2009 Indy International Wine Competition! It was also awarded the Indiana-grown French American Wine of the Year at the competition.


But if you were watching Butler in that harrowing game, what would have been better than a bottle of their Indiana White, a superb value of a versatile table wine, comprised of Indiana Uplands Vignoles fruit, Cardonel, and Traminette.


We Hoosiers -- Butler at heart all of us, if not in name -- are pretty proud of that hard-working Bulldog team. Lift a glass to the little guys! They are all about the passion, whether it is on the basketball court or in the winery.

How to taste—and judge-- 3000 wines in 16 hours

I was wrong. Make that 3064 wines. From all over the world! The tasting and judging action at the Indy International Wine Competition surely qualifies for Seinfeld’s Feats of Strength category. There are many unsung heros in the wine judging world, and many untold stories, and more than a few rude comments about our favorite elixir. But as a “guest judge”, let me give you a guided tour to what’s behind the curtain.

When you enter this hangar-like Blue Ribbon Pavillion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, there is a barrier reef that you must navigate. The long long table contains gatekeepers who make sure you are who you say you are. Once you verify that you are in fact judge-worthy (wine writers and bloggers are judge-worthy), then Jeanette Merritt, the marketing specialist for the Indiana Wine Grape Council/Purdue University, leads you to the lab coat rack. A lab coat! Not since I toured the re-industrialized brewery at Kirin in Yokohama have I had a chance to wear a lab coat!

But it’s a good thing. So many wines. So many colors. So much spitting. A lab coat is a good thing.



Unlike the judges, I was allowed in the staging area, which I like to think of as a war room for a wine competition. There, arrayed on dozens of tables, were the 3064 wines. Two bottles of each. Each labeled as to whether they are amateur or commercial wines, noting residual sugar content, year of vintage, and whether or not they contain significant amounts of Indiana juice (those wines are eligible for a special set of awards… after all, this is INDIANA and taxpayers here support the wine industry via taxes on each bottle.)


The advance preparation of the flights, based on organizing wine by varietal and a number of other factors, takes weeks. Wines have been arriving at Purdue for months. They’ve been catalogued and entered into a program designed by Phil Rawles, a professor in the Department of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue. At the end of this competition, the program takes in the information from the judging sheets and determines the award-winning wines and the overall best-of-show.


Back out at the front of the hall, 16 panels of judges each are presented with flight after flight of wines, each wine in a glass that has only a number hand-written in marker on the base. The head judge at my table was Steve Somermeyer, assistant winemaker at Chateau Thomas Winery (Plainfield, IN – near Indy). Although each judge’s opinion is considered equal in determining the final score for a wine, Steve can call for a further consideration of a scoring. Of the 32 wines that I tasted (12 Sangiovese, 13 Nortons, 7 Cabernets – some of which were vineyard designates) , only 3 wines were re-considered.


My fellow judges were (left to right) Mark Wenzel, winemaker at August Hill Winery; Marie Silberstein, formerly of Olinger Distributing and now an industry consultant, Michel Pascal, co-owner of Carroll Company Distributors; and Samantha Kollar, from the Southern California office of Vinquiry. Head judge Steve is seated. I'm in the lab coat on the right...



The judging sheet guided us to consider the following attributes of each wine: clarity, color, aroma, taste, aftertaste. The competition used to award points for cellarability, but doesn’t do that any longer. We were told the vintage of each wine, but nothing else. After each attribute was considered, a numerical score was tallied, and the results could be “No Medal” “Bronze” “Silver” and “Gold”. (At first this seemed overly generous to me, but an amazing number of No Medals are awarded, so consumers can in fact rely on the guidance suggested by the awards.) At the end of each flight, each judge is polled for their opinion, and the average score is used to determine the award. Or the no-award.

The remarks are honest and free-flowing. Here are some that caught my ear:
“I liked the freshness of it.”
“This is a wine that has been fixed – sugar was obviously added to overcome deeper flaws.”
“The issue with this wine is the vintage; it’s not yet finished.”
“It’s gone – there is no aroma – there are only tannins left.”
“A seriously flawed wine – smells like fingernail polish.”
“This wine has no flaws. Practically perfect for the varietal.”
“When I say a-hint-of-barnyard in the aroma, I mean that odor of straw and earth. It’s like the aromas that reach out to you when you walk through a farm.”
“If I had any criticism at all, it would be that it is over-oaked.”
“It has a bit of SO2 but not objectionable.”
“It’s really tight. It will be good in a few years.”


As interesting as this all was, it is important to give a tip of the hat to the unsung heros.


Those are the folks in the “Pit Cru” who poured all the wines to be tasted, and those others who washed over 15,000 dirty wine glasses. Without them, no awards. None at all.

The Indy International Wine Competition began in 1973. The 2009 competition judged wines from 42 states and 10 countries. 82 wine experts – winemakers, wine journalists, wine educators, wine marketers, and knowledgeable wine consumers -- each judged approximately 120 wines per day. In a few days, we’ll know the results. I’ll post a link and there will also be a guest-blog by a head judge that’s a what-to-buy guide. Stay tuned!





© 2009 Barbara Keck

Snarky Comments: Who Needs 'Em?

First, a rant: I don't care if Story Inn or Hoosier Inn or BedMeDown Inn makes a profit on a wine event. What I care about is that consumers are exposed to a variety of wines in an atmosphere of education, fun, and responsible monitoring of consumption. What we all care about in this business is that it KEEPS GROWING. Or, that's what we should care about.

Blogging is a serious communication form for us "citizen bloggers", as OWC calls us. It's also one of the most important pathways to the new marketing paradigm that's lumped in with the ubiquitous moniker Social Media. So when I get a snarky comment, I feel like I'm entitled to hit the delete button on the "moderate" (aka approve or disapprove its publication) blogspot tab.

Last week, for the first time, I disapproved my first snarky comment. It was what I considered parochial, mean-spirited, and not in the best interest of the growth of the wine industry.

The comment was made about the upcoming Indiana Wine Fair, to be held in two weeks at Story Inn. Something about how it was misleading to call it an all-Indiana wine event. Something about how the owner of the Story Inn might make some profit from this event. Something that was ... fitting for a cat fight in a high school girls' bathroom. That kind of snarky comment.

Oh, I've been called a PollyAnna more than once. I despise territoriality and corporate politics; that's why I left Corporate America early-on. I adore people who have passion, are willing to work hard on a project, aren't afraid to get down on the farm and put dirt under their nails, and who take the risk of promoting a cause that may or may not pay off.

That's what the organizers of the Wine Fair at the Story Inn have done: all of those things above that I adore. And if they make a profit some day, well, that's the American Way.

Any other questions or comments?

If they are constructive and bring something to the party and are in the best interest of growing this industry, they get posted. If they are snarky, then ... not.

Hmmmm, I think this is referred to as a "publication policy". Gosh, that is so old-media. So be it.

Story Indiana, Story Indiana, Story Indiana, Wine’s Home Sweet Home*

What do the largest county fair in the USA, Rock star John Mellencamp, and the newest Miss America have in common? It’s Jackson County, Indiana. Seymour is the largest city in that lucky county. And the largest wine and spirits store in Seymour reports that wine sales are surpassing beer sales. Well, well, well. The Hoosier State rides again!

Now this factoid should alert you to an important fact: wine is alive and well in rural communities in Mid-America. This is probably not something that is tracked assiduously by Nielsen or IRI, but it is one of the facts that are fueling the growth of the wine industry in the Midwest.

Want to see for yourself? Then your closest-in-time opportunity is the Indiana Wine Fair, held April 25, 2009. You can spend a leisurely Saturday afternoon sampling Indiana wines in the historical and bucolic setting of Story, Indiana. Story is a 19th Century village founded in 1851 that now includes Indiana’s oldest country Inn, charming cottages, and a world-class restaurant.

Proprietor of the Story Inn (and in fact, the owner of the entire village) is Rick Hofstetter, a retired-from-the-ratrace lawyer. He and Allen (Ole) Olson, faithful writer of the Blog Hoosier Wine Cellar, have been working their butts off to pull this festival together and it is now in its seventh year. It’s a labor of love.

Virtually every Indiana winery participates in this event, with tastings taking place rain-or-shine under a huge white tent, and a bevy of independent tasters get hard at work judging wine.

“Our judges are all wine consumers, as opposed to wine professionals. These are people who use wine, know a lot about it, but are not in the trade,” explained Ole. “We’ve done this on purpose, because we want our Indiana wineries to know what consumers think about their wines. After all, consumers are the ones who do the buying.” Wines are judged in seven categories: dry white, sweet white, dry red, sweet red, dessert wine, non-grape wine, and Best of Show.

The day before, on Friday, April 24, Story Inn hosts Wine and all that Jazz, a musical gala that features awards to the wineries, tasting of Indiana's finest wines in each category, and a full buffet dinner. Quite a value at $50, and proceeds go to benefit Brown County Citizens Scholarships. The day after, Sunday, April 26, you’ll want to stick around for this: Hoosier Cuisine Gone Wild! This Black-tie-optional-dinner features the Gold Medalists in each wine-judged category, with food pairs matched to authentically Hoosier cuisine. $100 per plate, and again, proceeds to benefit Brown County Citizens Scholarships.

Indiana wineries need to tip a hat to Rick and Ole. They are working hard to promote the industry and it is strictly an eelymosynary effort. But did I mention that the Story Inn has the finest wine cellar in Southern Indiana? And that Ole is spearheading Vinsense, a recently-formed wine advocacy group fighting an uphill battle to convince the Indiana Legislature to change the law regarding direct shipping from producer to consumer.

As for the newest Miss America, it’s 22-year old Katie Stam, who lives not far from Story, IN. She is also Indiana’s first Miss America, and to hear Ole talk, the folks aroundabout are almost as proud of that as they are the great wines Indiana is now producing.

Photo credit Miss America to LugaLuda Blogs

*(apologies to Music Man)

Indiana Gets Petitions Underway to Free The Grapes

Indiana attorney Lisa Hays Murray is not your run-of-the-vine lobbyist. She's genuinely interested in helping her clients in the state's wine industry get to the place that they can grow their businesses through internet sales and out-of-state shipping. To wit, her recent activities, best seen on the website http://www.hoosiersforwineshipping.com/

Although the site includes information about Indiana wineries and legislative initiatives, in my opinion the most important feature is a petition for consumers to sign and join the Free Trade cause.

Once they've done this -- and Lisa suggests an all-out effort by wineries including putting a link on their websites, and getting employees, family members, Wine Club members, and visitors to tasting rooms involved -- then those who sign the petition will get a prompt to e-mail their Hoosier legislators at key times in the legislative process. The website makes this easy through its "VoterVoice" component.

"With your help, this will be a very successful grass roots tool and further allow us to educate the Indiana legislators about why they should enact free trade legislation," she wrote to wineries.

Lisa works not only hard, but smart. "I copied this idea –with their permission—off of the retailers’ “Hoosiers for Beverage Choices” website. I used the same webmaster, etc. The retailers have been extremely successful in garnering over 15,000 folks to sign their website petition—10,000 signed up shortly after a media blitz last fall. And CVS collected 15,000 more! " Her goal is to get 10,000 signatures.

With that Hoosier determination in play (Go Pacers!)(Go Nappanee Bulldogs!), they will.

Freeing the Grapes in Indiana: Vinsense Provides an Additional Voice

In late February I met with Allen Dale (Ole) Olson, a retired federal civil servant, wine consultant and wine writer (see his blog HoosierWineCellars). Ole has become upset enough with the archiac beverage laws in Indiana to form a group named Vinsense. And he's recently jumped through the hoops to become a registered lobbyist so he can talk to Indiana legislators about why Indiana consumers (over 21 of course) cannot purchase wines freely.

Ole hosted the annual meeting of Vinsense at the Brown County Winery in Nashville, Indiana at the end of February. I am very impressed at the activities of this small but dedicated group, and think that their goal of revealing contributions to Indiana legislators by groups opposed to freeing the grapes is a good one. Vinsense itself operates on a small-but-growing budget that is augmented by tremendous passion and righteous indignation, and BRAVO! I'm rooting for them!

You can read more at the Vinsense website, CLICK HERE. But a quick summary provided by Ole, who is president of the group, is below:

"THE WHAT AND WHY OF VINSENSE: VinSense, Inc. is an Indiana-based wine consumer advocacy group of approximately 3,000 members formed in the early spring of 2007 to work toward the passage of legislation to allow Hoosiers to use modern communications media – internet, phone, fax, mail – to order wine directly from wineries.

VinSense draft legislation resulted from recognition that the existing three-tier system denies Indiana residents access to some 95% of all wines produced in the United States because Hoosiers are required by law to purchase wines only from licensed retail stores or from wineries they have personally visited and which are properly licensed for such shipping. Retail stores, in turn, can sell only wines made available to them by licensed wholesale distributors.

This means that Indiana consumers have had their wine choices pre-selected for them at two levels – wholesale and retail. With nearly 10,000 new wines entering the nation’s markets every year, it is impossible for wholesalers to procure, stock, and offer for sale a substantive percentage of them. Same for retailers.

Using data from a 2003 study by the Federal Trade Association, VinSense calls attention to the fact that the 35 states allowing direct shipping have reported no problems with either underage drinking or collection of appropriate taxes related to direct shipping. That study disproves the most common arguments used by opponents of direct shipping.

VinSense vigorously opposes underage drinking and just as vigorously supports the state’s right to collect appropriate taxes on direct sales. Both issues are addressed in the draft legislation submitted via Senator Brent Steele (R-Bedford) to the Legislative Services Agency. That legislation was tabled by the Senate Public Policy Committee when the President Pro Tem ruled that no alcohol-related bills would be heard during the 2009 session of the General Assembly.

The incoming Chair of the Legislative Study Committee on Alcoholic Beverage Legislation has promised to include VinSense in hearings planned for summer 2009."