Purdue News
Purdue News
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December 10, 1999 Purdue helps create new wines for Hoosier businessesWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A not-so-ancient proverb says those who like wine and respect the law should not watch either being made.
But thanks to a recent change in the Indiana tax law, Purdue University senior agricultural students Mindy Shroyer of Muncie, Ind., and Emily Younce of Warsaw, Ind., were up to their elbows in grapes this fall, making port and sherry wines in the pilot lab of Purdue's Food Science Building. "Making wine isn't pretty," says Shroyer, who is graduating this month. "It seems like we're constantly cleaning up one thing after another." Both port and sherry are fortified wines with higher alcohol content than other table wines. Neither could be made at Purdue, or in Indiana prior to 1999, according to Ellen Harkness, a wine microbiologist in the food science department. "The old law dated back to prohibition times, and that was changed by the legislature with the help of Indiana's wineries," she says. What Shroyer, Younce and Harkness learned in the port-making process will benefit Indiana's burgeoning winery business as soon as January. This month, a committee of Purdue wine experts will convene to evaluate the many varieties of wines produced this fall. Their comments, along with details of the grapes' growth records, will be distributed at the Indiana Winegrowers Guild Symposium on Jan. 24 and 25 in Indianapolis. Through the Indiana Wine Grape Council administered by Purdue's Agricultural Research Programs, professionals in viticulture (grape growing), enology (wine making) and marketing provide technical assistance to the commercial growers and producers in Indiana. Their success has been nothing short of phenomenal, according to marketing specialist Sally Peart. Hoosier wineries produced 69,345 gallons of wine in 1994 with retail sales of $2.4 million. By 1998, production reached 156,308 gallons with sales of $6.3 million. The number of commercial wineries in Indiana jumped from nine in 1991 to 20 this year. Four more wineries are expected to open their doors within the next few years. Because of competition, many wineries are reluctant to share product information. Purdue's research on which grapes make the best wine, and which best survive Indiana's wide temperature fluctuations from cold winters to humid summers, helps small growers and producers who cannot afford their own research and product development. Port can be made from low-cost wine, Harkness says. "It is a unique and unusual product that many Indiana wineries will be interested in. It's one more product they can offer their customers." Grapes used in making the first batch of port wine were grown at Purdue farms in West Lafayette, at the Southwest Agricultural Center near Vincennes, Ind., and at the Southeast Agricultural Center near North Vernon, Ind. "Growing the grapes at three different locations gives us a lot of different conditions to work with," Harkness says, "not only in soil types, but variations in climate and humidity levels, too." The Indiana Winegrowers Guild Symposium will be at the Adams Mark Hotel. Registration is $30 for guild members and $40 for nonmembers. There will be additional charges for meals and lodging. For more information, call (800) 832-WINE. Sources: Ellen Harkness, (765) 494-6704, harkness@foodsci.purdue.edu Sally Peart, (765) 496-3842, pearts@foodsci.purdue.edu Writer: Tom Campbell, (765) 494-8084; tcampbell@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu Other sources: Mindy Shroyer, (765) 746-2321 Emily Younce, (765) 743-4007 PHOTO CAPTION: Mindy Shroyer, a Purdue senior from Muncie, Ind., is up to her elbows in Indiana-grown grapes as she begins the wine-making process in Purdue's Food Science Building pilot lab. Purdue is helping Hoosier wine growers develop port and sherry wines from in-state grapes. (Purdue Agricultural Communications Photo by Tom Campbell)
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