Celebrating our new staff

Post by Jessika Hane, Human Resources Director

Last night we celebrated our new staff with pizza, wine and good conversation. We have recently hired eight new Tasting Room staff and four new seasonal Vineyard staff.  This event is a great way for the veteran staff to meet the new staff.  Bring on new staff is always an exciting time for us. Seeing the winery through the eyes of a new employee makes me appreciate what a unique work environment we have created here. I was giving a facility tour to four of the new staff on Sunday and as we walked into the production facility that holds our bottling line, one of them said “Wow, I can’t believe you are showing us EVERYTHING. That’s neat!”

It is neat. And it’s important.  Showing our retail staff how our production facility works, how our vineyard is planted is part of our cross-training, inclusive culture. We want our employees to feel at home here. This is their business too.

Be sure to say hi to the new folks next time you visit the winery.

From L-R: New staff members Kristi, Rachelle and Morgan hang out with Bill Oliver

What a good looking group! Molly,Tasting Room, welcomes our new Lab & Production Manager- Melanie Strong. Next to Melanie, Vineyard Crew members Michael and Andrew make sure that new hire John feels at home.

New staff members Christine, Brady, Morgan and Kristi chat with Bernie and Bill at the bar.

Welcome and Cheers to the New Staff!

Put some pep in your step with Creekbend Catawba!

Todd is jumping for joy in celebration of the Catawba release!

Creekbend Catawba – Released Today!

Jim and Justin proudly show off a newly bottled Catawba, fresh off of the line.

Everyone at Oliver Winery has a little extra pep in their step this beautiful day!  Why, you ask?  Our 2009 Creekbend Catawba was released today!

Catawba was the first widely grown grape for making wine in the United States.  In the mid-1800s over 30,000 acres of this grape were grown along the Ohio River in Indiana and Ohio.  We planted this grape because of its rich history and belief that Creekbend Vineyard is a great spot that can ripen this fruit nicely.  Not to mention, we knew we could make a great wine, too!

Our winemaking philosophy is to capture the essence of the fruit.  And we did just that.  Delicately sweet and perfect for Spring.

Nick will gladly load the Catawba into your car for you!

Cristina stocks the shelves in the Tasting Room.

Here comes the wine!

Post by Pam Bonin, Hospitality Director

Wine Club Members – The April Wine Club shipment is on its way to you!

All of the bundles of goodness left our winery earlier this week.  I’m just happy that Mark, our fabulous UPS driver, had enough room in his truck for all of that wine.

We developed our wine club on the idea that we wanted to make it super convenient for our customers to receive our wines.  Easy, no fuss shipments and you get some extra perks –special discounts on wine, winemaker’s notes and a reusable 6 bottle wine tote.

I am excited to announce that we have added 2 new benefits to the Oliver Winery Wine Club.  Many of our best customers are our neighbors.  And why would our neighbors want to schedule regular wine shipments when they can just stop in at their leisure?  Because Wine Club members become part of the family.  You are next in line after the Oliver family and staff to get access to information, special wines and events.

If you would like to find out more about our wine club, give us a call or click here.  Enjoy these great new benefits:

-          Complimentary tastes of the Vidal Blanc Ice Wine & Late Harvest Vignoles.  That’s right, any time you visit us is our tasting room!

-          20% discount on Oliver Winery ticketed events.  Check out our 2010 Tunes on the Terrace schedule!

Cheers!

Retail Manager, Todd Walters and Tasting Room Staff Member, Heidi Dixon-White prepare the shipments.

Don Hollinger, our Business Development Manager, is always very happy to lend a hand.

Creekbend Vineyard Update- New vines and new staff!

Post by Bernie Parker, Vineyard Manager

Spring is here.  2010 will begin with planting of almost 10,000 vines which will bring us up to 48 acres of grapes.  Catawba lovers are in luck as we are more than doubling the amount of Catawba planting, though it won’t be producing until 2012.  We are also planting more Chambourcin, Vignoles, and Valvin Muscat.  In my last entry, I talked about a new red variety from Davis Viticulture  Research (DVR) called Crimson Cabernet.  We feel this variety will be well received by the Hoosier faithful, go Cream and Crimson!  DVR has interested us in another of their new white varieties  called Cabernet Doré. Cabernet Doré is a white grape that makes an excellent white wine resembling a Sauvignon Blanc that has been tamed with a bit of
Semillon.  All of these vines will start producing for us in 2012, so be sure to come out over the next couple of years to watch their progress.

All of this work is not done by me alone, we have a great vineyard crew and we have just spent the last three weeks finding five additional people to join us for the season.  We have found some great folks who I will introduce in our next blog post.  We also did a nationwide search for a new Assistant Vineyard Manager and we are happy to announce that Justin Lovell has joined the Oliver Team.  He hails from Lexington, KY where he worked for the University of Kentucky Animal Research Center as a Research Farm Technician.  He started on the 1^st of March and has jumped right into the thick of things , pounding posts and helping out with bottling on the rainy days. Please join us in welcoming Justin!

Justin and Sheila, one of our full-time vineyard staff, lend a hand at March Gladness 2010.