Join us for our annual MEGA WINE SALE at the winery on November 25, 26 & 27^th.   Sale prices are good for 1 bottle or 100 bottles of wine.

Save a 30% on all wine on Black Friday, the 25^th, the biggest shopping day of the year.

Can’t make it Friday?  Stop by on Small Business Saturday, the 26^th and save 25% on all wine.

If you survive the shopping frenzy on Friday & Saturday and are looking for a more tranquil setting for Sofa Sunday but don’t want to spend it on the sofa, drop in and save 20% on all wine on the 27^th.

And, time permitting, we’ll be offering free tours of the distillery to anyone who asks.

The slow boat from China finally docked in Mobile, AL.  This gorgeous piece of equipment was loaded onto a flatbed truck from customs and made its way to the new Best Vineyards Distillery building on November 1st.  The crew from Artisan Still Design took a few days to uncrate the beauty and to get her installed.  The big Orange Boiler was fired up on November 9th and requires a few tweaks before starting mass production.  The only mechanical things we are still waiting on are completion of the plumbing, a few minor electrical hookups, and installation of the control system for the still.  Once those are in completed, we just have to wait for the Indiana ATC inspection and for them to grant us our distillery permit.  Things are slowly coming together.  Stop by any Saturday or Sunday between now and January 1st for a free tour of our new production facility.  (Sorry, tours are not available during the week.)

Here are a few other pictures we have collected during the installation process.

Saturday, October 1, 2016 dawned with a light drizzle falling and a slight chill in the air.  Event organizers were biting their fingernails worried no one would show.  But, as the clock ticked it’s way toward 12 noon, cars, trucks, and vans started rolling down the drive.  And when the sun popped out around 1pm, everyone was ecstatic.  The music was fantastic.  By 4pm, the wine slushies were flowing, the scent of bacon permeated the air and the crowd was ready to SAVE THE BACON as 22 hand decorated piggy banks were auctioned off to the highest bidder.  There was a pot bellied still pig, a couple biker pigs, a bicentennial pig, a couple patriotic pigs, a blue pig, a Batman pig, and a princess pig, just to name a few.  But the top bid went to the red and white IU pig for an astounding $365.

Sunday started off with the Distiller’s Breakfast in the new Distillery building for all of the Boss Hog sponsors.  Shortly after the breakfast the air was once again scented with bacon (thanks in part to the Elizabeth Lion’s Club frying up bacon for their BLT’s) and the Bacon Princess (with Pig Hat) was out on the lawn selling her little BLT’s  (ironic since the princess is a vegetarian).  Festival goers and vendors all had a great time and everyone is looking forward to next year.  Visit the Elizabeth Lion’s Club’s facebook page for a plethora of pictures.  A few of the pic’s we took are below.

Bacon.  Blues Music.  Beautiful Weather.  And some truly spectacular swine on the auction block at 4pm Saturday.

WDRB 1          WDBR 2          WDRB 3          WDRB 4          Click the links to see our TV coverage.

The Southern Indiana Bacon and Blues Festival, hosted by Best Vineyards and the Elizabeth Lions Club, promises 2 fun filled days of great Blues music and mouth watering bacon.

The festival includes arts and crafts booths of all kinds, October 1st & 2nd.

Enjoy tours of Best Vineyards new distillery with the purchase of a “pig pin.”

Wine tasting and purchases from Best Vineyards will also be available during the event.

Bands include Jimmy G & The Sidewinders, The Stella Vees, The Outlaw Gang, Concrete Cowboys and the Jimmy Roberts Blues Band.  See the Events tab for times.

Sponsor Pig Auction on Saturday and a Hog Calling Contest on Sunday.

All proceeds from this event benefit the Crusade for Children and Elizabeth Lions Club Community Projects.

Join us for some blues, some ice cold wine slushies, a little cheese and an awesome afternoon of 80 degree weather.

It’s official.  Spiced apple is on the shelf.  This is the perfect wine for Fall.  And, while Mother Nature is still clinging to summer with her hot and humid days, those cool fall evenings and beautiful fall foliage are just around the corner.  It’s the ideal time to stock up on this awesome wine with cinnamon, ginger and hints of clove.  Last years vintage was such a huge success that we created a batch twice the size of last year’s but we have already pre-sold 35 cases.  Don’t wait too long to pick up your bottle(s) before they’re all gone.

Mother Nature has not cooperated with us for the last few concerts.  And, it appears this weekend will not be an exception to the rule.  So, Saturday’s concert, featuring Bomar & Ritter performing their brand of contemporary folk/pop music, will be held in the new air conditioned Distillery building.  The slushie machine will be on hand cranking out some Watermelon slushies and some Mango-Pina Colada slushies.   A selection of cheese trays will be available.

For those in the Tell City area on Saturday, join us for a great afternoon of wine tasting at the annual Schweizer Fest Wine Garden in City Hall Park.  Entry into the event is just $10 and the first 200 guests are eligible to receive a limited, dated monogrammed wine glass to take home.

In deference to the expected temps on Saturday in the 90’s and heat index around 105 degrees, The Blues Redemption Concert will be moved indoors (with an awesome AC system) to the new distillery building. This is a one (maybe 2) time event since the building is still mostly empty. We’ll have tables and chairs set up for everyone to enjoy the music. Wine, slushies (leaded & unleaded) and cheese trays will be on hand. Unfortunately, we will not have a food vendor this weekend. Feel free to bring you own picnic basket & snacks to munch on during the concert. We’ll make sure to have a food vendor lined up for our next concert.

The Still has been put on the slow boat from China.  Actual ETA at the winery is still up in the air but we are making some progress.  Here are the pictures before it was disassembled and crated for shipment to the US.

And, here are a few other pictures we would like to share, including Shaggy (the neighbor’s dog) after his day at the spa.

And after performing a quick search, I have not found a positive benefit of the Japanese beetle other than being a potential food source for starlings and other birds.  It’s a fact they are very destructive on the Vineyard and the Blackberry patch.  So, basically, I’m thinking the best Japanese beetle is a DEAD beetle.  If you disagree, let us know.

Well a few of the May and June blog posts were lost during the transition from old website to our new look.  But the new website is great and has several new things to offer including being mobile friendly.  Take a few moments and peruse the various tabs, click the links, and enjoy.

July 9th – Join us at the winery for our first concert of July featuring Donny Dynamite and the Dynamos.  These guys will be cranking out the oldies in the gazebo.  This is a rain or shine event.  In the case of rain, we will move the event indoors.  But, right now the forecast is for sunny, mid- to upper 80’s and relatively low humidity.  It don’t get much better than that.   Unless you want to throw in a refreshing wine slushie (watermelon or mango pina colada) for just $3.  Cheese trays will be available at the winery but the Say Cheese truck will also be on hand with those gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and their awesome filled  dates.

UPDATE:  Operation Save the Blackberries – The save the blackberry campaign in late March and early April was a resounding success.  The blackberry brambles are loaded and have begun to produce big, plump juicy fruit.  These deliciously sweet berries are available at the winery and at the New Albany Farmers Markets (on Wednesday 4-7p and Saturday 8-12:30p at Bank & Market Streets and on Tuesdays 11-1p at the Floyd Co. Hospital).  This is our first successful year growing blackberries so we don’t know how long they will last.  It’s taken 4 long years to outsmart Mother Nature and get a crop.  So, don’t wait to long to stop by and get yours.  They are going quick.

UPDATE:  T-Shirt Contest 2016 – (This is one of the blog posts lost during the new website update.)  Congratulations to Heather R. for her 2016 T-shirt design submission.  Heather’s creative design incorporated many of the wonderful aspects of Best Vineyards.  Heather received $75 and 4 t-shirts.  And, as an added bonus, she and her family also received 4 tickets to attend Vintage Indiana 2016 on June 4th.  Heather and family thoroughly enjoyed the event despite the rainy weather.

UPDATE:  Building Construction – Construction of the new Distillery/Winery facility has been completed.  We now have Power (440)(thanks Harrison Co. REMC), bright lights (see Big Ass Lights), a Mash Cooker, a mixer for the mash cooker, fermentation tanks, a steam generator, air conditioning, insulated cooling tanks, pumps, hoses, and a whole assortment of other goodies.  But, we’re still waiting on the piece de resistance, the cream of the crop, the big daddy, aka THE STILL.  Per the manufacturer, it’s done and ready to be packed for shipment.  I’m told there’s pictures of this last little toy we need for the distillery but I haven’t seen them yet.  Hopefully we’ll get those pics in the next few days and get them posted.  With any luck, we’ll have that bad boy installed by mid August.  (Slow boat from China and all)  So, in the meantime, here are some of the latest construction pictures.