With Indiana's varying temperatures and sporadically harsh winters, most people don’t typically think of Greenwood as a winemaking region. But Mallow Run stepped up to the task and has been making quality wine beloved by the local community for almost 20 years. Here's the inside scoop on their winemaking process from J.P. Pitcock, winemaker at Mallow Run Winery.
WHAT TYPES OF GRAPES DO YOU USE FOR YOUR WINE?
"We grow American and French-Hybrid grape varieties that are able to stand up to the temperature changes, including winters here in Indiana. Any wines that require grapes we don't grow on the property, we acquire the juice and select yeast strains to promote fruity flavors in the wines."
WHAT DOES THE ACTUAL WINEMAKING PROCESS LOOK LIKE?
"We tend to our vines all yearlong from winter pruning to spring bud break. This includes summer canopy management and spraying as wells as bird netting to preserve the crop. We still handpick the grapes we grow from the vineyards with the help of wonderful volunteers in the community. On those harvest days we have literally tons of grapes being crushed and pressed into juice. From there, we age the wines while protecting them from oxygen exposure and carefully hand bottle over 8,000 cases of wine per year. And a fun fact: our bottling line is still hand bottled by about five people on our team at a time."
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL WINES RELEASING SOON?
"Yes! We are planning to have our annual release of Cranberry Wine & Cranberry Cider available by our Harvest Festival on Oct. 12 this year. These two fall releases are some of our most popular and they are perfect for festivities going into the holiday season."
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"We harvest our grapes at lower sugar and higher acid contents, different from California wines familiar to most people."