Good Grape Wine Company

December 20 2006

My Local Wine Shop of the Year Award

I’m always curious to meet people from outside of Indiana, particularly from either coast who view Indiana in much the same vein that I view Kentucky—a cultural backwater left circling the drain without any progress made since 1989—a flyover state without much going on. 

For the most part, it’s not true.  It’s egregiously incorrect, in fact.  Indianapolis has a lot going on including a burgeoning music scene, artists creating, living and working successfully and enough nightlife to keep you interested for a month of Sundays.  Louisville, KY, similarly, is in the same category of having ‘things to do and people to see.’  Though, I can’t vouch for the rest of Kentucky.

I’m convinced that aside from climate, topography and water features, most places in the U.S. are pretty much the same.  You’re going to have a Target, Best Buy, Bed, Bath & Beyond, a Costco or Sam’s Club and a serviceable grocery store in every major market and you’re going to have professional sports teams—either your own hometown team in close proximity, or one close enough regionally.

Aside from that cultural sameness though, what really differentiates a city are its independent businesses—the touchstones that have become icons over the years.

For this reason, and almost singularly for this reason, I try to frequent independents as much as possible.  And, for this same reason I also eschew chain eateries when and where possible

I’m reminded of this as I head out to Green Bay, Wisconsin tomorrow to watch the Packers play the Vikings at Lambeau Field, a guy pilgrimage to potentially see Brett Favre’s last home game as a Packer (I’ll surely hold on to my ticket stub).  And, we’ll eat somewhere that is small, off the beaten path and local (hopefully they also serve cheese curds, too).  Last year when we traveled to Nashville, TN to watch the Colts play the Titans we ventured off the beaten track to a hole in the wall to get ‘Hot Chicken,’ a Nashville delicacy that can best be described as fried chicken with cayenne pepper used in place of the flour for dredging.

These are the places that make our cities unique.

Austin, TX has even gone to the extent of organizing a grassroots campaign around this local flavor called Keep Austin Weird.

Indianapolis is, perhaps, a year or three behind Austin in terms of this marketing of individual progressiveness and we’re a geographically dispersed city in contrast to Austin, with the largest amount of land incorporated for a major metro in the country.  But, we’re not lacking in the effort department either.

A few cool sites have sprung up that celebrate what is unique and diverse about our city, including the following:  I Choose Indy, the Curious City and several others that are trying to tie together the cultural aspects of our fair land like Indy Arts and Indy Hub.  The Curious City highlights, for example, the Red Key Tavern, a bar just a few blocks away from my home that keeps house rules sacrosanct—no coats on the backs of chairs, no feet on the furniture, no unwelcome advances to woman unless they invite you to engage in a conversation, etc—all lovingly tended by a WWII vet who has owned the place for decades longer then I’ve been alive.

So, this brings me to my point about the First Annual Good Grape “Indianapolis Wine Shop of the Year Award.”  If, as I suggest, it is our independents stores that make us unique, then my Indianapolis Wine Shop of the Year award goes to the Grapevine Cottage in Zionsville, IN.

Barumph. 

It’s in Zionsville.

What, nothing in Indianapolis?

A winner by default?

Alas, this isn’t about who wins, but about who doesn’t win. 

Yeah.  Indianapolis has a wine shop, several of them in fact, but the one that could have been a contender has been on the northside for years, since 1979 in fact.  There are some warts, sure, but it has old school flavor.  A good selection from all major regions and you can buy Bordeaux futures, even if the overall pricing in the store sometimes begs pointed questions.  They’re also moving locations, too—not too far away, just a couple hundred feet into a brand spanking new building on Keystone Avenue.  If you’re in Indianapolis you might have driven by during the building process—the steel girders went up like in an Amish barn raising, the aluminum sheeting on the exterior and the breathless promise of a concrete-floor style wine warehouse in the monthly newsletter.  Stack ‘em high and watch ‘em fly, Costco-style.

Sadly, though, this wine store, unless I’m vastly in error will never win my Wine Shop of the Year Award.  When given a perfect opportunity to create something unique with a local flavor, something new, but time-tested, something that engenders an espirit de corp and a customer base that spreads the word, they chose the path of non-creativity sameness with aluminum walls warehouse-style with concrete floors to boot.  This is, unfortunately, over the opportunity for something personal and unique.

I shouldn’t be surprised, maybe they live in a spec. home on property that was a farm 10 years ago and eat at Olive Garden and it’s all they know.  Or, maybe I’m rushing to judgment; maybe there is a kernel of community engagement here that I’m overlooking.  After all, the store doesn’t even open until January so I am a bit premature.  But, then, I drive past the progress being made on the liquor barn and I’m not sure I’ll make it in.

Curiously, I doubt this store will make its way to the Curious City web site and it’s too bad, they could’ve done something great for the wine community in Indianapolis and they could have added to our city tapestry. 

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