Winemaking is both science and art. The science comes into play with soil composition, climate, plant selections, and the chemistry behind each bottle. The art comes from the winery owner’s imprint—the special way he blends and crafts each ounce of wine he produces. If it were simply science, everyone could make amazing wine. There’s something more.
Eric Harris, owner and winemaker at Two EE’s Winery, located near Roanoke, has always felt a strong entrepreneurial spirit. He studied Enology (the study of wines) and Viticulture (study of grapes) at UC Davis and is a certified sommelier. In 2008, Eric and his wife Emily started down the road to opening their own winery. They picked their location, developed a business plan, and designed their building.
Five years later, in 2013, Two EE’s Winery opened, and today, it is one of our region’s prize attractions. It is surrounded by 40 acres of trails and vineyard, offering guests the perfect backdrop for a picnic or a stroll. The expansive and contemporary tasting room provides guests the opportunity to sample and purchase wines, while learning about each from the informative staff. The enclosed heated patio provides a space for year round wine enjoyment, as well. During the summer, the Uncorked Music Series shines a spotlight on local musical talent, as well as culinary talent featuring a handful of food trucks at each event. Two EE’s is more than just a place to purchase wine—it is an entertainment destination.
But, let’s get back to winemaking. According to Eric, it can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be. “Simply enough, if grapes are left on the vine to fall to the ground and rot, they will become wine, but will quickly sour and decompose without the intervention and attention of a winemaking staff,” he says.
Eric’s team controls the process of fermentation, clarification, and filtration, intervening only when necessary to keep the product clean and free from contamination. “Harvesting grapes in clean containers, destemming and crushing with sanitized equipment, inoculating the juices with a specific wine yeast culture, monitoring fermentation progression, and ultimately, barrel aging to bottle—each step requires a skilled crew to complete properly,” explains Eric.
What makes Two EE’s special is the culmination of many facets of the business. From their ever-popular wine slushies to the deliberate selection of their arcane varietal dry reds, everything comes together to create the end product that people enjoy.
“For some, winemaking is a feel game and for others it is more scientific,” Eric says. “We employ both the organoleptic experience and hard chemistry when making decisions in the cellar about blending, aging, and bottling.”
Of course, Indiana’s climate poses some challenges to the process. It is not so much the soil, the sun exposure, or the rain that causes the problems, but temperature and humidity. “We have extremely cold winters and extremely hot summers and not a lot of moderation,” Eric explains. “This stresses some of the more common grape varieties and leaves us with fewer options for what we’re able to grow. Humidity presents challenges because it can result in disease and rot during certain times of the year. If the proper varieties are chosen, a lot of the risk can be mitigated, but you sacrifice other aspects like varietal familiarity. Some of the lesser known varieties can be a challenge to market in the tasting room.”
Two EE’s is a business after all, and it must remain profitable. That is why it relies on grapes grown in other parts of the country to produce its wine. While it has used grapes from its property, it is a winery first and the vineyard takes a back seat to other operations. “Most wineries are just that, while the vineyard is its own entity… manufacturing versus agriculture,” Eric says. “Generally, the two work in concert, but a winery will diversify its supply chain in order to mitigate risk, while a vineyard will grow more than what one winery will accept in order to take advantage of economies of scale. This led to the gradual separation of the two businesses within the industry. While there are still examples of vertically integrated wineries, it is rare and risky.”
Two EE’s vineyard is too small to make a single wine from, which is why Eric and his team typically blend their harvest into an existing one. “We recently replanted with Vignoles grapes and those should yield a harvest next year large enough for a single batch wine,” Eric says.
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Amber Foster is a freelance writer, community volunteer, mom, and food aficionado. Find her at www.agingerinthekitchen.com.