Simmons Winery

While waiting for a table at the 450 brewery, we decided to try some wine samples. The two bar back is located inside the restaurant by the host desk. Our server was very friendly and offered great suggestions. It was a 4 for $5 sampling which I found reasonable. Our favorite was the Raspberry Ridge sweet wine.

We stopped by on our drive from Bloomington to Indy to break up the drive and try a winery we hadn't been to before. I generally have low expectations for Indiana wines, and this was pretty much what I expected. Of the four wines in my flight, I couldn't even finish two of them. (A shame since they charge more for a flight than any other IN winery I've been to -- $14 for 4 wines!) The Cab/Zin blend was not too bad -- better than I had expected, actually, so the tasting was off to a good start. But the dry Riesling was awful. It had a distinct funk to it. As a wine specialist, I feel like I should be able to describe it better than that, but I didn't want to keep sipping to identify the "funk" more precisely. The semi-dry Riesling was drinkable (but way sweeter than semi-dry). The "semi-sweet" Traminette was full-on, dessert wine level super-sweet and lacking any acidity to balance out the sweetness. I couldn't finish that one either because I was actually starting to feel a little sick from the intense sweetness. My husband liked the Zin in his flight, and I thought it was okay. I also tasted his blackberry wine. I usually like blackberry wines because they have acidity & tartness to balance the sweetness, but this one did not. It was just all sweet. The service was fine, and the atmosphere was nice. I enjoyed the classic rock music. The winery shares space with 450 North. I can't say anything about the 450 North stuff or the restaurant because I don't like beer and we didn't get food, so the two stars is based on wine quality alone. I'm glad we stopped by so I know what it is, but we definitely won't go out of our way to visit again.

Great place on a vacation my wife and I took. Staff was friendly and made accommodations for our pup outside .

It is certainly a-ok. And we had such a nice visit, I'm bumping it to 4 stars!The rundown:-The winery shares the location with an event space and a brewery. A brewery I had been wanting to visit, in fact! How convenient!-Off the beaten path. Not quiet as 'in town' as I anticipated.-Ample parking.-Six tastings for $4.-Dry and sweet and all in between are offered here.We drove up about 15 minutes after they opened. Walked up to the tasting bar and showed our IDs and got ready to wine-down. Jean was our tasting host/guide and she was lovely. You get a laminated menu of their wines and a dry-erase marker to indicate what you would like to try. I tend to lean towards sweet, but I am also starting to enjoy drier varieties. So I opted for a few semi-dry and semi-sweet options. Those were sweet enough for my sweet tooth! The sweet wines are like candy, if that is your thing!The bottles are fairly and affordably priced. I got two bottles and with the tasting on top of that, I paid less than $30 for my whole visit.I don't necessarily foresee myself coming back here, at least not for the wine alone. It was good and I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. But rolled in with the attached brewery...for sure! Together, they make for a visit to remember!

We had a delightful afternoon here after running the Mill Race Half/Marathon in September. We put our name in for a table outside and then hit the tasting counter while we waited which was perfect. When our table was called we were in the middle of the tasting and they told us to take our time our table would be ready when we were done which was quite nice. Once outside we ordered a wine flight some cheese curds and pizza. Since this place is kind of off the beaten path the patio looks out over fields and there's not a lot of hustle and bustle around so it was just such a nice peaceful afternoon! We were both very happy.

After many years of visiting Simmons Winery, the visit today will be our last.The elderly lady at the tasting counter on Friday, 11/9 was one of rudest customer service representatives I have ever encountered. We had to wait for her to finish a personal conversation with a fellow employee for she acknowledged us. Not one smile. I had requested a tasting of the wine I had in my hand to purchase. She reluctantly gave me a tasting in a plastic Dixie cup. When my wife asked for a tasting of the wine she was going to purchase; she used the same cup. No conversation and continued the interaction with her buddy. Because of her rudeness, my wife decided not to make a purchase. I would think the Simmons family has worked way too hard to build their business to have such a representative dealing with the public.

This was a fun stop. We paid for two tastings and sampled many of their different wines. We are baby wine drinkers and like sweet wines. They had many to offer. The woman pouring was friendly in a genuine way. We bought six bottles because there is a discount when you do. They have plenty of merchandise as well. Go to the other side and order a pizza and cheese curds.

I ran across this winery on my way from Louisville back to Indianapolis. (I actually saw the sign and decided it sounded like a good idea.) it is a joint winery and brewery and was very inviting. The staff I interacted with were all very nice. Staff wise, the bartender didn't seem to know a ton about wine. But I do think I was in the brewery side. While she didn't know exactly what wine would suit me best, she did offer me samples of a few of them to try. (Very well dome and we found one I really enjoyed very quickly.). When I was leaving, I decided I wanted to buy a bottle of the wine I was drinking. While I was looking for it, I found another one I was interested in and asked about it. I was given a sample of it and then got offered another sample of a reserve wine that people liked better. I loved the level of service that I received at this winery and will definitely make it a stop on my trips through Columbus.

Simmons Winery has been around nearly twenty years and continues to grow. They share a main building with a sister brewery and restaurant. Across the parking lot is a banquet hall and an outdoor shelter and garden. The winery portion of the building is on the smallish side. There is a counter on the left with a tiny "rope" blocking off the 21+ only area. I wanted to do a tasting, so I asked and the server went to find someone to conduct the tasting. While I waited, I was able to check out a lot of merchandise (along the wall with the wine counter). After a brief wait, I was able to try six of their two page wine menu samples for $4. They have shading to indicate which wines are made from fruit grown on their own property. The tasting runs the standard range from dries, to semi sweets, and finishes with sweet and fruit wines, but you can pick and choose as you like.All of the varieties that I tried were good, but a few really stood out. The "Chardonel Vintner's Reserve" (2016) was a delightful way to start the tasting. My third choice was a table wine "Autumn Blush"(2016) that was so delicious that I asked for a bottle to take home! The Reisling and Rhubarb selections were quite good too, but I decided to go with something unique and different, so I picked up a Cranberry-Apple wine that should make for some enjoyable evenings out by the neighbor's fire pit. I would like to see alcohol content added to their wine list/labels. Review #1325

To sum it up, great atmosphere but it was kind of slow. We used to go to the old building. Since, I've switched to Gluten free so options are limited but they do have a GF pizza. It was okay, but not hot enough. We got pork nachos which were cold. They did refund us and give us chips and queso which was very nice. The pretzel I'm told didn't take like a pretzel but looked good and that cheese was good. Id give it another chance but I wasn't my best experience! The wine is delicious though!