The Beginning of the Road

My name is Axel Gruen and I live in Indiana.  I moved here from Oregon in 2012 to take a job as a Lutheran school principal in Ft Wayne.  My wife, Mary followed the next spring. Neither of us had ever lived in the Midwest until then. There was so much to see, do and explore. 

In Oregon we had just gotten involved with wine tasting with some really good friends before we moved. There are lots of wineries to explore in Oregon.  Our favorite was Troon Vineyards. My wife and I gained an appreciation for good wines and enjoyed finding new wineries to explore in Oregon. We thought when we left, those days were over. We were both delighted to find that was not the case. I had heard of a couple after I moved here and when my wife moved out to join me, we explored them.

It seemed natural as we explored Indiana, Michigan and the surrounding states, our new home, to look for wineries and tour the countryside exploring all there is to see and do here. We have found that and more. We been to Michigan several times (it seems to be our favorite place at the moment) as well as Kentucky and Tennessee. We're always looking for more places to explore.

That's the inspiration for this blog, to record where we've been, what we've seen and wineries we've toured and tasted at throughout the Midwest (and there have been some good ones!). As I write about the wineries, I'll share a little about what I liked about each and even a little about the wines I tasted and purchased to take home with me. 

Now to be clear, not every adventure was about wine, though the traveling and wine seem to be intertwined in many of those trips.  We did travel to other places and experienced things that did not include wine. I'll share some of those too!

This blog won't necessarily go in chronological order, rather which adventure I feel inspired to write about at any given time.  I hope you enjoy reading about our many travels and wineries that I'll highlight in future editions.

To great travels and great wines!

Axel