Indian Bear Winery opens
WALHONDING – A new winery with a family atmosphere has opened just on the other side of the Coshocton County line at 3483 McCament Road in Walhonding.
Indian Bear Winery opened in Knox County the first weekend in April and the owners are looking forward to giving guests of their lodge on the property and the general public a nice place to relax.
“We thought this would be a nice addition to what we already have and a draw for local people,” said one of the owners Sherri Lechner.
She and her husband Tom have operated Indian Bear Lodge since 2001 and brought their friends Coralea and Brad Collins in to help them run the winery.
“We couldn’t have done this without them,” Sherri said. “It’s definitely a group effort.”
They also are working with winemaker Joe Hollabaugh who previously was the head winemaker at a Northeast Ohio winery.
“Our winemaker has lots of experience,” Sherri said.
Indian Bear Winery currently has 12 wines, but will have 17 by the 4th of July. They also have two outdoor decks that offer beautiful views for customers to enjoy along with their wine.
“We have everything (on our wine list),” Sherri said. “There are sweet and dry wines.”
Right now they have three fruit, three white and six red wines and plan to add three more fruit wines and two more red ones.
All the wine is made on site from grapes they have shipped in, but they also are growing their own to use in future wines.
Coralea likes the sweet wines, but Sherri favors the dry red ones. Her favorite, the Roscoe Red Blend actually just won a gold medal.
Currently their wine can only be bought on site, but they may expand that option in the future. They also are looking into getting their food license, but until then guests can order from Shelli’s in Bladensburg who will deliver to the winery.
“Our customers have been really pleased with them,” Coralea said. “They offer a lot of different kinds of pizza and more.”
Their plans also include hosting events like weddings, reservations only steak and seafood dinners and they are planning live entertainment for their outdoor decks.
Tastings are three for $5 or six for $10 and the bottles of wine range in price from $13 to $19.
“We have a nice variety and something for different palates,” Coralea said.
The winery is currently open from 3 to 9 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays but they are planning on expanding to Thursdays through Saturdays in the summer starting with Memorial Day weekend. Happenings at the winery will be posted to the Indian Bear Winery Facebook page and you can learn more by visiting www.indianbearwinery.com or calling 740-668-2100.
“It’s also going to be kid friendly because we want to be a family oriented place,” Sherri said.
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Business
