McIntyre’s Winery And Berries

Nice little winery run by a husband/​wife team. We enjoyed sitting in the cozy tasting room, hearing about how they got started. They have some of the best berry wines I have ever had. For the price, the experience, and the taste (keep the glass!), this is a must-​go to take a quick break from bourbon.

Just like all of the Kentucky Bourbon trailing Unilocalers before me, I loved this place too. I think it’s the first time that I’d visited a winery that had absolute no grape wines. All fruit and flower wines here. Lilies are my favorite flower, and it was here that I tasted them for the first time. I tried both the dry and semi sweet versions and didn’t care for the earthy, wild taste. And then there was dandelion wine. I now feel accomplished, so many firsts in one day. My favorites were the dry strawberry and elderberry wines. I ended up only taking one bottle of the strawberry dry home. Because even though it’s categorized as dry, that only means that there was no sugar added… so the natural sugars in it still makes it a bit sweet. Each flavor of wine comes as a dry, semi and sweet version. I was told that all of the wines are 12% alcohol, but I have to say that I really don’t think so…
The location is a bit odd… With houses close by, in each side of the tasting room, the area kind of reminds you of a subdivision. After chatting with the owner, he explained that he lives next door and grows most of the fruit and berries that his wines are made of. He even showed us around and explained the entire process… it was pretty neat.
Don’t forget to get your passport stamped there. After you visit and have 8 Kentucky wineries stamp your passport, they will give you a wine coozy. This was my 10^th Kentucky winery on the list and I somehow still can’t mange to remember to get my passport stamped… I picked up another one here, so I’ll try again.

I am not normally a fan of sweet wines, so I inwardly groaned when I learned my friends wanted to go to a fruit winery. Luckily, we had a Groupon for the experience, so I figured I could try it at least once.
I am SO glad I did. Tommy, the winemaker at McIntyre’s makes wines from seven fruits (blackberry, blueberry, cherry, elderberry, peach, pear, and strawberry) and one flower (daylily), but he does each of them at three sweetness levels: dry (no added sugar), semi-​sweet (2% sugar), and sweet (7% sugar). Thus, there are wines here for everyone.
While I didn’t love every wine I tried, I was surprised to find that I loved at least one level of each type of fruit and that it wasn’t always the same one. The dry blueberry showcased the floral notes of the berry, while the semi-​sweet peach highlighted the natural fruit flavors without too much tartness. Trying all three types of each fruit taught me how much «seasoning» and sweetness have to do with a great wine and how the recipes can’t be one-​size-​fits all with the same results because of the differences with the fruits.
The biggest surprise was the daylily wine, which was different from anything I have ever tried. Somewhat buttery with golden raisin to start, it has a floral middle and a green, grassy finish. I absolutely had to bring home a bottle just for the uniqueness factor. He finished with a slushy wine that was out of this world. Apparently he tried to find someone to share their slushy mix recipe with him and, when he couldn’t, his wife made up one of her own.
Tommy was the sweetest guy. He told us in-​depth what went into each of his wines, where he sourced the fruits (many are from his backyard), gave us nonstop crackers and even brought a bowl of water for my puppy. Afterward, he gave us a tour of the back and showed us how he makes and bottles wines. Once we bought a bottle, he suggested we take a walk around the blueberry vines in the back and enjoy the weather. We strolled around with my puppy, photographing his barn in the sunset. He told us to bring a picnic lunch the next time and I absolutely will.
Overall, Tommy’s prices are ridiculously reasonable, to the point I felt guilty using a Groupon. I can’t think of any other local winery where I could buy three bottles of wine and still feel like I was the one winning. I will definitely be back to this place.

I heart this place. I want to go back there now.
In a small little house on a nice piece of land, Tommy makes and sells his fruit wines. Unlike most places that make fruit wines, McIntyre’s offers every one of his varieties in dry, semi-​sweet, and sweet versions.
During our tasting, he was personable and friendly. We bought several bottles of wine, and hung around for a while, drinking our bottle of Daylily wine, walking around the vineyard area and enjoying the weather.
This was one of my favorite visits to a winery I’ve ever taken.
Do yourself a favor and find your way to visit McIntyre’s. Bring a picnic with you!
I highly recommend the Daylily wine and the Elderberry wine!

The owner and wine maker, Tommy was extremely friendly and welcoming to us when we came by this weekend. He allowed us to try just about all of his wines. He even showed us around the back where he makes the wines. He makes berry and fruit wines from local produce and makes them sweet, semi-​sweet and dry. We really enjoyed the Elderberry and the Blueberry wines. We bought one of each of them for a very fair price. We also tried the slushy which was delicious. This place is not far from Bardstown and definitely worth the stop if you are on the bourbon trail.

Awesome experience. We went today and had such a great time. Excellent wine, great hospitality. So nice to sit and chat and learn about the development of the business.

McIntyre’s Winery is wonderful. If you are doing any of the bourbon tasting around the area, we highly recommend you stop on by for some casual time and great fruit wine. This is the first time that we have tried fruit wine at a winery. It seems a little off the map but McIntyre’s Winery is really easy to get to with a GPS or even simple directions. It’s also only about 10 – 15 minutes drive from downtown Bardstown. It’s a small house that has plenty of room for parking. There’s also a great outdoor porch area that we’d like to try and hang out in when the weather is more pleasant.
Everyone is really friendly and helpful. Tom (the owner) was there and took us back to show us how the wines were made and how he first learned to make it. The tasting was extremely generous especially for the really low price. Both my husband and I enjoy dry wines so we mostly tried the dry and semi-​sweets with only a few sweet wines. I also tried the blueberry wine slushy which was delicious. The list of options were huge! There was blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, elderberry, cherry, and a blackberry that was aged in a boubon barrel. We were also able to sample some of the day lily wine that was being made but not quite ready for sale. We exited with 5 full bottles. They also have 200ml bottles if you’d like more variety. We’ll definitely be back.

Not far out of downtown Bardstown we were greeted with the open fields that surround McIntyre’s Winery. A bit of a neighborhood-​style location, McIntyre’s Winery sits just next door to the family home with fields of berries in both the front and back.
True to Kentucky hospitality, Mr. McIntyre was the sweetest sommelier we have ever had! We sampled McIntyre’s geniously conceived dry, semi, and sweet versions of each fruit wine (I loved all the dry options!) while Mr. McIntyre regaled us with stories of how he first learned to make wine. He told us how after his uncle left him a version of fruit wine when he was a youngster, he decided he liked the stuff and has been making it at home ever since.
The McIntyre’s grow their own berries and bottle the wine in the back room. Mr. McIntyre gave us the grand tour of the wine-​making process beginning where berries entered and ending where delicious wine exits. McIntyre’s has a lovely hardwood floor tasting room with seating along a bar and at cozy tables.
Slushy Mix: Apparently, slushy mix is a thing in Kentucky. You mix one packet of slushy mix with a bottle of wine, blend, freeze, and it becomes a frozen tasty treat! Having never heard of this concoction, Mr. McIntyre whipped us up a batch using a bottle of the sweet strawberry wine. O-​M-​G, YES! This stuff was amazing! I don’t love super-​sweet wines but slushy-​wine was like, whoa! Confession: I bought strawberry wine and slushy mix! (Caution: not all slushy-​mixes are the same… The powdered formula lowers the freezing temperature of the wine making it purrrrrrfect for slushy-​consistency. McIntyre’s was spot on).
When you’re in Bardstown looking for Bourbon, stop-​by McIntyre’s for some Berries and good old fashioned Boozing.