Beyond the Vine Wine Tour – Touring Lafayette Wineries One Sip at a Time

Sip and enjoy wine during a Beyond the Vine Wine Tour, a full day Chauffeured Wine Trail operated out of Lafayette, Indiana. Reservations can be made for as little as two guests or you can reserve the entire luxury shuttle (up to 14 friends) for your party or event! Enjoy the day, the wine, & the trail while Beyond the Vine Wine Tour does the planning and navigating! Purdue University Student, Haley Compston, shares her experience touring with Beyond the Vine.

As a student at Purdue, I am always searching for something new and fun to do in the Lafayette-West Lafayette area. With my parents coming to visit one weekend, I was looking for something that would be fun for me as well as for them. Beyond the Vine Wine Tours turned out to be a perfect solution.

We boarded the Beyond the Vine bus on a rainy Sunday morning and began our tour of local wineries. The day started off with a fun ride to our first winery. Jill Smit, the woman behind the Beyond the Vine operation and the driver of the bus, gave us tons of interesting information about the wineries we would be visiting. She was incredibly knowledgeable about the wine they would be serving, as well as the wineries themselves. As we approached our first stop, Fruitshine Winery, she told us about the unique wine they served which is made from all kinds of fruits that are grown on the premises.

Fruitshine Winery

At Fruitshine, we tasted wine made from bananas, pears, apples, blueberries, and more. There were so many special kinds of wine, and as we tasted and compared, we were offered mixtures of the different wines based on what we liked. With so many options, there were wines that appealed to everyone at Fruitshine, and the atmosphere was homey as we sipped our wine in a rustic screened-in porch, reminiscent of Grandma’s house.

Whyte Horse Winery

The next stop on our tour was Whyte Horse Winery. Both the employees and the guests greeted us as we walked in, making us feel like regulars among the crowd. The wine we tasted here was more typical to what might be served at a restaurant or offered at a store. However, the woman guiding our tasting, Amanda, was knowledgeable about each wine and gave us backstories on why they chose to make each wine the way they did. They made traditional types of wine using unique processes that gave them a fresh edge. There were also additional tastes after the original six we chose so that we could try their seasonal offerings. This included a spiced apple wine and a cotton candy wine slushie. The offerings at Whyte Horse were balanced between traditional, classic wines, and incredibly unique flavors.

Carpenter Creek Cellars

The final stop on our tour was Carpenter Creek Cellars. As we walked into the barn, we were greeted by a member of the staff and the owner of the winery. The owner guided our tasting, telling us about each kind of wine we were trying, as well as sharing stories and information about the history of the winery itself. The family history of the winery was evident in the décor, with vintage photos of the family that owns the winery lining the walls, as well as aged trinkets and memorabilia. Each wine at Carpenter Creek was a classic kind of wine, but they were classic wines done well. We enjoyed tasting and chatting, and we were even greeted by some furry friends during our visit.

The Beyond the Vine Wine Tours experience was incredibly enjoyable, and definitely something we would do again. We booked the trip the week before and spent $91 per person for an afternoon filled with great wine, and even better company.

For more information regarding Beyond the Vine and other Lafayette-West Lafayette attractions, please visit HomeOfPurdue.com.