MUNCIE, Ind. — Tonne Winery, established in 2009, has been in business in Muncie for 16 years. Recently, it has been thriving under the new ownership of Sara and Tom Rogers.
The pair took over the business after the former owners decided to retire in 2023.
Luckily, they were able to spend the four years prior learning the ins and outs of the winery directly from the owners themselves.
“We had the perfect scenario to become business owners and become winemakers, because we worked alongside them,” Tom said. “They mentored us, gave us a lot of freedom to try things.”
And try things they did. From dry port sweetness to fun fruity tastes, the winery enjoys creating new products for their customers to enjoy. Tonney regularly offers a selection of over 20 wines to sample and buy.
According to Tom, they source natural, organic juices from all over the world. Once they’ve got the juice, the real magic happens in house. This allows them to curate their own signature tastes.
Fermentation, stabilization, filtering, and fining processes all occur directly on site. While their fruit wines take between six and ten weeks to curate, their grape wines can take more than three months.
“Making wine is fun. We enjoy making it, drinking it, you know, all of that, but it’s really the people that have made it our passion and why we love it,” Sara said.
The business is located just north of Delaware Country Airport, and serves the community wine and food seven days a week. Both owners consider the space to be “Family-Friendly,” and they welcome the community with open arms.
“It’s really just a multifunctional space,” Sara said. “We are a winery, but we offer a ton of things.”
Tonne is known for hosting a slew of events that bring the people of Delaware County together. They’ve done it all: tastings, art classes, live music shows, birthday parties, baby showers and class reunions. The winery utilizes their events room and back patio to accommodate and host the public.
“I love the freedom that we have to be able to come up with new products and new wines, but probably the thing we both love the most is the community aspect of it,” Sara said.
Contact Tatum Harris with comments at tatum.harris@bsu.edu.
