Thirsty? The Heartland Wine & Ale Trail offers a tasty way to sip your way through the regional wineries and craft breweries of Wayne County, even venturing across the state line into Ohio.
Whether your tastes lean more toward fruity red and fragrant white wines for sipping on a scenic patio or a refreshing pint of hoppy IPA on a hot day, the trail’s got you covered with plenty of destinations to explore and products to sample. Can’t make up your mind? Order a flight with several mini-servings of wine or beer to find your favorite.
Preserving local flavor and celebrating the agricultural bounty of the east-central Indiana farming region, every participating establishment on the list is owned and operated by a local resident. Which means guests regularly get the chance to chat directly with winemakers and brewmasters to ask questions and learn more!
Each stop on the Heartland Wine & Ale Trail offers its own unique visitor experience, from cozy rural tasting rooms to lively city hotspots. Wine drinkers have a handful of options to check out, from the Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard and Winery in a renovated Eaton, Ohio schoolhouse that’s more than a century old; the Winery at Versailles and Twenty-One Barrels Cidery and Winery (both in Darke County, Ohio) to Cedar Coffee and Wine in New Paris, Ohio; and Dougherty Orchards and Winery in Cambridge City. Opened in 2024, the Pilgrimage Wine Company and vineyards, also in Cambridge City, is the newest addition to the group, offering dry to off-dry wines.
Beer drinkers, meanwhile, can beeline to 5 Arch Brewing Company and scratch kitchen in Centerville, Roscoe’s Coffee Bar and Taproom in Richmond’s historic Depot District, and Bushrod Brew Works in Eaton.
For the best of both worlds, A.R. Winery/Briar Brown Brewing Co. in Arcanum, Ohio pours something to please everyone in a bucolic farm setting. And you’ll find well-vetted wine AND beer lists, not to mention signature cocktails and mocktails, to consider at the Cordial Cork in Richmond. Cheers to that!
Look for two new businesses coming to the trail this fall — Hagerstown Brewing and kitchen, and Bad Dad Pizzeria and Tap Room in the Depot District.
With nearly a dozen participants on the trail, it’s best to spread out your adventure over a few days if you plan on visiting all of the stops. Start your journey by downloading or grabbing a brochure to follow at the Richmond/Wayne County Visitor Center at 5701 National Rd. East, and always travel responsibly by selecting a designated driver.
Visitors can find the full list of Heartland Wine & Ale Trail members, along with other helpful information, at visitrichmond.org.
