By Ryan Palencer
PLAINFIELD — Wine has become both a passion and a successful business for Dr. Charles Thomas.
In 1984, Thomas and his wife Jill founded the Chateau Thomas Winery on the south side of Indianapolis. Thirteen years later, they moved the winery to Plainfield.
Thomas, who was an obstetrician-gynecologist prior to opening the winery, said his interest in wine shortly after he and Jill were married.
“I became fascinated by wine,” he said. “Not only the wine itself, but the chemistry of it, the nutrition of wine, the medical benefits of drinking wine. I became fascinated by the history of wine and its involvement with government and everything like that down through history. It had involvement in religion and art.”
Thomas then took an evening class about wine at IUPUI.
He traveled to Napa, Calif., for several years, soaking up as much knowledge as he could from famous wine makers before opening his own winery.
“Over the time (I was learning), I met so many wine people who were helpful,” he said. “The nice thing about the wine industry, everyone that you know — even your competitors — will help you. Everybody is always eager to help and that’s a really nice thing. There aren’t very many industries where this happens. As a matter of fact, it might be the only one.”
Thomas said the winery’s original location suffered from a lack of space so he moved it to Troy Avenue, just west of Beech Grove, where it remained for a couple of years.
In 1987, the winery moved to Madison Avenue and stayed there for about eight years. While there, the Thomases had a notable neighbor. Mel Simon had the top floor of the building they were in, while Thomas had the bottom two.
The popularity of the winery soon necessitated another move and this time, Thomas chose Plainfield. The building was initially supposed to be across State Road 267, by a lake just west of I-70, but they decided not to develop there. The current location was then chosen.
In addition to adding onto the current building twice, Thomas has also bought the neighboring building for parking and to hold outdoor events.
Thomas said Plainfield proved to be the perfect location because he had always wanted to have his winery beside an interstate.
“The more I researched it, having access on the interstate was important,” Thomas said. “So I started looking around and I accessed a study that was done by Purdue, talking about which interstates have the most traffic. Turned out that I-70 was the best. All of the I-70 exits inside of I-465 were all very industrial type exits, not very attractive for people to come in and drink wine. As it turned out, the very first one that fit that description was this one.”
Throughout his time in Plainfield, Thomas has gotten an opportunity to see the community flourish and develop.
“I have (seen Plainfield develop),” Thomas said. “I’ve been here 13 years. Especially the industrial development east of us here. At the same time, the revenue from that has allowed the town to expand the infrastructure to accommodate that ... What they have done around the high school and Metropolis is just first class.”
In addition to hosting several events in Plainfield, Chateau Thomas also hosts music events at their Plainfield, Fishers, and Nashville locations.
“We also have two satellite locations,” Thomas said. “They also have music events. We have a lot of music going on. On Friday night, we have three places and on Saturday night, we have two. I think the public has responded well and our music events are well attended.”
For more information on Chateau Thomas Winery, visit the website at www.chateauthomas.com.
ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com
