Shady Creek Winery Partners With Patrick’s Grille For Exclusive Wine Pairing Dinner

Shady Creek Winery partnered with Patrick’s Grille in Michigan City on Sunday to showcase some of the region’s finest dining with the custom crafted wines that Shady Creek has been offering up for over seven years.

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The private event held at Patrick’s Grille featured a five course meal featuring seared diver scallops, roast tenderloin, and crème brulee. Shady Creek Winery paired some of their best and most popular wines, including their Petite Sirah and Beach Glass dry white blend, with each delectable dish.

“We found each other through a corporate appreciation event that was held at the Winery,” said Shady Creek Winery owner, Tim Anderson. “We specifically asked Patrick’s to cater it and part of that was to develop a relationship with them. It just so happens that Patrick [Wilkins] was already invited to the event as a guest and I think he was a little surprised about the winery. We were familiar with Patrick’s and at that point we said, ‘Well geez, we should collaborate on some things’. The first thing was doing this wine dinner where we intersect our customer base. If you look around the room about half of the people are customers at the winery and the other half are customers of Patrick’s.”

“It’s fantastic to have a business partner in town who’s willing to try new things and put on a great event like this,” said Anderson.

Shady Creek Winery will be working with Patrick’s Grille owner, Patrick Wilkins, to develop a line of red and white wines that will be branded and bottled exclusively for the restaurant.

“I think this is the beginning of a great partnership,” Anderson commented. “Initially we’re going to develop a red blend and a white blend. Those are in development now and I think Patrick has some names and some labels in mind. I believe given appropriate approvals those should be out by summer time. It’s going to be great. They’ve got a high end, fine dining restaurant in Michigan City and we’ve got some great wines and I think it’s something everybody needs to know about.”

Patrick’s Grille has only been open in Michigan City since September but in that time has garnered acclaim for their upscale, casual atmosphere and fine cuisine. Shared customers between the restaurant and Shady Creek Winery helped bring the two together.

“A number of our customers had indicated that Shady Creek is another place that they went to so I went and introduced myself to Tim one night,” said Wilkins. “He’s got a neat operation down there and I really like what he’s doing. We immediately recognized the opportunity for us to do something together. This food and wine pairing is a great idea and I think it’s something we’re going to do on a regular basis. We’re going to be stocking his wines here and Tim and I are in the process of working out a couple special blends, a red and a white, exclusively for Patrick’s Grille.”

The restaurant is a bit unique to Michigan City but as people become more familiar with what Patrick’s has to offer, and the strengths of local partnerships like their one with Shady Creek Winery, their popularity will continue to rise.

“The food is excellent,” said Connie Miltonberger, who attended the private dinner and is a frequent visitor to Shady Creek Winery. “My favorite dish was the scallops and they had some very good pairings. I loved how they paired the wines with the meal. I never thought a red wine would go so good with a salad but it was fantastic!”

To find out more about Shady Creek Winery, go to: www.shadycreekwinery.com/.