Development News From Southwest Indiana

A local Italian restaurant's offering of distinctive wines that complement its menu brought to Evansville what may be the first award by a prestigious international wine monthly to a far-Southern Indiana establishment.

The Vintage Tomato, at 500 S. Green River Road, acquired in October by Kris and Val Wambach, unveiled its Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine in festivities Thursday evening.

As part of its list of this year's winners published its Aug. 31 issue, Wine Spectator described the Award of Excellence as its "basic" award recognizing wine lists that "offer a well-chosen selection of quality producers, along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style."

"If (the wine list and the menu) meld and they like it," said Val Wambach - then she offered a triumphant thumbs-up gesture.

"When most people think of wines, they think of certain brands ... a lot of people don't know of wines other than the mass-produced," she said. "We bring wines that are harder to find, not so well known, at a moderate price to heighten awareness that there are some good wines out there that are not mass produced."

Kris Wambach said he was told by a Wine Spectator official that the award to Vintage Tomato was the "only one in memory" to an Indiana establishment south of Bloomington or Columbus. Kris Wambach was manager of a Destin, Fla., restaurant when it won Wine Spectator's second-tier award in 2000. Customers at two tables came to the Vintage Tomato with magazine in hand on the day the award issue arrived in subscribers' mailboxes, said Kris Wambach, who also is the restaurant's chef. Patrons at one of the tables, who told Wambach they drive to the closest award winner's establishment every year, came in from Olney, Ill.

Vintage Tomato's wine list is placed solidly in the moderate-price category by Wine Spectator. Val Wambach said that of the restaurant's more than 100 wine labels, more than 50 are available by the glass at $4.25 to $12. The others go for from $18 to $90 a bottle.

Recognition of the restaurant's award Thursday came in the form of a 5 p.m. Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting, followed by a ceremony that included Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel.

Only three other Indiana restaurants were added this year to the Award of Excellence for a total of 24 establishments in the state that currently hold it. Only Scholars Inn Gourmet and Wine Bar in Bloomington and Smith's Row Food and Spirits in Columbus join Vintage Tomato among current awardees in Southern Indiana. There are 2,907 current awardees worldwide.