Raymond “Butch” Meyer has been a home winemaker for over 20 years, making much of his wine from grapes grown in his own vineyard.  His love of the land and his green thumb were inherited from his late father, Herb Meyer, who always grew acres of vegetables on the land where Butch and his family still live.

Butch started growing grapes in 1972 with
only a few vines.  Eventually, his vineyard expanded, and his wife refused to make another jar of jelly and gave him a book on winemaking for his birthday. He finally decided to try his hand at making wine in 1988.  Thus began a hobby and passion that has led to much success in the world of amateur winemaking.

 He first started entering the Kentucky State Fair Wine Competition in 1993.  Since that time he has entered many wine competitions across the country earning over 800 awards at state, national, and international levels.  Included in those were 38 “Best of Show” awards.  Butch has also been the winner of eight “Best of Show” awards on his grapes in the fruit and nut division at the Kentucky State Fair.

 In 2000, Butch was the winner of the “Best of Show” award at the American Wine Society’s National Amateur Wine Competition. He has also won the Indy International Wine Competition “Best of Show” award on two occasions. More locally, he has been the winner of the “Best of Show” award four times at our own Kentucky State Fair.  He is now a judge at that event.

 Each year, Winemaker Magazine holds an international amateur wine competition.  In their 2005 competition, Butch was named “Winemaker of the Year.” Out of 2,200 entries, he won the “Grand Champion” award along with 13 other medals. Being the largest non-commercial wine competition in the world, it is the achievement of which he is most proud.

 Butch is a retired engineer from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and now is a part-time engineering consultant.  He resides in Shepherdsville, Kentucky with his wife, Alma, of 35 years.  They have a daughter, Traci, married to Brance Gould, and two grandchildren, Savannah 6 and Brennan 2.