This local winery’s new wine will leave you ‘All Foched Up’

An Arcanum winery is expanding its hours, its seating capacity, its lineup of wines — and its wordplay humor — in the weeks ahead.

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A.R. Winery already produces a wine called "What the Foch," and in August, will release a new wine entitled "All Foched Up." The "F" word on the labels is a wink-and-a-nod reference to the French hybrid grape varietal named Marechal Foch, which is correctly pronounced "mar-esh-all-fosh." And we are CERTAIN that's how seasoned wine drinkers pronounce it in their heads when they first see each wine's label.

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Both red wines are indeed made from Marechal Foch; the All Foched Up is aged in bourbon barrels.

Angie Rex credits — or blames — her husband Russell for the idea.

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“Russell and I actually didn’t agree on this name — I thought it might be a little too risky,” Angie Rex said. “But people love it. Quite a few have bought the bottle just for the label.”

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But the winery located at 3564 Gordon Landis Road northeast of Arcanum is about more than wordplay. A.R. Winery is adding Thursday hours starting this Thursday, July 6, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., when it also will release a new sweet blackberry wine, named, rather tamely, “Bambalam.” (It is also open on Fridays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.)

And the winery is nearing completion of a new production room and open porch.

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“We’re definitely growing,” Rex said. “Our new tanks will produce five times more wine than currently being produced. We’re in 33 retail stores, and another 7 are on a waiting list.”

The open porch will add much-needed seating, which has been filling up on weekends, in part because the winery introduced wood-fired pizzas last summer.

The All Foched Up bourbon-barrel-aged red is coming in August, and will be sold only at the winery’s tasting room.

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