Holtkamp Winery Gives Great Crescent a New Chapter

Local Businesses Blend Community Connections

Julie and Doug Holtkamp

(Sunman, Ind.) - It is inspiring when two local family businesses create their own success stories and then help each other keep their dreams alive as they change and grow.

A new chapter is taking shape at Holtkamp Winery and Vineyards in Sunman, where plans to produce Great Crescent Brewery’s signature beers are about more than expanding the drink menu.

For winery owner Doug Holtkamp and Great Crescent owner Dan Valas, the project connects two family businesses, preserves a familiar local brand and reflects a shared commitment to the communities that helped them grow.

Doug and Julie Holtkamp acquired the Great Crescent brand, recipes and brewing equipment after Dan and Lani Valas closed their Aurora brewery in September 2024. The arrangement gives the Holtkamps a foundation for adding beer to their winery while allowing the brewery that served locals and visitors for 16 years to continue in a new setting. Valas’s guidance is part of that transition.

RELATED: Holtkamp Winery Owners Purchase Great Crescent Brewery

The connection began when Holtkamp stopped in to discuss buying the brewing equipment. He had hoped to add beer to Holtkamp Winery someday. Valas, meanwhile, was facing a difficult decision: after potential buyers backed out, he reluctantly put the equipment up for sale.

Closing Great Crescent meant stepping away from something he and Lani had spent years building, even as they pursued another local venture. As they talked, Holtkamp recognized common ground. Both men cared deeply about their products, set high standards and viewed their businesses as something to nurture with pride.

Holtkamp also understood that Great Crescent’s significance extended beyond its equipment and recipes. Customers had made it part of their lives, and Valas wanted the brewery’s legacy to have a future.

Their plan became a way to help one another move forward. Holtkamp could carry the Great Crescent name and beers into Holtkamp Winery’s next stage, while Valas could share the recipes and knowledge behind them.

Rather than starting from scratch, the Holtkamps would build on an established brewing tradition. Rather than seeing that tradition end, the Valas’ could help guide its continuation.

At the Winery, preparations for growth are requiring time and planning. The couple has completed a large taproom with room for parties and weddings, and a new production building across the street is framed, with concrete work still to be finished.

They originally intended the new building to house both brewing and additional wine production. To meet requirements for separate production areas, they now plan to move wine production into the new building and install the brewery equipment in the current wine-production space. No easy task – the vats and tanks are enormous.

Holtkamp intends to stay true to the original Great Crescent recipes, perfecting them one at a time rather than rushing the process. He is also looking for local farmers who grow sorghum and hops, creating another potential connection between the winery’s expansion and the surrounding agricultural community.

Beer production currently remains a project in development, with the focus on getting the facilities and recipes right. That attention to the product is already part of Holtkamp’s wine story.

In 13 years of winemaking with winemaking expert and friend, Jeff McCann, Holtkamp has built a lineup that earned medals for all 16 entries at the 2026 Indiana State Fair. Highlights included Double Gold and Best in Class for the 2021 Robert Reserve, Double Gold for the new sparkling 2024 Cuvée Vivante and Gold for the 2025 Catawba.

Listening to customers has shaped the winery in other ways, too. In 2020, after a successful trial weekend serving pizzas alongside wine, the Holtkamps excitedly planned to offer brick-oven pizzas every weekend, making their own dough and sauce. Then the COVID shutdown arrived.

They opened a carryout window for pizza and wine, finding a way to keep serving customers. That momentum continued when restaurants reopened.

The winery’s community connections also show up in its gift shop, which features local items, and in its schedule of musicians and workshops. Tables in and around the winery give families and friends space to gather and enjoy good company.

The planned brewery adds to that setting without replacing the wine, food and local connections that are already central to Holtkamp’s identity.

In Aurora, Dan and Lani’s next chapter keeps them rooted in community life as well.

Their Aurora Marketplace offers fresh produce, snacks, and specialty foods downtown, including locally sourced honey, Wagyu beef and microgreens. While their business has changed, its local focus continues.

At Holtkamp Winery, with their identity connected so closely to the community, continuing the Great Crescent tradition is a natural step. What began as a conversation about brewing equipment became a way for two local business owners to help each other move forward.

For the Valas and Holtkamp families, supporting one another means keeping treasured traditions, local products and community connections in the forefront of whatever comes next.

Holtkamp Winery and Vineyards is located at 10868 Woliung Rd, Sunman, IN, 47041. Contact for events and pizza hours: 513-602-5580. Email: holtkampwinery@gmail.com