Paducah’s Purple Toad Winery is building a tasting room in Bowling Green, giving local wine aficionados the chance to whet their whistles with the brand’s unique flavors.

Purple Toad owner Allen Dossey said he had been looking for “almost two years, trying to find the right spot” before purchasing 10 acres of land at the intersection between Hunts Lane and Cemetery Road in February.

“It’s got quick access to the interstate, a nice road close to town, it gives you the country atmosphere,” Dossey said about the plot, located 15 minutes outside of Bowling Green.

Purple Toad, founded by Dossey and his wife June in 2009, already sells its products in Bowling Green stores. Flavors range from the traditional – like pinot grigio and merlot – to fresh and modern, like cotton candy, mango habanero and sour green apple.

The company’s website touts itself as the state’s “largest and most awarded winery.” Dossey said Purple Toad does business in six states.

He said putting a tasting room in Warren County serves as a means to reach the Nashville market, and that “most of my family is back there” anyway.

Once blueprints are finalized and the proper permits are obtained, Dossey said he hopes to open in one year.

Purple Toad isn’t the first wine business to take root in southcentral Kentucky. Traveler’s Cellar Winery, Bluegrass Vineyard, Carriage House Vineyards, Reid’s Livery and Crocker Farm Winery all dot the perimeter of Bowling Green.

According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Kentucky produced just over 4.7 million gallons of wine in 2022, good for seventh-most in the nation.

The state’s growing wine industry was even given a nod during this year’s general assembly, with SB28 allowing small farm wineries to self-distribute up to 12,000 gallons of wine per year.

Deserea Huff, co-owner of Traveler’s Cellar, said she and her husband’s winery produced about 10,000 750ml bottles during its opening year in 2019. That number might be closer to 20,000 for 2023.

“We’re still very small, especially by Purple Toad standards,” she said.

She said another business entering the fray is good news for her and fellow small farm wineries.

“We all talk and meet with the other wineries, we all have good relationships with each other,” Huff said. “We have to. If one winery does good in an area that helps all the other wineries. We’re all here for each other.”

She said Purple Toad’s name recognition should bring folks to its tasting room, and when someone is doing wine tastings “they’re going to seek out all the wineries in the area.”

“If they visit Purple Toad they may go to Bluegrass, then they may come here and go to Carriage House or Reid’s,” Huff said. “It’s not a bad thing to have another winery come in.”

Dossey said his land will be used to grow a few grapes too, but the amount depends on how much space is left after the building goes up.

Huff said Kentucky’s clay soil, flush with plenty of limestone, is “really good for grape growing.” Growers just have to keep an eye out for mold and mildew.

“The main issue you have is moisture, out west they don’t get rainfall but the grapes here you have to take care of them a little harder,” Dossey said. “Moisture is your enemy.”

Huff said she would like to see wineries included among Kentucky’s tourism staples – bourbon, horses and caves – so that people know how popular the business is in the Bluegrass.

“I get a lot of people here that don’t even realize we can grow grapes,” she said. “They’re tourists, and they’re astounded.”