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A Hancock County winery is suing the town of McCordsville, alleging ordinances passed by the Town Council have unfairly targeted the winery and limited its operations by attempting to prevent it from hosting live music and events.
Daniel’s Vineyard LLC, 5 Branches LLC and Traverse Inc. filed the lawsuit against the town Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The restaurant portion of the winery is operated by 5 Branches, while Traverse owns the real estate. All three entities have the same principal place of business address.
On Sept. 29, the town of McCordsville sued Daniel’s Vineyard in Hancock County Circuit Court, alleging breach of development contract and that the business has failed to meet architectural standards for its primary building, which was originally built to be a storage barn. The town also argued the business at 9061 N. County Road 700 West is not zoned as a music venue but frequently hosts concerts and other large events on its premises.
In its lawsuit, Daniel’s Vineyard challenges recent McCordsville Town Council ordinances and enforcement actions that it believes singles out the business. The complaint also says the town began hosting live music this year at a new downtown mixed-use development and alleges the town wants to compete with the winery for summer concerts.
The winery is represented by the Detroit-based law firm Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC.
“We’ve always believed in collaboration and fairness,” a spokesperson for Daniel’s Vineyard said in a written statement. “Our goal is simply to ensure that small businesses are treated consistently and that the rules are applied equally to everyone.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, McCordsville Town Manager Tim Gropp said the town “has not been formally notified of Daniel’s Vineyard’s legal action and will review once we receive it.”
Daniel’s Vineyard opened in 2017 and started a summer concert series with live outdoor music from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. After the first season, the town “sought to exert control over the Winery’s operations under the guise of noise control,” the complaint says.
The following winter, the town amended its noise ordinance that “to effectively eliminate all amplified sound at the Winery.”
“The purpose of this amendment was to target the Winery and prevent performance and live entertainment even though both are allowed uses on the Property,” the complaint says.
In 2018, Daniel’s Vineyard “informally advised” the town that it would seek to add a distillery license to its property. The complaint alleges the town “expressed a desire to control the distillery operation, including how and to whom Daniel’s could serve spirits products, and sought to add that control as a condition of approval of the distillery.”
That year, the winery held its summer concert series indoors. Daniel’s closed the winery and tasting room on Nov. 1, 2018, and spent the next year and a half attempting to work with the town to find a solution to the noise situation, according to the lawsuit.
The winery reopened in July 2020, and the town again amended its noise ordinance later that year.
“While the prior ordinance provided the Winery with a thirty-minute grace period in which to lower the sound level once put on notice by the Town of an alleged violation, the revised ordinance stated that a warning and violation ‘will issue’ if the person does not come into compliance but does not provide time for such compliance,” the complaint says.
The complaint says the town sought to place a new restriction on Daniel’s Vineyard in October 2023 that would have required it to get town approval for every event. That came after the winery sought a zoning change to add a covered pavilion over the business’ bocce courts, according to the complaint.
In 2024, the town adopted a special events permit ordinance that requires organizers to get a permit if a gathering is determined to be a special event and limits property owners to eight special events in a calendar year.
“The Town exempted itself from compliance with the special events ordinance and may hold as many special events as it desires,” the complaint says.
In 2021, the town announced the 48-acre McCord Square on the southeast corner of the intersection of State Road 67 and North County Road 600 West. Along with a pair of apartment buildings, McCord Square features an amphitheater where the town began hosting its “Live on the Square” series of outdoor movies and concerts earlier this year.
The complaint argues the town wanted to compete with the winery for concerts. McCord Square is about 3 miles from Daniel’s Vineyard.
The winery is asking the court to rule that the town’s ordinances and restrictions placed on its state-issued alcohol licenses are unconstitutional, prohibit the town from enforcing the ordinances and restrictions and award damages and attorney’s fees in any judgment in the winery’s favor.
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