If you associate wineries with long drives to rolling rural hills, you're overlooking the appeal of Indy's much-closer-to-home destinations. What an urban, or "small-town urban" winery lacks in pastoral settings, it more than makes up for in gasoline savings -- in other words, more drinking, less driving.

Here are a few to check out:

Easley Winery

205 N. College Ave.

(317) 636-4516.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Meredith and Mark Easley attract wine lovers who live or work nearby to programs such as the Groovin' in the Garden summer music events.

Grape Inspirations

1307 S. Range Line Road, Carmel.

(317) 705-9463.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

For Ron and Joyce Shoff, owners of Grape Inspirations, being urban is all about accessibility. Its strip-mall site offers high visibility. "You give up the attraction of people being able to see your vines," says Ron Shoff, who works strictly from juices, "but I think the tradeoffs are well worth being in an urban setting, because I'm much more accessible."

New Day Meadery

701 S. Anderson St., Elwood.

(765) 552-3433.

Hours: 1 to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday and by appointment.

Husband-and-wife owners Brett Canaday and Tia Agnew create limited-edition honey wines in flavors such as peach, blueberry, red raspberry and plum, using Indiana-grown fruits and honey from an Anderson beekeeper.

Thomas Family Winery

208 E. Second St., Madison.

(812) 273-3755.

*Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.*

Third-generation winemaker Steve Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth, specialize in European-style vintages. An Old World-style tasting room in the winery's 1850s-era building serves up artisan breads, imported cheeses and salamis to accompany the wines and hard cider.

Lanthier Winery

123 Mill St., Madison.

(812) 273-2409; (800) 419-4637.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Owner/cellar master Chris Lanthier handcrafts 17 wines at the city's oldest winery. Sip one in the Cellar Tasting Room or the Loft Art Gallery.

- By Julie Cope Saetre / Indy.com correspondent