I had no idea that North East Ohio was a major wine producing region. Okay maybe not "major" in the Californian sense, but at a glance I counted over forty winery's in the extreme North Eastern corner of Ohio alone.
To elaborate, Kerrie and I spent some time with her Mom and Dad recently and while we were visiting, we stopped at a few different winery's. Most notably was Ferrante's Winery & Ristorante, and the South River Winery which was actually an old chapel that had been converted into a winery.
First off, I should admit that I did NOT realize Ohio had so many vineyards and winery's. When I heard we were going to Ferrante's, I just figured it was a winery all by itself - end of story. I quickly began to notice signs everywhere for different winery's and many plots of land dedicated to being nothing BUT vineyards. (Sweet! No fucking Corn!)
We were dismayed to hear that the tours had stopped for the season at Ferrante's, but we simply traveled from spot to spot taking in the sights and even trying a few wines along the way.
At the South River Winery, we tried both a Riesling and an Ice Wine. The Ice Wine, I thought, was far too sweet but the Riesling was amazing. Slightly sweet and perfectly cool, I'm kicking myself for not snagging a bottle before we left.
For dinner, we returned to Ferrante's. It's a basic Italian restaurant, but one thats a reliable Italian restaurant. Classic Italian dished, prepared properly without fuss or pretension. I had the House Red and Kerrie had the Rossato. Both went well with our meals, but I found that I liked hers much more than mine. Hers was served at a slightly lower temperature and had a very pleasant sweetness to it.
When all was said and done, I was very taken by what I had learned of that day. I would say discovered, but lets face it - I was lead by hand to the wine. And thankfully so! I had never dreamed there was so much wine being produced up North, but I'm glad to have found out because I don't get over to Sonoma all that often and Bordeaux doesn't look too likely either.
Ohio Wine Association
2 comments:
The last boyfriend and I used to do Vintage Ohio all the time and go crazy with the wine tasting. You're right, you wouldn't think northern Ohio was such a wine place but the sandy ground really makes it ideal.
Yeah, it all seemed pretty clear after I got there and started doing the tours. Hell, even Kerrie didn't realize how many winery's there are up there. Nonetheless, I now have much to look forward to when going North. North-East anyways...
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