Featured Ohio Winery

• Outdoor 'picnic' feel (endless rounds of cornhole) 
• Friendly staff
• Generous samples 
• Large flights of fantastic wine AND beer
• Delicious cheese plates, soft pretzels, and pizza
• Weekend cookouts 

TRAMINETTE

tastes of: peach, apricot, spice

* light body, semi-dry, similar to Gewurztraminer

SEYVAL BLANC

tastes of: apple, citrus, vanilla

* medium body, oaked, similar to a Chardonnay

VIDAL BLANC

tastes of: apple, pear, mineral

* light body, crisp acidity, similar to a Riesling

SYRAH

tastes of: black cherry, spice, smoke

* full body, oaked , long finish

(Visit website for more wine offerings)

MON-WEDS 11AM-6PM

THURS 11AM-10PM

FRI-SAT 11AM-4PM

SUN 1PM-6PM

2276 East US 22 and 3, Morrow, Ohio 45152

(513) 899-2485

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photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/calsidyrose/4925267732/">Calsidyrose</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>

North Market Ohio Wine Fest

Last weekend we had some Ohio Wine fun. 

North Market hosted their annual Ohio Wine Festival Downtown.

It was a glorious occasion. 

It was especially glorious to sample some of the varieties we are growing. ... or could grow. Red wines can be hit or miss, but Ohio does a FANTASTIC job with white wines. 

Some of our favorite tents (wineries) were:

SOINE VINEYARDS - Powell 

try: Traminette and Seyvel Blanc

go: http://www.soinevineyards.com/Home.html

FERRANTE VINEYARDS - Geneva 

try: Riesling and Pinot Grigio

go: http://www.ferrantewinery.com/

HENKE WINERY - Cincinnati 

try: Vidal Blanc and Seyvel Blanc

go: http://www.henkewine.com/

TROUTMAN VINEYARDS - Wooster 

try: Vidal Blanc and Seyvel Blanc

                         go: http://www.troutmanvineyards.com/

There were around 20 Ohio Wineries but those were our tops for the day.

It was $25 for a tasting glass, 10 tasting tickets (we blew through those) and a $5 voucher for food at the market. We sampled a bunch of wines, learned about how to cook lamb at a demonstration (things are way more fascinating when you are drinking), ate Greek food, and had a good time. 

THE ONLY NEGATIVE:
Around 4pm everyone in Columbus came stampeding into the festival and it was CROWDED. I was happy to see so many wine lovers ... but movement was limited. Next year we'll go early. 

conclusion: Overall, a great Ohio Wine experience. 

See you next year!

TASTING part two

Here we go again. 

I put together some important wine characteristics that you want to think about while tasting wine...

...beyond red and white

Newer red wines will have more of a deep purple color, while older red wines (that have been aged for a while) will have a brown or orange tint and more of a brick color. 

Red and white wines will either be more translucent or more opaque than others. This usually tells you what type of grape is used. For example, Pinot Noir is more translucent than most other red wines and Sauvignon Blanc is more translucent that most other white wines (you can see through the wine in the glass).

What you smell in a glass of wine is referred to as the aromas or bouquet (in older wines). 

You can pick up a variety of common aromas in white wines, such as lemon, citrus, apple, peach, pear, melon, butter, vanilla, grass, herbs, stone, rocks…

You can pick up a variety of common aromas in red wines, such as dark berries, cherry, plum, pepper, cinnamon, earth, wood, chocolate, mocha…

Immediately you will pick out flavors in wine after taking a sip (sometimes these flavors match the aromas).

A Chardonnay might have tastes of apple, pear, citrus, butterscotch, and oak.
A Merlot might have tastes of blackberry, cherry, plumb, oak, and mocha. DELICOUS.

Also you should decide if the wine is sweet or dry. It is either one or the other. 
Sweetness and dryness refer to the original sugar content of the grape used. If all the sugar is converted to alcohol the wine is considered dry. If only some of the sugar is converted to alcohol the wine has residual sugar and can be considered sweet, semi-sweet, or off-dry.

Is the wine fruity? 
Don’t confuse sweetness with fruitiness. If a wine is fruity that means you can easily pick out the fruit flavors in the wine, but that doesn't always mean the wine is sweet. It can be fruity and dry!

Here is a good way to look at it:

A wine CAN be fruity and sweet

A wine CAN be fruity and dry

A wine CANNOT be sweet and dry

Eventually you’ll start to consider

This is how the wine feels in your mouth. Many relate it to the way milk feels in your mouth. Is it light (like skim milk) medium (like 2% milk) or full (like heavy cream)?

The last part of tasting focuses on THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS in wine. These are Alcohol, Acid, and Tannin. If these three components are balanced well, the wine is usually great!

This is an element found in the pulp of the grape. A wine needs acid to taste lively.

This is what is produced when yeast and sugar come together. It affects the body and texture of the wine. 
High alcohol wines will taste full and round in your mouth. 
Low alcohol wines will taste light and airy in your mouth. 
If a wine has a high alcohol content it will also need a high level of acid to taste balanced.

This comes from the skin and the seed of the grape. It is the bitterness you taste in wine. If a wine seems to dry out my tongue I know it has higher tannins. 

TASTING part one

Last night I was able to attend my restaurant’s wine tasting event with my husband and a couple friends.

Wine tastings make me so very happy. 

I love being able to try a variety of wines and learn about them as I taste them.

I have spent the past couple of years attempting to learn the art of tasting wine (you know... like the pro's do it). I have been swirling, smelling, sipping, and trying to figure out the exact flavors I taste in a glass of wine. At first it's not very easy. I used to think all red wines tasted the same. Later, I realized they most definitely do not. 
After drinking more and more wine, I started to discover different fruit flavors. I could point out the tastes of earth, wood, and flowers.
I read many online reviews and learned that there is no right answer to what tastes you find in wine (although there are common ones specific to certain types of wine). It’s really a matter of what YOU taste that is all part of the enjoyment of wine tasting.

Here is a bit I have learned about HOW TO TASTE WINE...

1. The glass should be ⅓ full or less (you usually get one ounce pours at tastings).

2. Tilt your glass against a white background and notice the color (I never cared about this until I started learning about different types of wine and what they were supposed to look like...sometimes I skip this step).

3. Hold the stem of the glass and rotate it (easier if you have a table to rest the glass on) to get the wine swirling around the glass.

4. Stick your nose in the glass as far as it will go.

5. Your first inhale is the most important! What comes to mind first? Citrus? Wood? Spice? Dirt? There are so many aromas to wine.

6. Take a sip of the wine and roll it around your tongue. Is it Sweet? Tart? Acidic? Heavy? What words come to mind?

Eventually I’ll share some common descriptions and what they mean, but until then taste away...the randomness is all part of the fun!