Exploring the Wing Watch & Wine Trail

I missed the World Series of Wine and the Cleveland Wine Festival this past year. That’s fine with me because I love visiting wineries and talking to the wine makers. Wine makers are good people—they live by the weather and on the land, they are creative, and most of the time, they like to talk. They tell the stories of their lives as they talk about the wines they make. They live their dreams.

People still think of Ohio wine as sweet wine. Most people don’t realize that Ohio was the leading producer of wine in the United States, along the Ohio River, until about 1890, and our wines were sweet because of the preferences of the immigrants who came to the area. Ohio was the first state to cultivate wines. The industry began along the Ohio River when Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati planted his grapes in 1830. Longworth was the first successful commercial winemaker in the U.S., but the business was destroyed by the Civil War, real estate taxes, and grape disease. Prohibition completely corked Ohio’s wine industry.

That doesn’t mean grape production stopped. Joyce Boughter of John Christ Winery in Avon Lake tells me the farms along the lake sold their grapes at the Welch’s depot on Route 83. John Christ sold the concord and Niagara grapes grown on its 40-acre farm for grape juice, jams and jellies, starting in 1944 when the family bought the farm.

John Christ became a bonded winery in 1946, and others followed course, growing heritage Concord, Niagara, and Catawba grapes and producing sweet wines, like those at Heineman Winery on Put-in-Bay. In the 1960s, winemakers like Arnie Esterer of Markko Winery in Conneaut, started experimenting with European varietals and French-American hybrids, including Chambourcin, Vidal Blanc and Seyval, as well as ice wines from Vidal Blanc grapes.

Today, Ohio is again one of the major producers of wine in the United States. We can spend an afternoon at Wolf Creek Winery in Akron and enjoy the tremendous views of the vineyards flowing down the hill to the water. We can enjoy a fantastic al fresco dinner at popular Ferrante Winery & Ristorante in Geneva. We can visit Arnie Esterer at his rustic tasting room in the woods, after driving down a dirt road amongst his vineyards, and find out how he learned to make wine. Or we can spend an evening at Single Tree Winery in Amherst and learn about winemaking while eating cheese and crackers.

The Wing Watch & Wine Trail is the wine trail that stretches across northern Ohio along the Lake from Cleveland to Indiana. The area is prime bird watching territory because the marshlands and forests are home to blue herons and eagles and are along two major migratory paths for birds. The climate is perfect for native vines, French American hybrids, and European varietals. One of the most well known wineries to Clevelanders is John Christ Winery at 32421 Walker Road in Avon Lake. Most of the vineyards are gone, but the Swiss-style adobe winery remains. A back porch and candle-adorned picnic tables and firepits in the yard create a rustic European ambience. The original owner of the property was from Macedonia and built the house and farm in 1960; the family remained in the family home even after developer Bucky Kopf bought the property and transformed most of the land into a golf course and housing development.

The winery is open late on Fridays and Saturdays and from 1 until 6 on Sundays, when it tends to have a more sedate ambience than during the rowdy weekends when an eclectic crowd enjoys glasses of their chillable red called Special Blend, berry spritzers, or a refreshing Chardonnay. Food can be brought in or customers can enjoy a cheese and sausage plate with crackers. Joyce Boughter, one of the hostesses, says “We just have fun.” The winery’s blackberry, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Cabernet, and Lambrusco are all award-winning wines. Wine production takes place in the basement and ruby port grapes still grow on the property. Sitting under the twinkling white lights strung above the bar on a summer Sunday afternoon, the stories flow like the wine.

Nearby Klingshirn Winery, at 33050 Webber Road in Avon Lake, is still a working farm. This third generation family winery has been around since 1935, but the vineyards are older. Until 1955, Albert R. Klingshirn produced wine in twenty 50 gallon wooden barrels in his cellar. An old wine barrel graces the front of the building that houses the production facility and small retail store; the property is surrounded by the vineyards.

The first wines cultivated were Native American Concord and Niagara, but winemaker Lee Klingshirn now produces Vidal Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Chambourcin, Cabernet, and Champagne. The tasting room is small and tidy with walls lined by bottles of wine. The Chambourcin is bubbly, licorice dominates the Pinot Noir, and the Cabernet rivals California wines in intensity. A walking tour of this winery allows the public to explore the diversity of grapes and since tasting hours are limited, Saturday is the best weekend time to visit Klingshirn.

On our way to a weekend retreat in Lakeside, my friend Roberta and I turned off the highway at Baumhart Road on the Erie-Lorain county line and went looking for Single Tree Winery. Although not yet open when we arrived, co-owner Earl Winder hospitably welcomed us. Inside the cozy tasting room, the beekeeper/winemaker poured decent Cabernet and Chardonnay while talking about the winemaking process. He showed us the single tree vineyard-working horse yoke on the wall, how Single Tree got its name. A former Ford worker who started experimenting in winemaking when he was 16, Earl spoke passionately about winemaking when he showed us the back room where the oak barrels and winemaking equipment is stored and used.

Single Tree buys its grape juice, but is starting to grow Bianca grapes from Cornell University. Earl’s favorite wine is Cabernet, and once he bought cabernet grapes only to discover after the wine was bottled that the grapes were another red wine grape, not cabernet—that wine remains in the basement. The winery produces mead and fruit wines, as well as native and vinifera wines. Live music is played on weekends and the winery is adding an upstairs dining room for catered food. Outside, the patio keeps warm with a firepit and heaters. Spending time at Single Tree feels like a visit with a friend.

We continued our drive west to Quarry Hill Winery, which is housed in a farm market amidst apple orchards in Berlin Heights. Interestingly, winemaker Mac McLelland was formerly the award-winning winemaker at John Christ Winery, which he to start his own place. The vineyards were planted just a few years ago, so Quarry Hill has just started producing wine. Standing at the wine tasting bar in the market, I lamented the loss of vineyards at John Christ, but Mac explained that his former employer had not been making good use of the vineyards before they were taken out. The winery produces fruit and native wines, as well as vinifera. The Pinot Grigio tasted crisp and the Cabernet Franc was smooth. The Framboise wine’s rich full raspberry flavor makes an excellent dessert wine.

After trying the wines, Mac offered to take us on an excursion up the hill from the market to see the vineyards. We drove through rows of vineyards full of almost-ripe grapes and stopped in a clearing, the site of a new wine tasting building that will be built with views of Lake Erie to the north. The original stone farmhouse of Quarry Hill orchards can be seen to the northwest. Mac loves the vintner lifestyle and the countryside in which he works; he recommended we drive down Route 113 because the landscape is beautiful and Hermes Winery would be on our way. Another thing about wineries—they work for each other. That doesn’t mean they’re not in competition—vintners always ask questions about their competition.

We never made it to Hermes, but while on Marblehead Peninsula, we ate dinner at two places that make good food and wine. Mon Ami Winery in Port Clinton, Champagne Specialists since 1870, bottles a smooth Pinot Noir and serves it with lobster bisque or crabcakes, bacon wrapped scallops or pasta with marinara, and their weekend buffets are fantastic. Nearby, the Crow’s Nest makes a good Merlot, and the evening we were there, a trio of small lobster tails for dinner was on special for $21.

The Wing Watch & Wine Trail also includes Kelley’s Island Wine Co. on Kelley’s Island, Hermes Winery and Firelands Winery in Sandusky, Heineman Winery on Put-in-Bay, and Studio of 5 Rings in Rocky River. The Trail must be enjoyed in segments, which only means more outings to hang out at wineries and catch a glimpse of a different lifestyle. Life is full of possibility.

The comeback of Ohio’s winemaking industry attests to it.

Learn about all the local wineries mentioned in this article and chart your own course for Northeast Ohio wine exploration at http://www.ohiowines.org. You'll be glad you did.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwritesATwowway.com
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