Ohio wine

I was trying to think last night about all the states in which Conrad and I have visited wineries. Michigan, New Mexico, Hawaii, Texas, Missouri. The usual suspects, right?

Add Ohio to the list.

This was fun, truly. Brett and Jeph took us to a winery not far from where they live. Viking Vineyards is the name, and you know what? We found some lovely wines for our big dinner that night. Success!

I think a lot of non-California wineries are like this: buying grapes from California to make wines locally. Of course, we all think that makes the wines less than good, but as we learned in New Zealand, a lot of grapes get shipped around, and yet decent wine is being made for the table. Having said that, however, I would say that though we thought well of all we tasted (well, maybe except the Cabernet Sauvignon), Viking's best wines are made with local grapes. In our opinion.

We ended up coming home with five bottles: two of the Traminette, two of the Lemberger, and one of the wine infused with chocolate. This last one didn't get consumed that night, but the gathered guests made easy work of the others. I especially liked the Traminette. It was full of fruit on the nose and in the mouth. A great wine to have chilled with friends outside. Fun, but a little serious just the same.



Conrad rather liked the red - it was light and full of berries. A shame the winery won't try it again because of heavy loss of vines over the winter. Ah well.


Once again, though, we learn that the occasion, the situation, enhances the wine. Tasting with the guys was simply fun, and even better, we found some bottles that the guests that night liked a lot as well. Well done Ohio, well done.