Sunday, August 8, 2010

GrREAT Wine: The GaREAT Spring Wine Fest Revisited


Toledo Wines and Vines is fortunate to have a very talented tasting team including Stephanie and Patrick Wise. Stephanie's hectic schedule finally slowed down enough for her to submit this dispatch on the GaREAT wine festival held in May. Enjoy!

Substituting for Captain Vino and Green Dragon, Wine Chic and SaxMan once again set out on a wine tasting adventure, this time to Geneva, Ohio, where the Ohio Wine Producers Association sponsored a fundraiser for the GaREAT Sports Complex, an indoor athletic facility. Wineries from the Ohio region (predominately Northeast and Northcentral Ohio) showcased their wines to those visitors new to wine tasting and those (like us) looking for that new favorite.

Most of the wines were of the sweeter variety; the vintners hoping to lure in those unfamiliar palates and entice them with the sweetness of what Ohio wines have to offer. However, some wineries brought their semi-dry to dry selections as well, displaying a full continuum of flavors, body and sweetness. The grapes, though most not native to the region, are grown locally and harvested by the wineries themselves.

Although most of the wines we tasted were good, our palates tend to the dry side. We found our favorites that day in the following four wineries: Chaeau Debonne, Firelands Winery, Ferrante, and Maize Winery. Maize Winery is recent to the Ohio wine scene as of 2005 and was a pleasant surprise with their Traminette. Of course, the others are old favorites. Most of the wines are available in local wine and grocery stores.

For more information about Ohio Wines and the Ohio Wine Producers Association, go to http://www.ohiowines.org/. For information about the GaREAT Sports Complex, go to http://www.gareat.org/.
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