By Lucette
One of my local-eating plans was to bravely investigate local wines. It's not as if I live in California, after all--can't Californians just walk outside their doors and pluck bottles of fabulous wines along with the lemons and oranges? But this is Ohio, and Ohio wines do not have the glamor or reputation of their California siblings.
I already knew that Ohio is grape-growing country, at least along Lake Erie (the lake moderates the climate so well that the growing season along the shore is almost two weeks longer than it is farther inland). We used to vacation on Catawba Island (really a peninsula) on the lake--we drove to our cottage through fields alternating between vineyards growing Catawba grapes and orchards of ripening peaches. During our vacation week or 2, we always went out to dinner to a "dress-up restaurant" and often this was at a local winery with a romantic French name.
I didn't of course drink any of the wine, nor did my parents. They weren't wine-drinkers, much more likely to have cocktails (a Grasshopper for my mother, a Brandy Alexander for my father). But I took away from the experience an idea of romance, ancient wine barrels, stone walls, luscious bunches of grapes.
The first time I had an Ohio wine, I was quite disappointed--I'm not at all wine knowledgeable, but even to my unsophisticated palate, it tasted tinny, weirdly sweet, flat. It left a wash of persistent and unwelcome flavor on my tongue. I'd hardly had any between then and now. But people have been telling me that Ohio wines have improved, are coming of age, etc., etc. This month seemed the perfect time to check out the rumors.
So far, I've tasted about a dozen wines, from 4 local wineries, 3 in Ohio and one on Pelee Island, which is Canadian, but well within my 100-mile radius. None of them have been as good as the few amazing wines I've tasted in my life (guided by some more knowledgeable friend). Some of them were quite awful--one so bad that I gave it the Worst Wine of My Lifetime award--acidly sour--it left a bizarre mouthwash-like taste in the mouth.
But I've also found 2 winners. The Pelee Island wine, a Merlot, and Harpersfield Pinot Gris, produced near the Grand River, east of Cleveland. They're both very drinkable, pleasant in the mouth, with flavors that aren't too grapey (this was something I often objected to in the other wines) and were a little bit complex; not too sweet, with interesting overtones and aftertastes. I'm sure you can tell from this language how much of a wine connoisseur I'm not.) I'd serve them to guests with confidence, and in fact did yesterday, when my writing group came over. I didn't hear any complaints, either.
Lucette writes, teaches, and gardens in Cleveland, Ohio, and blogs at www.vintagecook.blogspot.com.
