Wastin' Time Thinking about Wine

If you, like me, are already tired of stores, holiday songs, and the many demands of the holidays, here's a brainless wine-related time-waster to help you relax. Enjoy!

Very Cool Wine Trail - December 1 and 2

You’re invited to a weekend wine excursion in northeast Ohio! The Third Annual Very Cool Wine Trail will be held Saturday, Dec. 1, at six wineries near Akron, Ohio. Four of the wineries also will host trail participants on Sunday, Dec. 2.

Along the route, while supplies last, you’ll collect a Very Cool Wine Accessory Kit, complete with wine thermometer, a stopper/pourer, two decorative bottle stoppers, a cork screw, a foil cutter and a drip stopper. The kit is nestled inside a wooden box designed for the accessories. It makes a perfect holiday gift for the wine aficionado in your life, or you can keep it and enjoy it yourself.

Participating wineries include Candlelight Winery of Garrettsville, Maize Valley Winery of Hartville, Myrddin Winery of Berlin Center, Mastropietro Winery of Berlin Center, Winery at Wolf Creek and Viking Vineyards of Kent. All six will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 1. Myrddin, Mastropeitro, Winery and Viking also will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 2. The cost is $35 plus tax per couple or $30 plus tax for a single ticket. Free wine samples will be available at each winery.

by Pat Mack

Gifts for Ohio Wine Lovers

As the holidays approach, it's time to think about what to buy for those Ohio wine lovers on your gift list. Here are some of my favorites:

Riedel Glassware. Any wine tastes better in the proper glass and Riedel makes some of the best. These lead crystal stems come in a variety of sizes -- for red, white, and sparkling wines.

Laguiole Waiter-Style Wine Opener. Every season seems to bring a new, outlandish and/or clever wine opener, but the best--to me--is still the traditional waiter-style pull opener with the little knife on the end for cutting the foil. This one has a pearl handle and a pouch in which to keep it.

Wine Cork Wreath. Decorate your wine cellar, kitchen, or wine nook for the holidays with this stylish 12" wreath, made entirely of wine corks. Plus: unlike wreaths made of greenery, you can use it again next year.

Happy Holidays!

(photo courtesy of Wine Enthusiast)

More Wine Quotes

Writers, statesmen, and philosophers have been talking about wine almost as long as history has been recorded. Here are some more notable wine quotes:

• "The wine cup is the little silver well, where truth, if truth there be, doth dwell." ~ William Shakespeare
• "A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect." ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
• "Wine.The intellectual part of the meal." ~ Alexandre Dumas
• "Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, makes weariness forget his toil." ~ Lord Byron
• "Beer is made by men, wine by God." ~ Martin Luther

(photo credit: istockphoto)

Ohio Wine Grapes: Chambourcin

This is the first one a series of posts about grape varietals that thrive in Ohio, but are rarely found in other parts of the world.

We'll start with the Chambourcin grape, a hybrid first introduced in French's Loire Valley in the early 1960s (an infant by grape varietal standards). Chambourcin is a favorite of Lake Erie wine growers as well as those in the mid-Atlantic regions, especially Virginia. Here's a few facts about this hearty grape:

• Chambourcin wines have a high level of tannins and a deep ruby red color.
• This grape is extremely disease-resistent
• It was first planted in the United States in the early 1970s, in an Ohio vineyard.
• Chambourcin is also popular in Australia's Hunter Valley and in its home region of the Loire Valley in France.
• The exact lineage of the Chambourcin hybrid is unknown. Its creator died suddenly and his notes have never been found.
• Among the Ohio wineries producing Chambourcin wines are Chalet Debonne, Henke Winery, Terra Cotta Winery, and Myrddin Winery.

^{(photo © Flickr user: miss tiffy/cc license)}