Ohio Wine Explorers

I’m a little behind, but a couple of weeks ago, we took our first adventure down to the Delaware/Columbus area. Mike, Sara, Jen & I set out down I-71 on Saturday, February 24th, bright and early-ish. Our first planned stop was to be Bunker’s Mill Winery, but the every resourceful Jen said, hey, there’s another winery on the way! Let’s check it out.

If you visit, aside from the fantastic hospitality, you will also notice some very young vines. This young couple has plans for a long future! I can’t wait to come back in 4-5 years when we will sample those grapes! In the mean time, they are planning on working from locally sourced grapes and juices to keep the wines flowing! Of course, we will come back before then! The grounds are beautiful, and setting is so relaxing! It was a great way to kick off this adventure! I went home with a local Sangiovese, but everyone enjoyed all the samples!

We got back in the car, and, once again, Jen found another unplanned winery of opportunity!

I absolutely loved the Malbec and Merlot (remember when I didn’t like merlot??), but we ALL loved the third co-owner, Jax. He was a very good boy who enjoyed taking treats from Mike. All of the wines were great, and Mike & Sara got a cheese plate from local cheeses that we so creamy, so good, and really made me really not like this not dairy thing we’re on. Oh well, a little cheating is ok 😉 Brittni & Mike are growing some grapes around the property, and really enjoy providing a place people can just enjoy good wine and company.

After a nice stop and, it was back in the car, and heading for our first planned stop!

I really enjoyed the dry reds, and with the California grapes obvious in the tastes. I thoroughly enjoy our local varietals, but there is something about the bold dry reds produced from the west coast. Pair that with good ole Buckeye wine making talent, and you get the Cab Sauv that just rang out with character. The Crimson Cashmere blend was also so tasty, with it’s blend of chocolate & raspberry!

I enjoyed Shamrock’s Dry Red blend, and the others liked the mulled wines, but there was another fun aspect to this stop – prizes! Thomas, the owner, in an attempt to cater to their visitors with a yearn for a little gambling, put in a prize machine. Not gumballs or stickers, this quarter driven fun machine doles out adult prizes, like the cool little green fish wine glass marker in the photo above! Once Sara heard there was a flamingo prize, our quarters were as good as spent! Alas, no flamingo! It just means we will have to make another visit!

The grapes and juices used as the basis for the O&B wines hail from the West Coast. Again, the robust drier climate grapes makes them evident in the Meritage, a Cabernet/Cab Franc/Merlot blend. I thoroughly enjoyed this blend, with grapes hailing from Washington. Feeling a little peckish, we shared a couple of flatbreads that were quite tasty. I mean, explorers can’t survive on wine alone! Fortified, it was time to move on!

My flight of four included the King Cab, Big Red, 23 Strong, and a Marvelous M that would have even pleased Ms. Maisel! There were plenty of sweet wines for Sara, but Mike & I absolutely fell in love with the Serenity! Now, I’m not usually all in for dessert wines, but this fruit forward coffee wine was OUT—-wait for it—-STANDING! They had no bottles, but the owner was good enough to bottle 3 up for Mike & I on the fly.

Blend of Seven is really a nice, relaxed place, that feels more like corner hang-out than pretentious wine bar. It looked like they had great food, but Sara did try out their homemade zucchini bread. With all of us well “watered”, it was time for the last winery of the day!

The one problem with doing 7 wineries in one day is that by the time you get to number 7, you’re taste buds can be a little…..numb. Even so, the taste of Soine’s Chambourcin came through. It served as the perfect finale for the day! I would also say that the owners were the type to sit there and educated you about the wines, with a smile, and ready joke. Perfect hosts.

Tired, and a little bit hungry, The four of us headed off towards dinner at Kitchen Social, located near the Polaris shopping area. If you have not been to one of these restaurants, do yourself a favor and go…..now! I had what was, without exaggeration, the best ribeye I have had in a long, long time.

We shacked up for the night at the Residence Inn Columbus Polaris, literally right across the street from the restaurant. Even for someone that spends a good part of their life on Marriott properties, I have to say this was a very nice, clean, and well maintained location. Given that I was bit low on points, we had to actually pay ;( , but it really wasn’t bad. ~$142/nt, and pretty decent breakfast.

So, day two started with a mandatory trip to Ikea. No wine, but, hey, Ikea. After roaming the endless pathways of fine Swedish furniture, it was time for some wine, and lunch!

I tried quite the flight (as you can see above), but the 3946 was my favorite. I even went home with a bottle! Although they seem to feature brunch food, I went with a grilled chicken club (minus bread) with sweet potato fries. It was keto-friendly and delicious! Still weary from our seven stops the day before, we shouldered on to stop #9.

My personal favorite was High Maintenance, a Bordeaux Blend that, had I not already bought, like, 7 bottles of wine during the weekend, I would have gone home with. While they do have some flatbreads, Sara & Mike got some bread and dipping oil, from the bakery right next door. Despite my carb quarantine, I did try a bite. It was well worth it!

Fully wined & dined, it was time to start making are way back home. Well, we did stop at a thrift/antique shop where I may have bought more vinyl albums, the second of my expensive hobbies (1. Wine, 2. Vinyl, 3. Basses). As always, we had a good time trying wines, joking around, and exploring.

The reason this post was a little late is that Sara and I have been working on the site. I created a Google map showing all the places we have been, a few in 2022, but mostly all of our 2023 and 2024 to date visits. It can be found under the link Winery Visits above. Sara has also been updating her official “Sara” list, documenting our visits from 2023 on, as we attempt to visit EVERY winery in the state of Ohio. I took this list and popped in on to out site under The Official Sara List link, where we share not just the visits, but some details we’ve learned along the wat.

Until next time (which will be a couple of days), corks out and stems up!

Scott