4 Ohio Wineries to Visit This Autumn
Wineries abound across Ohio, from urban operations like The Skeleton Root, located in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, to destinations like M Cellars, which has been highlighting the fruits of our state’s Grand River Valley growing region for years, these four destinations promise a flavor or autumn and some tasty Ohio-made wines.
The Skeleton Root | Cincinnati
This spot in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood focuses on dry wines in a speakeasylike setting with a warm atmosphere.
Housed in a 1920s industrial building in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, everything about The Skeleton Root’s winemaking operation goes against the grain. That’s what makes it so sensational. Owner Kate MacDonald pledges her allegiance to dry wines made from American heritage, norton and catawba grapes, as well as others.
“A lot of what people associate with Ohio wines is sweeter wine styles, but we don’t often get associated with dry, high-quality wines,” MacDonald says. “So that was something that I was very interested in and wanted to try to keep everything really focused as locally as possible.”
She adds that the Ohio River Valley is known as the birthplace of commercial winemaking in the United States, so when she returned from living and working in wine regions such as Napa Valley and the Finger Lakes, she decided to plant roots for her winery in her hometown. The urban location resembles a speakeasy, with leather couches that invite visitors to lounge in conversation nooks and casually sip Bordeaux varietals paired with shareable light bites.
MacDonald works with smaller-scale, regional growers, bringing the fruit on-site to crush, press and ferment the grapes that make their way from the barrel-aging room to your glass, which can be enjoyed in either a spacious bar area or outdoor patio
“It’s a great way to just kind of relax, and it’s very cozy. We try not to have a snooty wine vibe at all,” MacDonald says with a laugh. “You can have flights made from grapes you’ve never heard of, have food, hang out and, hopefully, take some wine to go too.” 38 W. McMicken Ave., Cincinnati 45202, 513/918-3015, skeletonroot.com
M Cellars | Geneva
This award-winning vineyard and winery in the Grand River Valley AVA offers music and food trucks during fall weekends, as well as an annual autumn clambake.
A bottle of wine as a thank-you gift to Matt and Tara Meineke lit the fuse that ignited M Cellars winery. In 2012, the couple began welcoming visitors to their Geneva winery in the Grand River Valley AVA to enjoy award-winning sparkling wines and aromatic whites that Matt says rank among their top offerings.
“It’s definitely a warm atmosphere,” Matt says of the winery. “We try to treat everybody like family and make sure everybody loves the wine.”
Visitors can take a seat in the tasting room or in the loft above it for a more intimate experience. Relax fireside in the tasting room while sipping M Cellars’ bestselling Meritage or nibbling on shareables like the street corn dip and tortilla chips, warm brie with fig Jam and crackers, or artisan charcuterie and fromage.
On weekends in the fall, live music, food trucks and an annual clambake top the list of things to do and experience at this boutique winery. Outside, a two-tiered deck and stamped-concrete patio invite patrons to pull up a chair next to the more than 12 acres of vineyards, providing a look at where the fruit they’re enjoying in their glass began.
“We connect all the dots pretty much on one property. You’re drinking wine 100 feet away from where it was growing, and the production is literally right below you down in the winery,” Meineke says. “Everybody talks about farm to table, and it really doesn’t get any more farm to table than that. We’re a supplier, we’re a farmer, we’re winemakers. It’s a full circle. So the authenticity that we bring is a big deal.” 6139 S. River Rd. W., Geneva 44041, 440/361-4104, mcellars.com
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