Now that the holidays are over and
thoughts of spring consume our minds, we are looking ahead
to a new year of wine travel. We are so
excited to be getting on the road again and have been
pouring over our calendars selecting dates
for travel. Gary and I are sure that there are plenty of
adventures awaiting us in 2006.
Before we started planning, we decided to
take a look back at 2005. What a wonderful year it was!
Early in the year we ventured into Indiana
and visited several exciting wineries...most notably
Oliver Winery in Bloomington. We found
that Oliver produces some very superb wines and has some
of the best atmosphere and customer
service in the area.
In late spring we took a couple of trips
into Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania trips are always interesting for
us, because we always manage to get lost.
The roads there are quite different than what we are used
to in Southern Ohio. We toured the
Pittsburgh countryside and found many small, inviting wineries with
wonderful wine and gracious hosts. We also
had our first taste of Diamond...which Gary likes very much.
In June, we crossed the Ohio border into
Michigan. It was Gary's first time in Michigan. Being a huge Ohio State
fan, he was slightly apprehensive about visiting the area. He finally
had to admit to me that he had met some of the nicest people in
Michigan. Our first trip took us to the southern part of the state,
and in July we took and extended trip to Traverse City. The many
wonderful wineries in this waterfront area
are so close to each other we were able to visit many more than we had
anticipated while we were there.
Another first this year was our visit to
Vintage Ohio 2005. We've been trying to make it to
this much talked about wine festival for
several years, and finally made it. We were only
able to stay a couple of hours before I
received a phone call that my mother was having emergency
surgery and we needed to leave
immediately. But, we were there long enough to stop by most of
the winery booths, take in the atmosphere,
and even do some sampling in their Ice Wine Tent. This
is one of the best wine festivals we have
attended and I highly recommend that any wine lover try to
visit this festival at least once to
sample all the superb wines Ohio has to offer.
In the fall we traveled to northern West
Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and made another trip to
Indiana. It was on this Indiana trip that
we discovered the charming river town of Madison. There are
several wonderful wineries in this
area...great for a weekend excursion. We especially enjoyed
our visit to Madison Vineyards and were
able to relax there for awhile, while we shared a bottle
of wine.
On our last trip in 2005, we drove to the
Lake Erie shore of Pennsylvania and New York. We
found many interesting wineries there. The
most memorable was Heritage Wine Cellars in
North East, Pennsylvania, with
pour-your-own tastings. We were also able to visit our first
two New York wineries while on this trip.
What's ahead for us in 2006? Certainly
another year of exciting wine travel. We've already planned
our first two excursions...both of which
are to Ohio wineries. We are also hoping to visit some of
our first Kentucky wineries this year and explore
more of New York. We can't wait to get on the road
again and see what exciting wines and
wineries await us!
