Ferrante Winery- Geneva, OH
As I have already covered the background of Ohio wine over at my Hundley Cellars post, I will skip right to the wine at Ferrante. It is…OK. For a family business, it is a huge operation, and more than just a little impersonal. I would consider it the buffet of wine tastings. It will get the job done, but probably not in the most elegant way.
Don’t get me wrong; the grounds at the winery are absolutely lovely. I certainly don’t want to evoke images of the Golden Corral. Manicured gardens, vines and a pond surround their large patio. On the weekends, a band plays all afternoon. Additionally, they have a full service Italian restaurant, that was very busy, and decidedly not a buffet. In fact, it felt more like a restaurant than a winery. It also felt corporate; it was a highly impersonal tasting, albeit still enjoyable.
For those used to a more personal experience, you will be disappointed. When you approach the tasting area, you are asked your general wine preference: dry, semi, or sweet. You then get a pre-poured cafeteria tray of samples in plastic Dixie cups, which include both white and red tastings. This is the first time I have encountered this method, which I imagine was devised to handle the large summer crowds. It does however allow you to take your tray, and one empty tasting glass, outside to their beautiful patio.
As I loathe sweet wine, I stuck to their dry offerings tray, and tasted my way through 9 varietals, including some I usually avoid (Chardonnay), as well as some I usually love (Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Noir). Their wines were fine. Nothing was awful, nothing stood out. It was like sampling a variety of house wines. I settled on a Merlot for my follow up full glass, which is not usual for me, but I did enjoy theirs. It is important to note that many of their award winning wines are sweet, so I probably did not sample those.
The Ferrante family clearly knows what they are doing; they have been producing wine since 1937. Three generations later they have 65 acres of vineyards in the Grand River AVA, which is ideal for producing Chardonnay, Reisling, Pinot Grigio, and Gewurztraminer. They also grow Vidal Blanc and Cab Franc grapes for Ice Wines, which can be produced in very few places in the world. So if you like desert wines, put this winery on your list. All around it is a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon, and should absolutely make your list while in the Geneva area.
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