The History in a Nutshell

Ohio has a long history of wine production. As early as the 1800s, settlers along the Ohio River were exploring winemaking in Ohio, mostly in the southern areas near present-day Cincinnati. They planted a grape varietal called "Catawba" that led to a semi-sweet wine that would be called very light in body by today's standards of red wine. This was a distinctly different wine than the European-styles which were much more popular during that time.

The fledging Ohio wine industry thrived up to the Civil War. In fact, Ohio was the largest wine producing state in the union! All that changed during the Civil War, however. Manpower was scarce and neglected vines were allowed to fall to disease and mildew, destroying most of the region’s grape vines. The Ohio wine industry never recovered.

As the southern Ohio wine district was faded from its former glory, a new wine area emerged along the Lake Erie coast in northern Ohio. German immigrants, who were flocking to that area in the late 1800s, brought German winemaking techniques with them, and that, combined with the unique lake climate, produced some excellent wines. Wineries popped up from the Lake Erie Islands, near Sandusky, all the way east to the Pennsylvania border. This narrow strip became known as the “Lake Erie Grape belt.”

This "Lake Erie Grape Belt" continues to produce fantastic wines today.