“Cincinnati Secrets” is an occasional series with collaboration from Brett Johnson, a home-based winemaker, that seeks out wine-based businesses for review and profiling. If you know of a restaurant, winery, wine store, or similar business that you would like to see reviewed, please contact the Cincinnati Wine Pairing Examiner at tjgabelman@hotmail.com.
Valley Vineyards
2276 East US 22 & 3
Morrow, OH 45152
513-899-2485
www.valleyvineyards.com
No tour of a winery would be complete without a discussion of the wines. Valley Vineyards offers the third-largest estate winery in the state of Ohio, with some of the oldest vines in the Ohio River Valley. After forty years of making wines, it should come as no surprise that they do it well.
During the tour of the cellar, Joe Schuchter, grandson of Ken Schuchter, founder of the winery offered Brett Johnson and myself a barrel tasting of what will be released as the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($39.99), a silver medal winning wine at the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition.. This wine would stand against any similarly priced Cabernet Sauvignon from California or Bordeaux. It offered a nose of cherry, violets, and tobacco, with intense flavors of cherry, plum, and chocolate. Though aged for 24 months in oak, the effect on the palate was a wonderful compliment, offering sweet vanilla notes without overpowering the fruit flavors. It also offered a deliciously long finish.
We were also able to try the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Syrah 2008 ($29.99), produced from vines planted in 1964, the oldest vitis viniferia vines in the Ohio River Valley. This is a dark, smokey wine with great concentrations of jammy, dark fruit flavors. A review on this wine can be found in a previous post here.
We then ordered the Dry Wine Tasting Tray ($8.00) from the tasting room, which offered 9 different white and red varietals.
We started with the Valley Vineyards American Chardonnay ($9.99), a wonderful example of unoaked Chardonnay. Fermented and aged in stainless steel, this wine offers clean, crisp melon and citrus notes with a great core of acid. Unoaked Chardonnays have received a great deal of attention in recent years from wine publications and critics and this wine is a great example of why: its clean finish and beautiful structure would compliment a wine variety of summer dishes or be perfect to sip all by itself!
Then came the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Traminette ($12.99) which delivers peach, apricot, and grape-fruit notes around a semi-sweet core and a nose of pure hibiscus and honeysuckle. This wine won a bronze medal at the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition.
The real joy was in the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Seyval Blanc ($8.99), a wine which won a silver medal in the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition. This wine is produced from thirty-year old vines and is aged sur lie in new and used oak. It is a creamy, full, complex wine with hints of brioche, crème brûlée, and toasty vanilla. It is decadent with layers of rich, intense flavors. It is an unbelievable value for the price (order a bottle from the website, before they read this and raise the price!).
The Seyval Blanc was followed by the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Vidal Blanc ($8.99), which is a tasty little wine showing nice flavors of pear, honeysuckle, and almonds. Do not confuse this wine with the Valley Vineyards Vidal Blanc Ice Wine ($24.99/half bottle), which Valley Vineyards was the first in Ohio to commercially produce in 1992. This was a bronze medal awarded wine at the 2010 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition.
Next came the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Cabernet Franc Rosé ($11.99), a gold medal winning wine from the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition. Its a wonderful summer wine, offering pleasing notes of strawberry, orange peel, vanilla, and a twist of lemon around a delicate acidic core. Serve this on a hot summer day with a nice salad and enjoy!
The Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Hillside Red ($9.99) is a blend of French hybrids (Chancellor, Chelois, and Foch) and is, perhaps, a bit over-oaked. Look for cherry and vanilla notes, with a nice tannin structure. It was awarded a silver medal in the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition.
Next came the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 ($19.99). This is a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon, well worth the price! Chocolate, cherry, violet notes, and interlaced with toasty oak notes and a fantastic tannin structure! It is a bottle that could be served all by itself or with an amazing prime rib. A superior value for what the wine offers.
Strangely, the Cabernet was followed by the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley White Reflections ($9.99) and then the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Red Reflections ($9.99), a review of which can be found here.
Valley Vineyards wines can be found at Kroger and bigg's locations or you can request them from your local winestore through Buckeye Distributing. They can also be ordered online or purchased at the winery in Morrow. The tasting room is open:
Monday to Thursday: 11 am – 6 pm
Friday and Saturday: 11 am – 4 pm
Sunday: 1 pm – 6 pm
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Also, be sure to check out my ongoing series of articles: Fabulous Friday Feasts, a collaboration with Aimee Plesa, The Rules, which discusses the rules of food and wine pairing, and Cincinnati Secrets, which explores various wine destinations in Cincinnati!
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