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Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2007 > June > 04 > Entry
WineFest serves up Buckeye state’s finest, but hits one sour note
If any of you attended the National City Ohio WineFest Friday or Saturday at the Second Street Public Market, I’d be curious to hear what you thought of the event.
There were 14 wineries struttin’ their stuff over the weekend, and many brought some of their best stuff to the Dayton festival.
The wines were varied and interesting. I particularly liked the three newly released 2006 white wines from Kinkead Ridge and the selections that Ferrante were pouring, among the many fine selections. I also came away convinced that vidal blanc and seyval blanc are two of the most underappreciated white-wine grapes around. Made in either dry or barely off-dry styles, these wines can really excel, especially in warm weather.
Oh, did I mention warm weather? Actually, it was HOT.
No, I don’t expect the Ohio winemakers to be able to control the weather (I know of only one Ohioan who could do that: Woody Hayes). But they and festival organizers can control at what temperature their wines are served — and on that front, most failed, at least during the opening hour or so of the festival on Friday.
Between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday, many white wines weren’t yet chilled, and even more egregious, the red wines weren’t chilled at all — which means they were being served at or near “room temperature” when the “room” was a patch of outdoor pavement that had baked in 90-degree heat all day.
Most of these folks are veterans of outdoor summer wine festivals. And they should know better. Dry red wines served at these temperatures don’t show well. In fact, let me rephrase that: they taste awful. No matter how good the wine is. I know wineries didn’t have access to underground wine caves held at 60 degrees. So they should’ve done the next best thing: put the reds on ice for 10 minutes or so, then pull ‘em out. And after a while, repeat the brief ice bath.
This also was a problem at last month’s Fleurs de Fete. At some point, I gave up trying red wines and stuck exclusively to whites.
To be fair, it may just be that I walked into the festival at exactly the wrong time: the opening bell on Friday, when the heat was at its worst. Festival-goers who attended later in the cool of the evening said the place was rocking, and the wines were showing well. I did not attend any of the Saturday festivities, but heard good feedback from that day as well.
Or maybe I’m just a hopeless wine geek.
What did you think of the festival? I’m already looking forward to a nice 65-degree day in 2008, for both the Ohio WineFest and for the Fleurs de Fete.
I think I’ll have a chat with Woody about that.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Comments
By Linda
June 14, 2007 8:26 AM | Link to this
For Scott again (sorry, Mark, guess I’m having a private converstion here!)- It frustrates me when I hear someone say they’ve given up on Ohio wine. Not fair to us and not fair to yourself. I pointed out to a wine blogger recently: a festival may not be the best place to judge a winery’s capability. Consider a visit to the winery. Things like sweetness can be verified in advance. Figure out what your brix limit is and call or email ahead. We didn’t even bring the Reisling to Dayton. Very few of our dry wines even got poured - that discourages us from bringing them next year. See what I mean?
By Scott
June 8, 2007 9:56 AM | Link to this
Linda, thanks for your response. Unfortunately, I don’t think that I tried the Woodstone Riesling. Actually, after a couple really bad sweet rieslings, I gave up on the varietal. And it has nothing to do with the fact of them being sweet, I like some sweet rieslings. But a lot of the Ohio sweet rieslings seem to be sweet fruit bombs, lacking a lot of riesling character. And I understand it’s probably true that sweet wines sell better. But I also imagine that there are many wine drinkers who give up on Ohio wines, frustrated by the wineries that only offer sweet wines.
By Linda
June 7, 2007 9:12 AM | Link to this
This is for Scott - Woodstone has a dry riesling. We have a tough time convincing our average customer riesling can be dry - maybe the wineries do so much sweeter rieslings because of market pressures? In fact, our experience so far tells us MOST of our customers want sweet wines - could be the festival reflects that fact. If we load it on the truck - we do not want to take it home again. It needs to sell. (My back still hurts!)
By Mike Frank
June 5, 2007 6:30 PM | Link to this
A Tasting reminder: Thur Jun 9 5:00-7:30 Marilyn Merlot tasting Sunny Thompson aka Marilyn Monroe will be there to sign your bottle. Sat Jun 9 11:00- 4:00 Karen Davis Memorial Tasting, all proceeds to benefit Hospice.
By Jessica
June 4, 2007 5:49 PM | Link to this
I’m glad to know my predictions were right. I told many people that came in Cuvee on Friday and Saturday that I have all the best wines from the festival already in stock-Kinkead Ridge! Another great vintage from Ron and Nancy.
By Linda
June 4, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
As a participant, I apologize for warm wine. After the first complaint, I did my best to give the reds and port some “ice” time. We’re not veteran wine festival folks, so we were completely unprepared. I noticed an improvement with sales after I got “it”. What some of you may not know is the festival ran out of ice - we all had a hard time with the heat. The coolers were not up to the task either. I’m sure everyone did the best they could and I appreciate the efforts of the festival organizers. Next year we’ll bring extra coolers, extra chillers, extra everything. Despite the heat, we did record numbers in port sales. We had to go back to Cincy for more on Friday - couldn’t believe it! Thank you, Dayton!!!!!
By Michelle
June 4, 2007 1:15 PM | Link to this
Of course, I was there at the same time you were, but I would agree - put the reds on ice for a bit. A hot red is an awful red, no matter how good the wine. My favorite by far was Kinkead Ridge. I’m also pretty intrigued by Maize, which is a fairly new one, I think. Kevin enjoyed the ports at Woodstone, but it was just too hot for me to enjoy port. Perhaps next year the wine fest, or wineries, should provide larger coolers and more ice.
By Wayne
June 4, 2007 12:35 PM | Link to this
Mark You weren’t mistaken. I was there on Saturday from 1-5 PM. The reds were all served HOT! I stuck with whites most of the afternoon and I’m normally a red wine drinker. Like you said, they should know how to show in summer festivals.
By Scott
June 4, 2007 9:18 AM | Link to this
Overall, I had a great time. There were a few great wines that I tasted, and a few that were horrible. Without question in my mind, the best winery was Kinkead Ridge. Tied for a distant second were Debonne and Ferrante, while I would give fourth to Breitenbach. I was hoping that Sand Hill would be there, I’ve heard good things about them. The rest of the wineries were mediocre at best, a couple were downright nasty. But to put my comments in perspective, I only tried vinefera wines, vidal blac, seyval blanc, and marechal foch. If any Ohio wine makers read this post, please listen to my plea: stop making sweet rieslings. They’re just not as good as German sweet rieslings. And the few dry rieslings I had were fantastic (especially the Kinkead Ridge).