What: Old Mason Winery & Vineyard
Where: 4199 Iddings Road, West Milton, OH 45383
When: tasting room open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday
Web site: www.oldmason.com
More info: (937) 698-1122 or info@oldmason.com
Wines to try: Sunlight ($12.99 a bottle), a dry, refreshing white made from the Cayuga grape; Sweet American Riesling ($12.99), which despite its name is not overly sweet but beautifully balanced with aromas of ripe apples.
Old Mason Winery & Vineyard in Union Twp. near West Milton is the region’s most recent to open to the public, and its wines make Old Mason’s tasting room a worthwhile trip to Miami County.
Old Mason offers at least five wines for sampling, including a dry Riesling, a sweet Riesling, a Niagara, a Cayuga wine called “Sunlight,” and a red/white blend called “Statesman.” More wines — including Concord grape, peach, apple and raspberry — are on the way, according to Chuck Compton of Tipp City, who owns the winery with his wife Sherry and with Jeff and Donna Clark of Arcanum.
Old Mason’s current offerings are made from purchased grape and fruit juice from other states, including Washington and New York. But the winery planted about 2,200 grapevines behind the Miami County winery three years ago. Those vines will produce a usable harvest in the coming years — starting perhaps this year, if all goes well — allowing Old Mason to begin producing estate-grown wines.
“We love wine, and we’ve been making homemade wines for several years,” Compton said in April 2012, a year before Old Mason’s tasting room opened. “It’s kind of like a hobby that has gotten out of control.”
About the Author
