The day after was nice when we got to the winery and actually had some food in front of us. Poor Bob was so sick and tired that he could hardly eat his spaghetti & 2 huge meatballs. He and Dawn shared a very nice Vino Del Casa Red. Kathy and her Bob & I shared a fantastic Pinot Grigio GRV Signature Series. It went really well with my pasta!
![[Image: IMG_5971-1.jpg]](http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/cookafloat/IMG_5971-1.jpg)
After lunch we decided to do a little souvenir shopping and wine tasting at Ferrante. They have a different way of doing their tastings. For $9.00 you get a tray of tiny little cups set on a paper liner in a specific order with labels and descriptions of each wine on the paper under each wine. You can get a “dry” tray or a “sweet” tray. Dawn got 2 of each – since there were 5 of us!
We started out with the dry tray. Their chardonnay’s didn’t impress us at all – in fact the gag factor was there for me. Obviously their Pinot Grigio (Tropical aromas and flavors of pineapple, coconut and citrus, balanced by crisp acidity) really tickled me!!! It matched their description perfectly.
The next wine was their Golden Bunches Dry Riesling. I gave this one 3 stars!! It was everything a good dry Riesling should be. I’d really like this with some nice grilled chicken or ???? A bit spicy would be nice. The Vino Della Casa White was the next wine on the tray. It was a wonderful blend – light, refreshing, and very soft. It would be great to just sit and sip in the summer – with some light appetizers.
Rather than trying to remember which wines were on which tray I’ll just give my feelings about the ones we tasted from white to red.
The German influence really stands out in their wines. The “Gewurtz” was a treat – lots of citrus and floral – just off dry. This would be incredible with Thai food! The same thing can be said for their American Riesling and their Signature Series Riesling. Wonderful wines for spicy food – actually I can think of a number of things they would be great with. They also offered a Vidal Blanc – lots and lots of apricots and citrus, sweeter than I normally like, but nice.
We then tried their Bianco – some thought it was okay, Bob and I gagged – he at least swallowed his. The next was the White Catawba. It was described as “Sweet, grapey aromas, spicy arietal flavors, full bodied”. “Bodied” could be the operative word!!! The aroma was not like anything I’d ever tried before. I sniffed, I dumped.
Blushes seem to be popular with wineries there. We tried their Cabernet Franc Blush (fair to good), Rosato (o.k. – not bad), Jester’s Blush (urp), and their Pink Catawba (“Sweet, spicy wine from Ohio’s first grown and most popular grape.”). If the white Catawba was bad – this was way way worse.
As far as the reds went – their Merlot was quite good. I think it would have been better if we’d had food with it – BBQ would be wonderful with it. We all liked the Vino Della Casa Red – and their Rosso was fair. The Cab Franc made everyone feel like there was no moisture left in their bodies. Talk about too dry!!!
The biggest surprise was the Celebration Spice. We didn’t think that we’d like it – but everyone loved it. Kathy is sending me some!
We didn’t try their ice wines. They weren’t offered in the tasting – and I really didn’t think I could take anymore sweet. Prices were reasonable – ranging from 7.99 to 16.99. The ice wines started at 28.99. This was the only winery we stopped at – I hope next trip to maybe try a couple of others.
By the end of the tasting we were laughing so hard we had tears running down our faces. Dawn started talking about me using something (I don’t remember what) as a meat “tendonizer”. That started us into hysterics. I think a couple of really bad tastes came next – and then Dawn made a comment about how good the Celebration Spice would be in a fruit “compost”. That had the tears squirting!!!
It was a lot of fun – and a great chance for us all to just sit and relax!!!!
After lunch we decided to do a little souvenir shopping and wine tasting at Ferrante. They have a different way of doing their tastings. For $9.00 you get a tray of tiny little cups set on a paper liner in a specific order with labels and descriptions of each wine on the paper under each wine. You can get a “dry” tray or a “sweet” tray. Dawn got 2 of each – since there were 5 of us!
We started out with the dry tray. Their chardonnay’s didn’t impress us at all – in fact the gag factor was there for me. Obviously their Pinot Grigio (Tropical aromas and flavors of pineapple, coconut and citrus, balanced by crisp acidity) really tickled me!!! It matched their description perfectly.
The next wine was their Golden Bunches Dry Riesling. I gave this one 3 stars!! It was everything a good dry Riesling should be. I’d really like this with some nice grilled chicken or ???? A bit spicy would be nice. The Vino Della Casa White was the next wine on the tray. It was a wonderful blend – light, refreshing, and very soft. It would be great to just sit and sip in the summer – with some light appetizers.
Rather than trying to remember which wines were on which tray I’ll just give my feelings about the ones we tasted from white to red.
The German influence really stands out in their wines. The “Gewurtz” was a treat – lots of citrus and floral – just off dry. This would be incredible with Thai food! The same thing can be said for their American Riesling and their Signature Series Riesling. Wonderful wines for spicy food – actually I can think of a number of things they would be great with. They also offered a Vidal Blanc – lots and lots of apricots and citrus, sweeter than I normally like, but nice.
We then tried their Bianco – some thought it was okay, Bob and I gagged – he at least swallowed his. The next was the White Catawba. It was described as “Sweet, grapey aromas, spicy arietal flavors, full bodied”. “Bodied” could be the operative word!!! The aroma was not like anything I’d ever tried before. I sniffed, I dumped.
Blushes seem to be popular with wineries there. We tried their Cabernet Franc Blush (fair to good), Rosato (o.k. – not bad), Jester’s Blush (urp), and their Pink Catawba (“Sweet, spicy wine from Ohio’s first grown and most popular grape.”). If the white Catawba was bad – this was way way worse.
As far as the reds went – their Merlot was quite good. I think it would have been better if we’d had food with it – BBQ would be wonderful with it. We all liked the Vino Della Casa Red – and their Rosso was fair. The Cab Franc made everyone feel like there was no moisture left in their bodies. Talk about too dry!!!
The biggest surprise was the Celebration Spice. We didn’t think that we’d like it – but everyone loved it. Kathy is sending me some!
We didn’t try their ice wines. They weren’t offered in the tasting – and I really didn’t think I could take anymore sweet. Prices were reasonable – ranging from 7.99 to 16.99. The ice wines started at 28.99. This was the only winery we stopped at – I hope next trip to maybe try a couple of others.
By the end of the tasting we were laughing so hard we had tears running down our faces. Dawn started talking about me using something (I don’t remember what) as a meat “tendonizer”. That started us into hysterics. I think a couple of really bad tastes came next – and then Dawn made a comment about how good the Celebration Spice would be in a fruit “compost”. That had the tears squirting!!!
It was a lot of fun – and a great chance for us all to just sit and relax!!!!
You only live once . . . but if you do it right once should be enough! 
The people back there are so friendly! I really wanted to move!! 
