Thezachadventure’s Weblog

Got the dogs to the borders (Justine’s parents) last night so that the day could start early.  Hit the road right on time at 7am with a short stop for McD’s and gas and headed west.  We didn’t stop for lunch until we were in Ohio, just before Cleveland.  Somewhat congested getting through town, saw the Browns stadium and the Sports Complex. 

The GPS did not let us down and we pulled into Firelands Winery at 3:15pm.  A beautiful outfit with a small vineyard right on site.  They have 2 styles of wine, of course dry and sweet and champagne as well.  The dry wines are made from their own grapes grown by Lake Erie on the unique soils and conditions made possible by the limestone and underground streams.   Read all about the Firelands Winery and their unique process here: http://www.firelandswinery.com/index.html

For the sweet wines they import from areas around the great lakes.  We toured the facility and got to see the final stages of bottling champagne.  Pictures are posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/john.ord/SanduskyDay1

You can not give away alcohol in Ohio so the tasting cost a whopping $2 each.  We sampled 6 wines finishing with blueberry and blackberry.  I was not a big fan of those 2 flavors but Justine sure was.  Good visit and we walked out with a case to fill Justine’s new wine rack. 

Checked into the hotel and headed out for dinner at Applebee’s.  After dinner we cruised around to mark the locations of all our stops over the next few days.  Bed time for now