Lake Erie Wine Trail Review

[PAwinedude]

I spent last weekend (Labor Day) visiting wineries/vineyards located
along Lake Erie, PA. Previously, I have visited AVA's, wineries in
Sonoma/Napa. Oregon, Virginia as well as North Carolina.



Places Visited:



Blueberry Sky Farm Winery (fruit wines...unremarkable)



Johnson Estate Winery (first, oldest winery in NY...great whites/chancellor)



Noble Winery (NY winery, largest tasting room on the trail...many white blends



Vetter Vineyards (NY winery, decent Pinot Noir, good Pinot Gris)



Presque Isle (PA Winery, first, oldest in PA..big juice/grape supplier
for Winemakers...great Dry Riesling and white blends, port)



Mazza (PA winery, great Cab Franc)



South Shore WIne Company (PA Winery, owned by Mazza, good Vidal Blanc)



Arrowhead Winery (PA Winery/Juice supplier, great Vignoles)



Lakeview WIne Cellars (New PA winery....probably the best wine we
tasted...great chardonnay, riesling and cab sauv/cab franc
blend.....Their reds are aged in barrels made from PA oak (Keystone
Cooperage)



Impressions:



The whites, specifically, the Dry Riesling, Seyval Blanc, Traminette,
Vignoles and Vidal Blancs were some of the best I have ever tasted. I
would highly recommend the Traminette and the Dry Riesling.



The Reds: Chancellor stole the show here! If you have never
seen/tasted a chancellor, you are missing out. The wine is much darker
then a Syrah or Cab Sauv but has a phenomenal taste (at least the
Johnson Estate version did). Many of the wineries sold cab franc, cab
sauv and merlot but they were unremarkable.



Prices: My wife and I thought one winery was joking when they told us
our bill was 56.00 for six bottles of wine! Most prices were 10-20
bucks for whites and 12-24 for reds. Some tastings were free and others
charged 1 dollar for six samples.



Other notes: Very few (maybe 2) of the wineries visited had their own
vineyards. Most were limited wineries (PA legal speak for small winery)
sourcing grapes and juice from the local Lake Erie growers.



Lodging: We stayed at a B&B on Lake Erie, but their seems to be no shortage of places to stay.



Eats: Go to the Freeport Restaurant located just outside North East (name of the town) PA. WOW! Great food!



Check out Presque Isle's website for juice buckets/grapes http://www.piwine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62&It emid=97



Not an expert here, but I thought I would share my experiences with you.
We will visit Lake Erie Wine trail again. It was a great experience.

 

[Runningwolf]

Nice Review, I just ate at Freeport Inn Last Thursday and again on Tuesday. I see you did not mention Heritage Winery. Did you happen to go there. I very nice place in an old barn. They have about 25 bottles of their wine lined up on the bar along with tasting cups. You help yourself to anything you want to try. Pretty neat place. Noble Winery besides their large tasting room has the best scenery. Looking out over the vineyards and corn fields you have Lake Erie in the background. I agree with Lake ViewWine Cellars having awesome wine. Sam loves to give tours of his winery and tell you everything from A to Z about it. He has also been a mentor to me. This is a must go to place when your in the area.
A few other places to get juice in the area is Mobilia Farms (Arrowhead Winery), I just picked up cherry juice from them, and Walkers.

 

[PAwinedude]

WOW!

I guess you live fairly close to that area. We really had a great time and we will return

I must say, there is a noticeable difference between the wineries in PA and in NY. Let's say, I prefer to stay on the PA side of the trail. Tasting room staff in the NY wineries were less than cordial.

We missed Heritage but will definitely visit next time. I will be stopping up that way in the next several weeks to pick up juice. I haven't decided on Presque Isle or Walkers....

We met Sam's wife and really had a nice time talking with her. I only hope I can have a retirement dream come true like he has. Unfortunately, he wasn't there during our visit.

Next time I am up that way, maybe we can meet at the Freeport. That place has awesome prime rib....