CellarThief’s mission is to bring great wine to consumers at great prices.  We can all, of course, appreciate that as passionate wine consumers, but what really makes CellarThief unique is what happens after your purchase.  For every bottle of wine purchased, CellarThief donates water…vital water to the thousands of people every day that lack access to clean, safe drinking water.  In their words:

At CellarThief we know how important it is to drink. We are lucky to be able to drink great wines from passionate winemakers. We also are passionate that all people should be able to drink well and enjoy clean water.

There are nearly a billion people in the world that struggle to find enough clean water to simply keep themselves healthy – that is 1 in 8 people. In fact, 42,000 people die every week from a lack of clean, safe water, with 90% of those deaths being children 5 years old or younger.

We decided to walk the talk and do our own small part to make a difference. We have partnered with some wonderful people who are dedicating their lives to providing access to clean water for people worldwide. So, for every bottle of wine we sell we donate water so good folks around the world can have the benefit of clean water. As we sell more, we donate more. And, if we sell out of a wine the Bounty is awarded and we donate even more!

To date CellarThief has donated more than 300,000 days of clean drinking water.  At Uncorked Cincinnati we’re of course huge proponents of our local wine shops, but if you purchase wine online please give CellarThief a look.  What they’re doing should be commended.

No tour of a winery would be complete without a discussion of the wines. Valley Vineyards offers the third-largest estate winery in the state of Ohio, with some of the oldest vines in the Ohio River Valley. After forty years of making wines, it should come as no surprise that they do it well.

During the tour of the cellar, Joe Schuchter, grandson of Ken Schuchter, founder of the winery offered Brett Johnson and myself a barrel tasting of what will be released as the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($39.99), a silver medal winning wine at the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition. This wine would stand against any similarly priced Cabernet Sauvignon from California or Bordeaux. It offered a nose of cherry, violets, and tobacco, with intense flavors of cherry, plum, and chocolate. Though aged for 24 months in oak, the effect on the palate was a wonderful compliment, offering sweet vanilla notes without overpowering the fruit flavors. It also offered a deliciously long finish.

We were also able to try the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Syrah 2008 ($29.99), produced from vines planted in 1964, the oldest vitis viniferia vines in the Ohio River Valley. This is a dark, smokey wine with great concentrations of jammy, dark fruit flavors. A review on this wine can be found in a previous post here.

We then ordered the Dry Wine Tasting Tray ($8.00) from the tasting room, which offered 9 different white and red varietals.

We started with the Valley Vineyards American Chardonnay ($9.99), a wonderful example of unoaked Chardonnay. Fermented and aged in stainless steel, this wine offers clean, crisp melon and citrus notes with a great core of acid. Unoaked Chardonnays have received a great deal of attention in recent years from wine publications and critics and this wine is a great example of why: its clean finish and beautiful structure would compliment a wine variety of summer dishes or be perfect to sip all by itself!

Then came the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Traminette ($12.99) which delivers peach, apricot, and grape-fruit notes around a semi-sweet core and a nose of pure hibiscus and honeysuckle. This wine won a bronze medal at the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition.

The real joy was in the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Seyval Blanc ($8.99), a wine which won a silver medal in the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition. This wine is produced from thirty-year old vines and is aged sur lie in new and used oak. It is a creamy, full, complex wine with hints of brioche, crème brûlée, and toasty vanilla. It is decadent with layers of rich, intense flavors. It is an unbelievable value for the price (order a bottle from the website, before they read this and raise the price!).

The Seyval Blanc was followed by the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Vidal Blanc ($8.99), which is a tasty little wine showing nice flavors of pear, honeysuckle, and almonds. Do not confuse this wine with the Valley Vineyards Vidal Blanc Ice Wine ($24.99/half bottle), which Valley Vineyards was the first in Ohio to commercially produce in 1992. This was a bronze medal awarded wine at the 2010 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition.

Next came the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Cabernet Franc Rosé ($11.99), a gold medal winning wine from the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition. Its a wonderful summer wine, offering pleasing notes of strawberry, orange peel, vanilla, and a twist of lemon around a delicate acidic core. Serve this on a hot summer day with a nice salad and enjoy!

The Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Hillside Red ($9.99) is a blend of French hybrids (Chancellor, Chelois, and Foch) and is, perhaps, a bit over-oaked. Look for cherry and vanilla notes, with a nice tannin structure. It was awarded a silver medal in the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition.

Next came the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 ($19.99). This is a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon, well worth the price! Chocolate, cherry, violet notes, and interlaced with toasty oak notes and a fantastic tannin structure! It is a bottle that could be served all by itself or with an amazing prime rib. A superior value for what the wine offers.

Strangely, the Cabernet was followed by the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley White Reflections ($9.99) and then the Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Red Reflections ($9.99), a review of which can be found here.

Valley Vineyards wines can be found at Kroger and bigg’s locations or you can request them from your local winestore through Buckeye Distributing. They can also be ordered online or purchased at the winery in Morrow. The tasting room is open:

Monday to Thursday: 11 am – 6 pm
Friday and Saturday: 11 am – 4 pm
Sunday: 1 pm – 6 pm

Valley Vineyards
2276 East US 22 & 3
Morrow, Ohio 45152

Photo by paulaloe

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Visiting Valley Vineyards in Morrow is always an unforgettable experience. I went for the first time in 2003, just after I had moved back to Ohio from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. After visiting wineries for several years in Oregon, I was surprised to find that I had grown up with one virtually up the street! I attended a wine tasting with a good friend and ended up purchasing a bottle of Cabernet Franc, which I tried to hold off on opening for as long as I could. Visiting this year, I noticed that a great deal had changed.

Although the original family-farm barn has been relatively unchanged in the time that I have been going to the winery, the landscaping and cosmetic features have been updated, giving it a more home-like feel. Also the label has been redesigned and modernized. There are plans, of course, to continue to change: look for updated carpeting and furniture in the dining areas as early as this fall.

The wines, people, and welcoming reception, though, have not changed a bit. Upon entering the tasting room, Brett Johnson and I were immediately greeted with a smile and a warm hello from Mindy Siebert, the tasting room manager. We then met with Joe Schuchter, grandson of Ken, founder of the winery, and the third-generation of the Schuchter family to work at the winery. We also met and spoke with Kenny Joe, Ken’s son, and Joe’s father; but both Kenny Joe and Dodie (Kenny Joe’s wife) were busy working on mulching the front of the winery for the June 6 Wine Festival.

Joe was gracious with his time, stories, and the personal narrative of growing up on the vineyard and knowing that his family tradition of agriculture and winemaking was in his blood from the earliest days. Do not be surprised to see him, his younger brother, or older sister working the tasting room if you stop in.

Speaking with Joe made it clear that he had a sense of personal pride in the success of his grandfather’s business, and spoke most highly of the moment he saw his grandfather’s eyes sparkle and the business expanded with the decision to distribute statewide with Buckeye Distributing. He relates that his happiest moments working in a family business are the ones that bring joy to his family, not commercial success or achievement.

It is this sense of family and community that has driven Valley Vineyards from the earliest days and what has led them to the forefront of the many wineries in the Ohio River Valley AVA.

The tasting room and dining areas are dark spaces but the cellar, though cramped with boxes, bottles, and barrels, glow with modern lights and technology. The stainless steel tanks sparkle, the oak barrels offer a hint of woody aroma, and the modern, full-size chemistry lab will take you back to memories of high-school science courses. The winery offers a self-guided tour of the cellar and fermentation area, with a convenient print-out available from the website. Do not be surprised, though, if you run into Greg Pollman, the current winemaker, and he offers his unique insight into the winemaking process.

Of course, any member of the Schuchter family would also be happy to regale you with stories about what its like to make wine and work in the farming business. (Indeed, if you get a chance, ask Joe about why his father is no longer the winemaker!) After forty years, the Schuchter family has some remarkable anecdotes. With those anecdotes have also come some remarkable achievements and some amazing wines!

Look for the Finale of “Cincinnati Secrets: Valley Vineyards” coming next week.

RSS readers please click through to see the video.

The celebration of forty years of estate wine-making from some of the oldest grape vines in the Ohio River Valley has revived traditions that had been discontinued for several years. For the first time since 2007, the Valley Vineyards Wine Festival was celebrated on Sunday, June 6 in honor of the unique milestone the Schuchter family has enjoyed. During this year’s festival, the public was allowed into the vineyards of the winery for the first time ever.

In addition to the tours of the vineyards and winery, Bella Balloons offering tethered hot-air balloon rides and Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks ended the evening’s festivities with a bang!

There were also demonstrations from a Cincinnati-based charity, Circle Tail, which provides assistance dogs to people with mobility, hearing, neurological or psychiatric disabilities. They also provide dogs for adoption, as well as offer obedience training, behavior management and boarding services.

Of course, there was food, “They put a lot of effort into the food and the vendors that are coming. There’s a meat vendor from Findlay Market coming up. There’s a Greek restaurant from Blue Ash…. and we had to get Angelo’s here because there will be kids and they’ll want pizza.” The winery also hosted an anniversary cookout.

This year’s wine festival was seen as a major departure from the ones a few years ago, because it was designed to be more family-focused as well as celebratory. According to Joe Schuchter, grandson of founder, Ken, “And its, you know, you can have a couple glasses of wine, have your family and friends around, that’s what we’re trying to make it.”

In a token of appreciation for the local work of Ken Schuchter, the Hamilton Township board of trustees named June 6 “Valley Vineyard Day” and the Little Miami Chamber of Commerce spoke about his business contributions to the community. Ohio’s First Lady, Frances Strickland, wife of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland presented Ken with an award for his remarkable achievement at the festival.

Of course, no winery could observe a historical milestone without the release of a celebratory wine. When asked about the plans for the forty-year anniversary, Joe spoke first of the release of two new wines, “Red and White Reflections, which are two hybrid blends that we have now. Red Reflections is basically all DeChaunac. White Reflections is Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay, Seyval Blanc and Cayuga. It is 2.5% residual and Red Reflections is 3. They’re both done in stainless steel.”

The Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley White Reflections ($9.99) offers a great mouthful of pear, apple, lemon peel, and honey notes with a beautiful floral nose. The stainless steel fermentation makes this a clean, crisp, and ultimately refreshing wine with a beautiful acid structure. Sip this wine on a hot summer day sitting on the porch!

The Valley Vineyards Ohio River Valley Red Reflections ($9.99), which just won a bronze medal in the 2010 Ohio Wine Competition and a silver medal at the 2010 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, is 100% DeChaunac, from forty-year old vines. It is a gentle, subtle wine which teases with hints of blueberry and raspberry.

The proprietary name of “Reflections” was inspired by the stainless steel fermentation tanks used in producing the wines, neither of which saw any time in oak and which are polished to a high-reflective, mirror-like finish.

Of course, even if you did not get to make it to the Wine Festival on June 6, the winery is always happy to serve tastings in their tasting room or dining room. They offer two tasting trays (each $8.00) for dry wines or sweet wines. The tasting room is open:

Monday to Thursday: 11 am – 6 pm
Friday and Saturday: 11 am – 4 pm
Sunday: 1 pm – 6 pm

Of course, bottles of wine are also available at the winery for purchase.

Dinner at Valley Vineyards is a great opportunity to socialize in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. For $59.00 (per couple 21 and older), you can use indoor or outdoor grills to cook steak or salmon, after tasting wines to select a bottle for your dinner. In addition to the entree, the winery offers fresh salads (including our own pizza salad), baked potato (with butter and sour cream), mixed vegetables, rice pilaf, green beans almandine, bread and butter, and the homemade dessert buffet. The winery has offered this dining option for more than thirty years and it has become a staple of the Valley Vineyards experience!

Look for Part Three of “Cincinnati Secrets: Valley Vineyards” coming next week.