Beard & Broad Go Wine Tasting

Every now and then Beard & Broad have been known to take a break from beer and turn their attention to another delicious libation, usually wine or gin.  Well, let’s be serious. Broad is usually drinking a glass of wine or two at least one night a week.  So, raise a glass and let us tell you about our recent trek along the Tannenbaum Wine Trail.

The Tannenbaum Wine Trail

The Tannenbaum Wine Trail is a self-driven tour through the Northeast Ohio wineries. For $50 a couple (that’s right, a couple; this whole thing is ridiculously inexpensive) you get an 18″ Christmas tree, two wine glasses, and at each winery you get two wine samples, snacks and an ornament for your tree. There are 18 participating wineries. Our amazing friend Alexi who grew up in this area and whose parents have done this wine trail before has put this trip together for our group two years in a row now.  We love her and will forever be in her debt for introducing us to this awesome experience.

The Day

We checked into our hotel rooms around 11 am and met in the lobby around 11:30 and headed to the limo.  As we stated, the wine trail is self-driven, but anyone who actually drives themselves is horribly insane.  Don’t do it.  The limo/party bus is definitely the way to go as it’s a flat rate for the whole day and you don’t have to worry about calling cabs/Ubers/Lyfts after every stop.  We brought the necessities to the stock up in the limo for the day: water, meats, cheeses, pepperoni bread, chips and more wine. Note: you can probably skip on bringing wine for the ride since you are spending at least 6+ hours wine tasting, but with this group, it’s better to be prepared. We’re not going to talk about each stop, just a few of our favorite stops on the tour.

The first (successful stop; we were’t let into the first one we stopped at as you needed a reservation if the party was 8 or larger) was at Old Firehouse Winery. This place is pretty cool and a favorite among our group. They have a ferris wheel in the back, and according to their website host a dinner theater. It’s a very cool building and it feels very homey. We could drink their all day. This year, they had heated tents set up in the back. I bet this place would be a lot of fun in the summer. Old Firehouse probably had the best spread of food out of all the wineries on the trail.  They had a buffet which included dips, pierogies, veggies, wings, etc. This was our last stop last year and we’re happy we got to go here first so we could enjoy it and remember it better. Last thought on Old Firehouse: when you visit, you must order a Pink Smash*. It is an extremely delicious, albeit dangerous beverage. It consists of wine, soda and cherry juice and served in a souvenir plastic water bottle. You can bring the bottle back anytime and pay the refill only price to get a fill. If you grab one while on the tour, make sure to split it with friends so you’ll be able to make it to all the other wineries!

*Side note: Beard is actually not a giant fan of the Pink Smash as he thinks it just tastes like sugar water mixed with wine (which it essentially is) and he feels he gets hungover immediately after one sip.

One of our favorite stops both trips was Hundley Cellars. This winery is gorgeous and the staff is super friendly. They also had delicious snacks paired with delicious wines. Once we finished our two free samples our group sampled a lot more from the bar for $.50 per sample. The weather really was beautiful at this stop so we took the opportunity to drink outside and snap some pictures. Hundley has it all: great wine, great food and great views.

Debonne Vineyards is a double whammy: a winery and a brewery in one! Debonne is the largest estate winery in Ohio. It’s also home to the Hot Air Balloon Festival. Debonne is also the first winery to add a microbrewery to its operation. Cellar Rats was established in 2008 and is the perfect stop for the non-wine drinker in your group. We usually spend quite a bit of time here sampling the wine and sampling the beer. There’s usually a big crowd here both enjoying wine and the beer.

The next place we want to mention is not a winery, its a distillery. Red Eagle Distillery is located along the wine trail across from M Cellars and by South River Vineyard. We discovered this our first time on the trail and Beard got very excited and dashed across the road to check it out (hence the infamous pic). This place is really awesome. The building is a beautiful, renovated barn and they are known for crafting their own bourbon, rye, brandy and vodka. Truthfully, this is a place you should check out when you’re out in this area but you don’t (or shouldn’t) stop here while on the wine trail. Both years we’ve stopped here, ordered delicious drinks and had to chug them in order to keep time on the wine trail.

Grand River Cellars was the final destination of the night. This place is huge and also has some of the best wines we tried all day. Yes, we were indeed quite inebriated by this time, but we still stand by our statement.  This is also the only place we purchased wine to take home, I think probably because we were rushed at the other places.

Final Thoughts & Tips:

• This event is a ton of fun, everyone should do this if they love wine and you should do it with a group of your closest friends.
• Get a limo bus for the day. No one should be driving if they are drinking. If you have a big group, it won’t be that much money anyways if everyone is chipping in.
• Be prepared. Stock up on snacks and water for the day.  Beard always swears by Pedialyte before and after the trail.
• Pace yourself! Enjoy your samples. Don’t worry about trying every wine at every winery, as it’s basically impossible.
• Yes, pace yourself but also realize you’re on a schedule. You’re going to want to try to get to as many of the wineries as possible, while still enjoying each one.  We tried to have a strict 14 minute rule at each winery and it worked out pretty well.
• Buuuuuuut, if you’re with a group realize everyone drinks at different speeds; and the stops tend to get longer as people start getting drunk and stop watching the time.  Don’t urge everyone to chug just for the sake of trying to hit every winery, just enjoy yourselves at each one you stop at!