Three Wineries in One Day

It's been a few weeks since I've been back from my epic eleven day vacation without kids. So, I guess now that I've done some reflecting, it's time to post! 

On Wednesday July 3 my sister and I visited 3 wineries in one day. As soon as she got off the plane from Anchorage, Alaska at the Akron/Canton airport we headed to Barrel Run Crossing Winery for some lunch - and of course wine! Barrel Run has been a favorite of ours for years. I love that they grow their own grapes and make their own wine. And the food is GREAT! They try to use as much local meats, cheeses and veggies as possible and the freshness shows! We had their Red, White & Blue sangria (in honor of the 4th of July) and the goat cheese spread pictured here, as well as turkey & guacamole bagel sandwiches, brushetta and a meat/cheese/cracker tray. All of it was delicious! One of the absolute best part of this winery is being able to sit outside and gaze at the vines. Although, the inside is quite delightful in the winter too, and has air conditioning! A special mention must be made of their yummy new wine, All Aboard, that they *twisted* our arms to try ;)

 After we had rested up a few hours, we went to Halliday's Winery. Again, the food here has always been great and they have some tasty fruit & cheese trays. We ended up mixing their red sangria with the white sangria for a taste we all liked. While the winery is located on a lake, what could have been a scenic outlook was overshadowed by rain. However, we managed to stay until they closed the winery, which is 8pm on weeknights.

For our next stop, we pulled up at storefront in Lake Milton and I thought "No way this is a winery!" But that changed as we walked through the door. The owners of Lil Paws Winery greeted us at their tasting bar and walked us through a tasting of their sweet fruit flavored wines, then some of our group also tasted the dry wines. They make their own wine on-site from juice. While they only sell pre-packaged food, they allow you to bring in your own food - so we ordered a pizza and sat down to play board/card games that were waiting for us! The hospitality of the owners was beyond compare and their sweet wines were lovely.

That ended our winery visits for the evening, but 2 days later we visited the two wineries Put In Bay, Ohio has to offer. To me good wine is just the start of a winery, good food comes next and a good view is close behind!