Ohio Day Trip- An Afternoon of Wine Tasting

Ohio Day Trip-
An Afternoon of Wine Tasting
Dover, Ohio
July 23, 2011

You know you’re all grown up when you feel delighted for a friend getting a minivan. With seating for seven, Jan’s new vehicle is the perfect mode of transport for our large group of girlfriends. Dubbed ‘Jansportation’, we were thrilled to get to ride in it to explore some wineries in the Dover area. Jan, Megan and I met at Janet & Jeans. We all piled into the sweet ride and headed down Interstate 77 South from Canton. Jan’s GPS ‘Tom’ had a wandering mind of his own. Frequently waiting until after we’d turned one way to indicate that we should have headed the other direction, he also preferred the scenic route vs. the path more taken. Luckily we quite enjoyed the roundabout way which took us through beautiful green countryside dotted with brightly painted red barns. We erupted in laughter when the road went even more rural and changed from paved to gravel but the thought that Tom was leading us along an access road into a strip mine was definitely in the back of my mind.

It was a typical Ohio July day- sunny, 90F with 75% humidity. With that kind of weather comes afternoon storms. The sky was darkening as we pulled up to our first stop- Silver Moon Winery (4915 Old Route 39 NW, Dover). Silver Moon is a boutique winery that produces all of their wines on site. As a storm raged on we each tried several samples at the Tasting Bar, bought glasses or bottles of our favorites and sat in a corner booth to enjoy our wine. Silver Moon understands the female wine drinker’s desire to shop and includes a large gift shop to browse seasonal gifts, wine accessories and funny magnets. At one point the power went out- everyone continued to drink wine, browse the shop and enjoy the afternoon. The electricity was quickly restored, we made our final wine and gift purchases and enjoyed a picnic snack of cheese, crackers and fruit in the minivan before moving on to our next destination.

Breitenbach Amish Country Wines (5934 Old Route 39 NW, Dover) was just a few hundred yards up the road. Breitenbach produces a variety of fruit and berry wines and includes an Amish Country Store where deli meat, cheese, preserves, chocolates and other items complimentary to wine can be purchased. Probably the most commercially well-known winery on our tour it was very crowded. We saw a group of girlfriends that we’d chatted with earlier at Silver Moon. We continued to run into them at various wineries throughout the day joking and laughing each time we saw each other. They were obviously another group of girlfriends that just liked to have a fun time!

From Breitenbach we headed toward the Broad Run Cheese Factory & Swiss Heritage Winery (6011 Old Route 39 NW), which is basically right across the street. An assortment of cheese and dips to sample sat on the wine tasting counter. Divided into a tasting room, cheese & meat deli and gift shop, there are bountiful shopportunities. To add to the fun, on our way out we stopped to take pictures with the cheesy character cut-outs that I adore so much.
From there we headed to the School House Winery (455 Schneiders Crossing Road N.W.). Housed in an old one-room school house, the winery features live music either inside or at the pond-side stage.
We sat at a large candle-lit table and enjoyed a snack of bread & oil and pepperoni rolls while drinking a few glasses of wine and listening to a local band called ‘Blonde on Blonde’. Obviously a very popular place we enjoyed the wine, music and atmosphere very much.
As always, we evaluated which wineries were our favorites on the ride home. Not surprisingly, everyone had a different personal favorite. The wineries each have their own personality and something unique appealed to us. I, personally, am looking forward to visiting all of them again. But aside from the wine, food and shopping, we had a blast just driving around the charming countryside. What I enjoyed most about the afternoon is that I never stopped laughing.