History and Prohibition

Several weeks ago, I was at the Westlake Historical Society at Clague Park Museum.  Westlake, originally known as Dover, was the second largest shipping point for grapes in the United States in the 1800s. Collamer, east of Cleveland, was first.  Wine-making went underground during Prohibition, and when it ended, restaurant owners bottled and labeled their own fortified wines made from local juice or brought in from California. Some of the wineries started mass-producing wine with new equipment, but the wines of Ohio, like all of the eastern United States, was mostly sweet and made from native lambrusca grapes, until wine makers began to experiment with hybrids. 

Local Wine, Local Book, Local Bookstore, Local Music

This Saturday, July 23, at Visible Voice Books in Tremont, experience an evening of living well locally.  From 7-9PM is a wine tasting/book signing, and music will be played on the courtyard from 8-10PM. I already said most of what you need to know in Cool Cleveland this week. But I didn't tell you the wines being served are by Laurello Vineyards, whose Italian-styled wines are robust and far from the sweet wines most people associate with Ohio wines. Laurello is located in the Grand River sub-appellation of wineries.  Cosmo Red, named after grandpa, is the one to try.  The winery has a pretty large grape growing and wine making operation going on, so it looks rustic from the outside, but inside you'll find the enveloping warmth of Tuscany.