The Cincinnati region is home to more than 20 working wineries, from Withamsville to Batesville and from Mason to Verona. Most of them allow visitors to observe grape harvesting and production, which is happening right now, and to sample wine and buy bottles to take home.
Vinkolet Winery occupies 30-plus acres in Colerain Township and is the only working winery in Hamilton County. Founder Kreso Mikulic planted his first vines in 1986, and today the operation has grown to 30,000 vines producing 13 red, white, and fruit varietals. Vinkolet is home to a number of award-winning wines, including a gold medal in the 2019 Ohio State Wine Competition.
Bruce Murch and Nancy Rosenbaum Murch operate Fulton Grove Winery near East Fork Lake in Withamsville. Bruce worked in research and development at Procter & Gamble for 32 years before he started making wine by hand in 2015 and eventually launching the winery in 2019.
Stonehouse Settlement Winery took root in 2019 on about a dozen acres in appropriately-named California, Kentucky. Steve and Sandy Compston Scott raise Noiret and vidal blanc grapes with the help of Lonnie Enzweiler and Jerry Lantry, among many others, during harvest time.
At one point in the mid-1800s, Cincinnati was considered the country’s winemaking capital, thanks in large part to Nicholas Longworth’s expansive vineyards in what are now Mt. Adams, Eden Park, and Columbia-Tusculum. Longworth became known as the Father of American Grape Culture.
Photographs by Devyn Glista, Catherine Grace, and Jeremy Kramer