2024 Ohio Wines and Ice-wines are Exceptional
Winery owner Larry Laurello aggressively roots for the underdog. He is an unabashed Cleveland Browns fan, driving a converted Browns Backer’s bus to game tailgates. He champions the Grand River AVA and Ohio for their developing world-class wine quality potential. He also actively promotes the awareness of exceptional ice wines being made in the Buckeye State by some very talented winemakers.
He won’t have to root for the evident quality in the 2024 vintage, which resulted in one of the top five vintages for the Grand River and Northeast Ohio in the last 24 years. Both Laurello and Lorain native winemaker Shane Horstmann are truly excited about the quality of the wines that have recently finished fermentation.
After 2023 experienced winter injury and a light crop from a polar vortex, the vines were ready to produce volumes of fruit. 2024 was warm and dry, offering ideal growing conditions. Right now the wineries near Lake Erie have wines of great quality in abundant supply, something that doesn’t happen often in a state with precarious weather conditions.
Laurello and his wife, Kim, started Laurello Vineyards in 2001. While their decision didn’t guarantee success, the thought driving the Laurellos was, “If we start now, when the existing wineries become popular, we will be one of the established ones.”
Here are some of the 2024 Laurello wines I tasted recently. They had just completed fermentation but the outstanding quality and balance was clearly evident. Prices to be determined before release:
Estate Riesling — Prominent nose of pretty, clean fruit. Crisp and lingering.
Pinot Grigio — Brilliant nose, juicy-fruit aromas and flavors. Lovely texture and richness with a long finish.
Stainless Chardonnay — Bright and crisp. Pineapple fruit in nose. Creamy and pristine with sweet, ripe-fruit flavors and texture.
Amphora Chardonnay — Similar to the Stainless example but richer texture and more weight. Creamy with light hints of butter.
Barrel-fermented Chardonnay — Pretty vanilla notes over the pineapple and cream flavors and textures.
Pinot Noir — Medium-pale ruby. Aromas/flavors of strawberry/cranberry with firm acidity and hints of earth. Nice texture and length.
Cabernet Franc — Bright ruby hue. Dark currant/berry aromas, hints of earth with bramble berry fruit in the finish.
Cabernet Sauvignon/Franc blend 2023 — Grand River Cabernets blended with less than 10 percent Temecula Merlot. Bright, effusive, dark fruit with pine/eucalyptus aromas and notes of chocolate covered coffee beans.
Ice wine — Still fermenting. Rich and flavorful. Toffee, hops notes. Really lovely wine.
Ice wine 2023 — Rich gold hue. Spicy aromas and flavors, unctuous and long. Apricot, honeycomb, pineapple, spicy-apple nuances.
Laurello also recently became an investor in the Riverbend Hotel and Suites, Trademark Collection by Wyndham (533 Goodwill Drive, Ashtabula, OH 44004, 877-504-5782). Located in Ashtabula harbor with spectacular views of their Bascule bridge (which raises every 30 minutes for boats during the season), Ashtabula River and Lake Erie, this new hotel offers 43 rooms with a fifth floor rooftop bar.
Recently Laurello held a party in front of his hotel and pressed frozen Vidal Blanc grapes to make ice wine. He believes that this specialty can be a leading product of Ohio, potentially bringing the state worldwide recognition. He grinned when stating, “For our first 2024 pressings, we had just had 6 feet of snow. Those news pictures will solidify Ohio as an ice wine producer in the minds of consumers.” He has made Habanero-infused ice wine and experimented with ghost pepper-infused ice wine at the pressing party, where purchasers had to sign a release due to the pepper’s extreme level of Scoville heat units.
Look for 2024 Ohio releases starting this spring. They should be plentiful and of superb quality