If you haven't been there, Pleasant Hill is a great spot for the Athens stop. Some of the most beautiful sunsets you'll see in Southeast Ohio and they do have a couple of o.k. wines.

My endorsement of their business is our frequent visits with family and friends to their winery. As I stated, their views are as good as it gets in SE Ohio, their cook your own protein nights are tons of fun, and they have a couple of decent wines. Producing high quality wine in Ohio is a challenge and producing high quality wines in clay soils is even tougher. Not sure how my original post could be considered faint praise. Some folks may know basketball, others know wine.

It is a nice venue at Pleasant Hill. Attended there couple years ago. Incredibly windy that day.

I am pretty sure he never said the wineries were not nice, but rather they are not producing world class wines.

O.K. wines - Is that SE Ohio/Appalachian dialect for a good dose of oak treatment on a few of the offerings? :)

To add to the challenges in most of Ohio for making "good/great" wine- it's the heat PLUS humidity in the summer. All kinds of bad fungi, molds, etc. love that heat AND humidity and they can be killers for Vitus Vinifera - the grape specie that the best/greatest wines are made from. That, and the extreme freezing winters that can kill off Vitus Vinifera vines here. That is why most all the wine grapes grown in Ohio are either Vitus Labrusca, or hybrids of the two specie. They can make "good" wine - in "good" years, and by "good" winemakers. Bad winemakers can't even make "good/great" wine with the nobler Vitus Vinifera.

The sweet spot in Ohio is of course along the Lake Erie shore. The lake effect tempers the deep freeze, as does deep snow that can insulate the vine system at soil level (warmer in winter, cooler in summer than inland areas). The lake effect is also more consistent breezes, and less humidity, and that helps to keep those fungi and molds at bay. Some varieties of Vitis Vinifera can thrive in the Lake Erie region - notably Riesling and Gewurztraminer - and not surprisingly as the climate is very similar to Germany which is where the varieties were developed. There are a few vintners doing well with Chardonnay, and even Pinot Noir - grapes from the Burgundy region of France with is a cooler region than say Bordeaux, Cabernet country.

Clay soil is not always a bad thing. It depends on the grape specie and/or variety. Pomerol in Bordeaux has a lot of clay - Merlot thrives there. The leading estate in Pomerol, Chateau Petrus, has been getting thousands of dollars for a bottle for decades....

And BTW - Whenever someone asks me "What's your favorite wine?" - My pat answer is "The one that is in my glass".....

For those who yearn to know more...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_vinifera

http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/dirty-lit... /

I would add on to suggest looking at scheduling OOC games specifically with those markets in mind every few years. It's been a while since the Bobcats played DePaul in BB and Northwestern in FB...

And others know whine.

Great thread drift! We love Pleasant Hill in our household. They are fantastic people who do a great job in my opinion. I'd agree they aren't world class wines, but I'm not worried about that. They're still good. And the one sunset I've been there for was indeed outstanding.

https://twitter.com/OhioBobcatClub/status/712666286648594433

After missing the past two, it sounds like Saul's in for the Cleveland stop this year, which is cool. I always enjoy the Caravan, and I'm looking forward to meeting Coach this year.

It would appear that all of them are on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I can't recall when there has been one on a Fri/Sat/Sun in the past.

My sources indicate that the micro-climate created by Rainbow Lake/Buck's Lake is a major factor in the lovely wines produced at the Pleasant Hill Winery and the Shade Winery :P