Honey wine abounds in Valley City
The mead at Jilbert Winery in Valley City is silky smooth on the palate, a pleasant sweetness that enhances the flavor of honey without a syrupy quality. When I encountered it in the New York Finger Lakes region, I avoided mead because I expected the sweetness of a dessert wine but I was educated by David Jilbert, whose honey wine is served before the grape wines, to open the palate during tastings.
Jilbert bought the historic 1905 dairy barn, 1913 farmhouse, and apiary in 1999. When the bees started producing large amounts of wildflower honey, extracted in the honey extraction house, he sought a product for the honey and decided on wine. It was a business decision to make what is considered the oldest fermented beverage whose origins are lost in antiquity but evidence shows its existence as early as 7000 BC. Mead makes me think of rotund men in tights drinking from tin cups during the Middle Ages because my first encounter with it was in Shakespeare. Jilbert Winery is one of few wineries in Ohio, and the continent, that produces honey wines.
As a winemaker, Jilbert is committed to crafting quality honey wines and grape wines from grapes brought in from Avon. The property also has established Vidal grapes on the farm. The wines include the Summer Solstice and Midsummer Moon meads, produced with wildflower honey gathered on family land in Medina, which has a long history of high quality wine production. The wines have won a number of international and state-level competitions. Those of us who are used to Cabernet Sauvignon may hesitate to try the Concord, Niagara, and sweet Catawba wines that are also produced at the winery, but the Concord is drier than expected and the Red Table wine made from the Concord is fruit-forward and pleasant. Those who like lighter, sweeter wines will love the wines at Jilberts, and those who do not will be surprised that the native labrusca wines accentuate the essence of the grapes without much added sugar. The winery pays tribute to the heritage of Ohio wines and Medina County honey.
A visit to Jilbert Winery begins by finding the sign on Columbia Road and the dairy barn next to the parking lot. One walks up a path and onto a large covered patio, a space to enjoy a bottle of wine on a warm spring day. Inside the doors, go straight back to the tasting room where bottles of wine in order of sweetness are set up in front of the winemaker, who encourages customers to try every one of the wines in order as he tells about the winery and the wines. The wines are purchased in the gift shop to the right of the door on the bottom floor of the old barn.
What do Kerry Kean and Brian Henke have in common? They’re both guitarists who have performed at the winery during a Saturday evening wine and dine celebration in the renovated upstairs dining room of the barn. The upstairs is full of warm wood, the amber glow from the fireplace, and glittery white lights strung along the walls and in the chandeliers. The winery has a knack for choosing guitarists whose music is the perfect background to an evening at the winery, where the Chef’s Table may include Beef Roulade, glazed sweet potatoes, herbed penne pasta, a carrot and black bean medley, and apricot empanadas. The seasonal menu incorporates honey into the recipes, and the food is delicious and simply elegant.Even though David Jilbert says his establishment is a winery that just happens to have food, the evening my husband and I spent at the winery was romantic and the perfect Valentine’s Day celebration. We started with a tasting and took a bottle of red wine to our reserved table for two just twenty feet from where Brian Henke was playing acoustic guitar, and we relaxed with our wine before filling up a plate at the buffet. We ate sweet corn fritters with red onion marmalade and sweet pea salad with bread, then filled our plate with concord steak, cheese-stuffed pork loin, hot potatoes, wine jam rice, and paprika carrots. It was difficult to choose between the tiramisu and the brownie, all for only $25 plus the cost of an under $10 bottle of wine. Dinner at Jilbert Winery was much more romantic than eating at a typical restaurant.
Jilbert Winery’s summer hours are from 5-10PM on Friday evenings and noon until 10PM on Saturdays. Winter hours are noon until 10PM on Saturdays. The winery is located at 1496 Columbia Road in Valley City. http://OhioHoneyWine.homestead.com.
Claudia Taller’s book Ohio’s Lake Erie Wineries will be released by Arcadia Publishing on June 20. Her passion for words has led to creation of Word Lover’s Retreats. Find her at http://ClaudiaTallerMusings.blogspot.com.
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