For the Red Wine Lover
Most of the valley pours sweet and fruit wines. These wineries make serious dry reds: Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Dornfelder and a Meritage blend. The day ends with our own estate Cabernet Franc on the lake.
- Stops
- 6
- Distance
- 16.1 mi
- Drive time
- 36 min
Stops
M Cellars
Start with the Meritage and the Pinot Noir. Reviewers keep mentioning the dry reds and how well the staff explain them.
Harpersfield Vineyard
Estate Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, grown here since 1979.
Stonegait Winery
A converted horse barn with a fireplace. The Cabernets come up in a lot of reviews.
Silver Crest Cellars
A grape-growing family that makes Cabernet Franc and Dornfelder. The Cabernet Franc is the one reviewers write about.
Laurentia Vineyard and Winery
Estate wines grown on glacial soil, the last stop before the lake. Ask for the driest things they are pouring.
Vincent William Wine
Finish with our estate Cabernet Franc, grown, pressed and poured here and aged twelve months in French oak. The 2022 vintage won Double Gold at the 2025 Ohio Wine Competition.
How We Chose These Stops
We read every winery's website and thousands of Google reviews, looking for people who came for the reds and said so. These five kept coming up. Then we added our own, because our estate Cabernet Franc is our flagship and we are 6 miles north of Laurentia.
More Day Trips
Vincent William Guest Favorites
The six wineries our guests come back and tell us about most. The loop starts and ends at Vincent William in Madison, so dinner or a room is waiting when you get back.
See the Day TripFor the White Wine Lover
Start with Riesling on the lake, then Riesling by a creek, Chardonnay and Grüner Veltliner from vines planted in 1979, a Sémillon poured in an old church, and the vineyard that planted European grapes by Lake Erie in 1968.
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For the Ambiance
Five wineries people remember for where they sat as much as what they drank, and our own stone house on the lake to finish: a horse barn with a fireplace, a patio in the woods above the Grand River, a pond, and a church moved here from another town.
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Beer, Wine and Spirits
For the friend who does not drink much wine. Every stop also pours beer, cider, cocktails, mead or bourbon.
See the Day Trip
Ohio Fall Foliage Map: Things to Do near the Winery
Three covered bridges, a boardwalk above the Grand River, an observation tower over Lake Erie and a state park on the shore, all within 15 miles of Vincent William Wine, where the day ends.
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The Wine and Foliage Day Trip
The fall day we would plan for a friend: a boardwalk over the Grand River in the morning, estate wine among the vines, an 1868 covered bridge, lunch by a wood fire, a last glass on a patio above the river, and dinner on the lake.
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Wineries in Fall Color
Six wineries at their best in October: vineyards to walk, a trail down to the river, a patio in the woods and a fire for when it gets cold. The day ends on the lake at Vincent William.
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Off the Beaten Path
Five wineries 13 to 30 miles from the Madison and Geneva cluster, each worth the drive: a meadery, a 1930s racehorse stable, a frozen wine dessert, a vineyard with rooms, and one of Ohio's first European-grape vineyards.
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The Underrated Valley
Five wineries rated 4.6 or higher on Google that most people drive past. None has more than 135 reviews.
See the Day Trip