By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

HAMILTON, Ohio — Ever since Hanover Winery had its grand opening this summer, the parking lot has been crowded with cars belonging to people who enjoy the ambience and welcome a winery in this part of the state. Tasting hours are from noon-8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, or by appointment.

“It’s a hobby that got out of hand,” said Eddie McDonald, who, with his wife, Beth, owns the winery.

Eddie said the chemistry of wine making intrigued him after he saw an educational program about winemaking on TV. Since neither of them drank wine at the time, Beth ignored Eddie’s request for a winemaking kit as a Christmas gift.

He eventually got that kit and started making wine with mulberries growing on their land. Eventually the two attended The Ohio State University’s short course on winemaking in Wooster, McDonald said.
That led to planting about 500 grape vines and turning a woodshed/potting shed into an elegant wine tasting room. There’s a pond in the backyard and beautiful gardens – Beth’s hobby. They added a few picnic tables and the setting was ideal.

“The winery is something we could take into retirement,” Beth said. “We thought this was something we could enjoy and keep doing for a long time.”

“What intrigues me are the tests that take place from the time that you pick the grapes to the time you actually put a label on the wine,” Eddie said.

“It is just neat – the process of picking the grapes, crushing them, pressing them, filtering, learning about cold stabilization and then bottling the wine, which is probably almost as much work as doing the crushing and pressing.”

The grapes need to be at a certain Brix level (a sugar measurement) when picked. Different types of wines need a different Brix level, which can also regulate the amount of alcohol in the wine.

“You need a certain alcoholic content in the wine as a preservative, so the chemistry of everything has to go hand in hand,” Eddie said.
The McDonalds have planted Traminette, a white grape, and Chambourcin, a red grape, on their property, said Eddie, who works in fire protection but has a farming background. OSU collects data from wineries around the state. It is following the progress of Hanover Winery.

“We’re kind of a test market for the area,” he said. “They don’t grow a lot of grapes here. Our ground is good for growing wine grapes because we’re about 930 feet above sea level. French-American hybrid grapes do best at around 1,000 feet above sea level. We do have some of the height and our ground is just lousy enough to grow grapes, because you don’t want fertile ground for grapes.”

Their vines will not be producing until next year, so the McDonalds buy grapes from three other Ohio wineries and will probably continue to do that to get the varieties they want. “We are making 13 kinds of wine and we’ll add two more – cranberry and blackberry – for the holidays,” Beth said.

“We hope to have those ready by the second week of November.”
When the McDonalds licensed their winery, they were number 91 on the list. In a short time that number has grown to 109. As of the last census Ohio had 2,200 acres of vineyards and produced 750,000 gallons of wine, estimated to be valued at $75 million.
Hanover Winery is at 2121 Morman Road in Hanover Township, just north of State Route 130. For more information visit www.hanoverwinery.com or phone 513-863-3119.