Local Wine Tour with Your Favorite Innkeepers
Free Saturday afternoons are rare gifts in the life of Innkeepers. So when they come along, we look at each other and instantly say Winery! It's a great way to wine the day away. Pun intended.
It's also a great way to restock our guest's wine cooler; FYI, it's located in The Stone House. The hardest thing deciding is what direction we go in. No matter the path, we know we it's going to be a good day.
A few weekends ago, the house was packed, and we had no Saturday check-ins. I might have planted a seed a few days before by mentioning that we hadn't been out to Terra Cotta for a bit. So after breakfast clean up, we were off.
Terra Cotta is located over in the Cumberland, Rix Mills area. Terra Cotta happens to be owned by my 3rd or 4th cousin on my Grandma Ginny's side. I often joke that it's our family winery, and well, it is.
The ride to Terra Cotta is similar to the ride to The Wilds, depending upon which way you go, you can drive past The Wilds. On this trip, we did just that. With limited cell service, be prepared to be off the grid for some of the trip.
Besides the wine, the hilly view for miles off the back porch and the big table in the corner which is our spot, are just a few of our favorite things at Terra Cotta. Here is where we settle in for a few hours with our favorite bottle of the day in hand and one of Donna Jean's nosh plates.
After a good visit, and a bit of family gossip, we head out with a few bottles for the fridge and off to our next stop. Three stops are usually about all we have time for.
From here, we usually would head to Cambridge and pop in at Georgetown Winery, but on this trip, Donna told us about the newly opened White Eyes Creek Winery, which opened this past fall.
But before I share White Eyes Creek, let me share a little about Georgetown Winery. Besides the wine, the view, the pizza,the summer Zinnas are some of our favorite things. If you can squeeze in four stops, add this to your list for sure.
Ok, now back to White Eyes Creek. This was our first time here, and it is just down the road from Terra Cotta, so you could easily head to Georgetown afterward. They are new, and their vineyard is still maturing, so they use a lot of juices to make their wines. We truly enjoyed the owners, their story, and the wine. Oh, ladies, check out the handmade jewelry too.
From here, we head west to Zanesville and visit the Headley Inn and Winery, located on West 40 in a beautiful historic stone house. We are familiar with the area because we used to live there.
The Winery just opened last year, and they have already won some awards and are a featured winery at the Ohio State Fair this year. They also usually have a food truck and some live music on the weekends—the perfect spot to end our day before we had back downriver home-The Inns at 8th and Main.
With a few bottles in hand, feeling relaxed and rejuvenated after a good afternoon out. Next time, I will share our Athens route.
