An Inside Look at Lake Erie Wine Country

There’s more to wine country than what you find in the tasting

room.

Behind the Vines invites you

to experience Lake Erie Wine Country from the inside, through a series of

intimate, interactive experiences created especially for this event. Choose

from one of three carefully curated journeys, each taking you to three wineries

for experiences you won’t find on an ordinary visit.

With groups limited to just 12 guests, you’ll have the

opportunity to meet and interact with the winemakers, growers and other people

who bring Lake Erie Wine Country to life. Taste wine from the barrel. Walk the

vineyard. Explore how sparkling wine is made. Challenge your senses with a

black-glass tasting. Discover what concrete can do for a wine. These aren’t

lectures—they’re conversations, demonstrations and hands-on experiences

designed to take you deeper into the craft, agriculture and personalities behind

the wines.

At each winery, you’ll spend 90 minutes exploring a different

aspect of grape growing, winemaking or wine appreciation. Along the way, you’ll

taste, ask questions, experiment and discover—and come away knowing a little

more about what goes into the glass and the people and places that make it

possible.

Behind the Vines

is $125 per guest and includes all three winery experiences and associated

tastings. With just 12 guests in each group, space is intentionally

limited to keep every experience personal, interactive and conversational.

You’ve visited wine country. Now come see what

happens Behind the Vines.

Winery Experiences

& Profiles

Experience #1

Your experience starts here.

Lakeview Wine Cellars

What’s That Smell?

Not everything you smell in a glass of wine is supposed to be

there. Lakeview Wine Cellars invites you to put your nose to the test with an

exploration of nine common wine faults. You’ll actually smell examples of each

fault while learning what causes them, how they affect wine and how experienced

tasters recognize them. It’s a hands-on sensory experience designed to sharpen

your awareness—and you may never smell a glass of wine quite the same way

again.

About the Winery

Founded by Sam and Becky Best in 2008, Lakeview Wine Cellars is

a small North East boutique winery built from the couple’s decades-long passion

for winemaking. Using grapes from local vineyards, Lakeview specializes in

oak-aged wines and reflects the Bests’ commitment to creating an intimate,

environmentally conscious winery overlooking Lake Erie and the surrounding

vineyards.

Mazza Vineyards

Barrel Tasting

Go inside the winemaking process with the team at Mazza

Vineyards for a tasting straight from the barrel. Sample barrel-aged wines at

different stages of maturation and discover how time and oak influence a wine’s

aroma, flavor, structure and character. This behind-the-scenes tasting offers a

rare opportunity to experience wines before they reach the bottle—and to

explore some of the decisions a winemaker makes along the way.

About the Winery

Founded by brothers Robert and Frank Mazza in 1972, Mazza

Vineyards is the flagship of a family winemaking tradition whose roots reach

back to Calabria, Italy. More than 50 years later, the North East winery

combines that heritage with an international approach to winemaking and a

diverse portfolio reflecting the character of the Lake Erie region.

Johnson Estate Winery

It’s All About the

Reds

Discover Chambourcin from the vine to the glass at Johnson

Estate Winery. Weather permitting, you’ll visit the estate’s Jillson Road

vineyards during harvest season to see—and perhaps taste—Chambourcin grapes on

the vine. Then explore the remarkable versatility of this grape through

Chambourcin, Ruby Dry Rosé and Chambourcin Ice Wine, accompanied by food

pairings. Compare them with estate-grown Pinot Noir and Marechal Foch for a

delicious exploration of the red grapes and wines of the Lake Erie region.

About the Winery

Founded in 1961 on a family farm dating to 1908, Johnson Estate

is New York’s oldest continuously operating estate winery. Today the family

grows more than a dozen grape varieties across approximately 115 acres,

carrying forward a tradition that helped pioneer wine-grape growing in Western

New York.

Itinerary:

9:30-11:00         Lakeview

Wine Cellars, Nine Faults of Wine

11:30-1:00         Mazza

Vineyards:  Barrel Tasting

1:00-2:30            Lunch

(on your own):  We recommend: Grace & Abe’s

2:30-4:00            Johnson

Estate Winery, It’s All About Reds