Wine and Cincinnati were once a perfect pairing, so much so that the
Queen City nickname was inspired by Sparkling Catawba Wine, the
delectable libation that sparked the Catawba Craze of the mid-1800s.
Longworth's Golden Wedding Sparkling Catawba was the most celebrated,
but Werk's Golden Eagle and Red Cross, Corneau's Cornucopia, Thompson's
Hillside, Bogen's Diamond, Mottier's National Premium and Schumann's
Queen Victoria also bolstered the city's reputation as the American
Rhineland. These winemakers passed their knowledge on to Lake Erie, the
New York Finger Lakes, Pennsylvania, Missouri and California. Today,
that knowledge has returned home, as Henke, Skeleton Root, Meier and
Vinoklet hope to make the city a wine haven once again. Food historian
Dann Woellert leads a tour through Cincy's storied past and promising
future with the grape and the vine.