Lake Erie Wine Country — Local services in Town of Ripley

We went in late July 2020 during Covid season. Most wineries are open and will let you do tastings but prepare for an inconsistent experience and just try to be flexible about it. I got the feeling that all the wineries were confused about the rules and were really Just trying their best to stay legal and stay afloat. A few wineries claimed they couldn’t let us do tastings but could sell us a glass of wine that we could take outside on their patio and drink. Some will not let you buy a glass nor drink on their patio, but you could buy bottles to go. Some would do a full tasting service at their inside bar. We even got table-side tasting service at one winery! Some would not let you inside but would let you order a tasting flight at a walk-up window or table, and then you could take it to their outdoor Seating areas to drink. It seemed like MOST wineries DID do tastings though, and they Let you sit either inside or outside. Most claimed that they had to sell you food to do tastings due to governors orders....which was also very inconsistent from winery to winery. Some told us that because we were just doing little tastings we didn’t have to buy food. Some said my husband and I could share one food item, and some forced both my husband and I to each purchase a food item. The types of food wineries were required to sell ranged widely. Most had bags of chips for 50 cents, some had charcuterie, some had a choice of crackers or Yancy’s Fancy Cheese. Some had hot pretzels and dips. Most seemed to feel bad about forcing people to buy food so that’s why they had 50 cent chips available, which was nice. Some just gave us free Oyster crackers. One winery we visited twice: the first time the lady did not make us buy food, but when we returned 2 days later there was a different guy running the bar and he made us buy food. By the end of our 3-day trip and after visiting 20 wineries, my bag was full of chips, pretzels, and crackers that we were required to buy (but not required to eat)! So if you’re planning a trip to this area, it’s worth it because most places are open and will let you taste! Just be flexible and...

Excellent small town to enjoy the Erie...

Smell the...