A glass of wine with dinner has long been considered the perfect accompaniment. And no matter where you live in Cincinnati, you can get a great bottle of wine with your meal by visiting any number of locally-owned wine stores. But does the type of wine we buy here in Cincinnati vary much from what those who live in larger metropolitan cities purchase?
"I don't think we're behind the times," says Evelyn Ignatow, owner of the Hyde Park Gourmet Food & Wine store. "Cincinnati has a very interested, enthusiastic wine culture. They are very anxious to learn about wine."
The city's first sommelier to pass the master level, Ignatow travels the world searching for different items to carry in her store. She is a member of national organizations dedicated to high-end, quality food, including the Gourmet Retailer Advisory Board and the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade.
In the past year, she has been a guest of the German government, traveled to Italy and Asia, and was invited by the Greek government to spend some time with Mr. Boutari, owner of Boutari Wines, to learn about Greek grapes and wine. Ignatow has owned Hyde Park Gourmet Food & Wine for 12 years.
"We have a long history of serving specialty food and fine wine," she says. "Our customers are very appreciative of good value wines: With the wines I sell here, I can really cater to the casual wine novice or the serious collector.
Ignatow says now that the weather is warming up, people are starting to look for more white wines that are light and refreshing, whereas in the winter they look for heavier reds to accompany winter meals. She's also seen some very good Spanish, Greek, and Argentinean wines grow in popularity. She feels that these trends echo those nationwide.
Spain is one country Brian Hymel of City Cellars is keeping his eye on. A Cincinnatian since 1970, Hymel has worked in the restaurant business for 15 years, where he gained experience pairing food with wine.
“Someone in Spain is paying attention to what goes in their bottles,” he says. “Red wines coming out of Spain have a remarkable value and stunning quality.”
Hymel says he has seen an increased interest in wine among Cincinnatians. His list of up-and-coming wines includes Malbecs from Argentina and Spanish Albarino wine, named after the type of grape used in production. For summer consumption, Hymel recommends Vino Verde, a wine out of Portugal that’s made from the same Albarino grape but has a lighter taste
He says standard favorites include Pinot Noirs, Pinot Grigios and Chardonnays. Hymel says Reiselings have been popular too, which surprises him because “they are usually the red-headed step-child of wines.”
“Personally, I’m a huge fan of Rose,” he adds. “People don’t appreciate them. They see pink and they think sweet. Not all Rose is sweet.”
City Cellars has close to 500 different types of wine, 99% of which Hymel has said he’s tasted. He says he has customer favorites, like Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, as well as more unique brands. Hymel also keeps a center island stocked with “everyday favorites”—bottles of wine that taste good and are a good value.
“We cater to the influx of residents moving into downtown,” Hymel says. “People stop in after work to taste some wine and wait out the heavy traffic, or they pick up a bottle for dinner. Mostly we see people who enjoy wine and want a good bottle at a fair price.”
One of the only fine wine stores in the downtown area, Shawn and M.J. Donovan opened the store in July 2006. The couple had bought the building to accommodate M.J.’s law practice, Donovan Law, which still operates next door. During early renovations, they found a cellar filled with old garage parts. The couple figured that since the building had a cellar, that section could easily operate as a wine store.
Now, Hymel seems to fit in quite nicely with his new surroundings. He hosts a popular Tuesday night wine tasting for an average 40-50 visitors ranging from a regular group of college students to out-of-town corporate employees in Cincinnati for an extended stay.
Guy Discepoli of Piazza Discepoli Wine Merchants echoes Hymel's and Ignatow's thoughts that great valued Spanish and Portuguese wines are increasing in popularity, as well as wines coming out of the South America area. Although, “California wines still represent the bulk of our sales: That’s what people are comfortable with.”
Discepoli says that while he thinks the trends in wine still happen on the coasts and filter in, he does agree that Cincinnatians’ interest in wine has grown.
As far as reds, he says Pinot Noirs are still a strong seller in his shop, and is seeing more people drawn to red blends, like a Shiraz. In whites, he says Chardonnays are still the most popular, followed by Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Grigios.
Discepoli grew up working in his father’s pharmacy, Discepoli Drugs, where he added a wine section in the store. In 1975, he dropped out of school to travel to Europe with Piazza, where they both got bitten by the wine bug.
“I went over there and saw it was a way of life for Europeans,” says Discepoli. “Different than what I saw in the US.”
Once he returned home, Discepoli headed west to Arizona and California, where he worked for wine distributors and did restaurant consulting, and spent some time in Florida working for an importer.
“I certainly got an education,” he says of his travels, “all with the intent of coming back here.”
Meanwhile, Piazza worked in banking on the East Coast. The two returned to Cincinnati 1988 and opened Piazza Discepoli Wine Merchants in College Hill the following year. A store in Madeira followed, then one in White Oak. The pair then partnered with Steve Dinnerstein to open their fourth store in Glendale.
“Between the three of us combined, we have over 50 years experience in the industry,” Discepoli says. “We taste everything before we buy it. And we ask enough questions [of the customer] to find out what wine they want.”
Wine stores featured in this article:
Hyde Park Gourmet Food & Wine
2707 Erie Avenue, 513-533-4329, Hyde Park
City Cellars
908 Race Street, 513-621-9463, downtown Cincinnati
Piazza Discepoli Wine Merchants
5901 Hamilton Avenue, 513-681-8466, College Hill
7754 Camargo Road, 513-561-6956, Madeira
5872 Cheviot Road, 513-923-1300, White Oak
23 Village Square, 513-771-6611, Glendale
Christine Mersch is the author of Cincinnati Police History, Cincinnati Bengals History, Delhi: Cincinnati’s Westside, Price Hill, and Norwood.
Photography by Scott Beseler
All photographs taken on location at City Cellars