CMH Gourmand – Eating in Columbus & Ohio

Columbus Foodcast, recently sampled a variety of Ohio Wines with the esteemed Andrew Hall of Oinos Nervosa

Andrew does not give away kudos – he is noted for his strong opinions on a number of subjects – including wine. However, he does opine on a few Ohio wines that more than hold their own. In fact there are a handful that kick ass at an affordable price. Our state produced vino can be hard to find (try Weilands and Hills Market). A fun resource for Ohio wines is the Ohio State House. (This is the only instance of state government doing something constructive to support my alcohol purschasing).

I found the Ohio State House Museum Shop has a respectable supply of Ohio wines including Kinkead Ridge a favorite of mine as well as the usual suspects.

I made my first foray on a sunny Saturday in May. There was plenty of metered parking available. I had the Statehouse almost to myself. The building is beautiful inside. The statehouse offers history, art and some interesting people watching (I spied Japanese tourists, lobbyists and politicos lurking around). There are tours available. For the more spontaneous there is a handout with maps of the inside and outside as well as a detailed history of each area of the building. The park / courtyard outside has comfortable benches, trees and open areas to sit and relax. You can make a full downtown day of it by going to the CAPA Summer Movie series across the street the Ohio Theatre.

I bought the Breitenbach because the bottle was so cool.

The gift shop is in the ground floor. More information is available at www.statehouseshop.com

And speaking of Ohio Wines…..

If you want to sample a wide variety of them, the North Market will host the Ohio Food and Wine Festival July 10th, 11th and 12th.