It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday. A tiny industrial space off Bainbridge Road in Solon is buzzing. About 40 North Coast Wine Club members have arrived with an eagerness to learn about wine and a side dish to share with others. Tom Radu, who started the club in 2011, is there with his business partner, Dave Sabo, to help members through the process.
Sabo welcomes everyone to the winery and explains the tasks for the day. On this day, the group will be bottling sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, traminer from Finger Lakes in New York, and Ohio merlot. Seasoned club members guide new and first-time members into stations and start filling, wiping, corking, sealing and labeling 1,200 bottles of wine. Sabo, who got his enology degree from Kent State University, steps in to troubleshoot any hiccups in the process.
“You visit once, and the second time you are family,” says Radu as he finishes stacking wine glasses on the bar. “That’s what we wanted to create, a community of winemaking people.”
The club is also a fully functioning licensed winery that’s open to the public every Thursday from 4:30 to 8 p.m. It doesn't have a food license, so members always walk through the door with food to share — especially at a bottling event.
“I was just driving down the road and saw the sign,” says Jay Ross, who is an investor in Swirl Wine Bar. “I tasted the wine, liked it, and joined the club,” he continues as he sanitizes a huge stainless steel tank with another member.
Sabo is busy transferring merlot juice from a French oak barrel into a stainless steel tank so it can be bottled. While the juice is flowing, he tends to a small clog on the bottling line, and later teaches a new member how to cork a bottle of wine. Two members are taking turns using a hand corking machine to seal each of the 1,200 bottles, one at a time.
After preparing bottles of “working wine” for members at the bar, Radu points out winemaking awards hanging on the wall, quickly giving credit to Sabo's expertise.
"Once we became a licensed winery, we were able to play in the big leagues," he says. "We started sending bottles out to the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, which is the Super Bowl of wine competitions. We got golds and double golds. We’ve done very well with our wines.
"I’ve been making wine all my life,” says Radu who learned from his Romanian father.
Many friends wanted to learn how to make wine. That’s how Radu got the idea for the club. To join, each member pays $275 per year, which includes a mixed case of red wine. Future wine purchases are discounted 15%. Sabo and Radu host blending and sensory seminars, live music and summer parties along with long weekend trips to various wine regions.
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Between tasks this Saturday morning, Sabo is handing out samples of wine. The sauvignon blanc and traminer are refreshing and quite good. The Chilean cabernet, which took home a double gold award from San Francisco, is exceptional. he most unusual is the appassimento.
"We are the only winery in Ohio that makes an appassimento-style wine," says Sabo.
The club's version is a bordeaux-style using cabernet, merlot and cabernet franc grapes purchased from Debonne Vineyards. After harvest, the grapes are dried on bamboo mats, in the same way it is done in Northern Italy. This process concentrates the flavors of the wine.
"It’s superb," Sabo proudly adds.
The quality of the wine is what attracts people to the winery in Solon. The friendship, and a few glasses of “working wine" is what keeps them coming back.
Email me at philyourglass@gmail.com with any wine questions and follow me on Instagram @pmasturzo_philyourglass.