We are members of an organization called Harvest Hosts. For a yearly fee, we get access to a list of farms, wineries, and agri-tourism sites that will allow us to park for a night on their property. There is no fee to stay, but the expectation is that we will buy some of whatever they are selling. (This is no hardship when staying at a winery.)

Our first Harvest Host visit was at the Buccia Vineyard near the little town of Conneaut, Ohio, just half a mile from Lake Erie. When we got there, I was a little disappointed. I don't know exactly what I had expected, but it wasn't parking on a stretch of grass next to a gravel driveway.


As it turns out, the visit far, far exceeded my highest expectations. It ranks high on my list of Cool Experiences in Quirky Places.

Forty-one years ago, Fred Bucci was working for AT&T* and hating his job. A coworker asked him, "If you feel like this about your job now, how do you think you'll feel in 10 years?" Fred thought about it and didn't like the answer, so he quit his job, and he and his wife, JoAnna, bought land and planted grape vines. Three years later, they had their first harvest and opened Buccia Winery, where they've been making wine ever since.

In the backyard, basically.

This is not your typical winery tour. You just wander out back and see what Fred happens to be doing. When we were there, he was cleaning the press (shown here disassembled). He showed us the other equipment as well, including an oversized plastic baseball bat that he says is perfect for dislodging clogs in the crusher.


Most of this year's crop is already in and fermenting in the blue plastic barrels you see below. When the temperature drops to freezing, Fred moves the barrels into the garage. No showy wine cellars here.


Joanna, meanwhile, staffs the tasting room and manages the bed-and-breakfast that they opened 27 years ago—in a building that Fred designed and built himself, adding to it over the years. It's totally charming: every room is different (JoAnna invited us to see them all), and each has its own patio under a grape arbor. I felt the need to sit under each arbor and enjoy the ambiance for a while.


JoAnna and Fred gave us the run of the grounds and invited us to help ourselves to grapes from the pergola outside the tasting room. Then they retired to their house on the grounds and we to our nest on wheels with a view of the vineyard.

Napa Valley winery tours are great, but give me Buccia Vineyard any day!

Photos

Did I mention we had a view of the vineyard?

Ours was not the only nest in the vineyard.

The tasting room

Enjoying my morning coffee in the vineyard

One of the guest-room patios

Another guest-room patio

Fred, the only time we saw him without a cigarette.

*At least, I think it was AT&T. It was some big, well-known company, at any rate.