Firelands Adventure Tours adds Lake Erie Shores and Islands Wine Trail wineries to tour options

What is it: In an effort to expand guests’ experiences of the wine resources in the area, Firelands Adventure Tours has partnered with the Ohio Wine Producers Association and Sawmill Creek Resort to expand guests’ wine tasting experience. 
 
For the past two years, Firelands Adventure Tours has taken guests on all-inclusive, guided wine tasting tours in Sandusky and in Vermilion. On each tour, guests taste award-winning wines, enjoy paired gourmet snacks, talk with winemakers and staff, and tour production facilities. 

“Our guests rave about their experiences on these tours,” says Dick Ries, one of the owners of Firelands Adventure Tours. “But besides these six wineries, there are a number of other wineries in our area that aren’t represented.”

Ohio Wine Producers Association sponsors the Lake Erie Shores and Islands Wine Trail, which includes 18 wineries in the Firelands area.

“We’ll be adding additional wineries from the Shores and Islands Wine Trail for our guests to enjoy,” Ries says. “We’ve also implemented a more casual guest experience for tasting wine.”

As the new tour rolls out, Firelands Adventure Tours will start out with the wineries they’ve been working with for the past two years, which include three on their East Tour and three on the West Tour routes. Guests will know what wineries they will visit prior to their tour, and as a part of their reservation, guests can request which tour (east or west) they would like to attend.

How to get involved: Sawmill Creek Resort’s lobby will be the pick-up location for this new wine experience. Guests at the hotel have the option to add wine tasting as a part of the options for their stay. Reservations for these tours still can be made at the Firelands Adventure Tours website at www.FirelandsAdventureTours.com.  

For guests’ convenience, there will be two pick up times of 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Guests on the Shores and Islands Wine Tour will spend about 90 minutes at each winery and have the option to order a flight, a glass, or a bottle of the wines they’d like to taste, make their own selections from the winery food menus, and shop at winery gift stores for wines and sundry items, Ries says.

Safe, reliable transportation is provided to and from Sawmill Creek Resort and between wineries.   

Guests still can make reservations for Firelands Adventure Tours’ all-inclusive wine tasting tours, Ries says.

“It’s just that we’re providing guests with an added option to enjoy a casual wine tasting experience in more of Ohio’s wineries,” he says.

The new tour option is scheduled to start in late May and will be announced on the Firelands Adventure Tours website and via social media.