Laleure Wines

The wines we make at Laleure all come from grapes grown on the property. Growing our own grapes enables us to control all aspects of quality from the ground into the bottle. The wines we make are truly representative of the local terroir and of our northeast Ohio location. In fact, the perhaps surprising success we have had growing even the sensitive Pinot Noir grape is becoming more well known, and is becoming a specialty of our region. After all, northeast Ohio falls within "The Pinot Belt" which is a latitude band around the globe that also extends to other great pinot regions including The Burgoyne in France and The Willamette in Oregon

Red Wines

Cabernet Franc

Laleure's Cabernet Franc is the favorite for lovers of big,bold red wines. Red fruit tones such as cherry permeate the bouquet, with some blue fruit tones underneath. Our cab franc is typically aged in american oak barrels for 12+ months, but we like to let the grapes from each vintage tell us how they should be treated.

Pinot Noir

Laleure Pinot is changing as we move towards new winemaking techniques. We continue to strive to maintain a strong presence of fruit, typically bright cherry, currant, and others depending on the year. It is aged in tight grained French oak barrels using a custom toasting profile optimized for the style wine we love.

Chambourcin

Chambourcin is a French-American varietal. It is one of the first grapes we planted at Laleure because it is well known for its winter hardiness, and it has lived up to those expectations. Laleure makes a dry red and a rosé version of our Chambourcin. The red wine maintains a purplish hue reminiscent of Grenache with berry fruit tones on the nose and palate. Following the southern Rhone valley comparisons, we strive for a lightly colored rosé similar to those of Provence.

Red Blends

Nine Bridges Red

Laleure Nine Bridges Red is our house, entry-level, red blend. The current release is a blend of Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc, but each iteration may include some adjustments. The blend is chosen from aged contents to be softer and easy to drink, yet it maintains a strong presence of red and blue fruit. It is typically aged in oak barrels using a custom toasting profile optimized for the style wine.

Paradox

Laleure Paradox is a blend of our best red wines. A blend that includes all of the red grape varietals grown on the estate. It may be aged in both American and French oak barrels but more recent iterations of this blend have leaned towards a lighter, fruitier style, based on the quality of our recent vintages! The name arises from the blend of wines originating from both the Bourgogne and Bordeaux regions of France.

White Wines

Chardonnay

Laleure makes a wide variety of chardonnays. They are typically aged in French oak barrels using a custom toast profile. Some of our Chardonnays are made by the sur lie method, fermented and aged in French oak barrels. For most vintages we bottle a portion of our Chardonnay without aging in oak for our customers who prefer the crisper flavor and mouthfeel of aging in stainless steel. Green apple, pineapple, honey, and other tropical fruit are common sense markers in our Chardonnay. If you are a fan of Chardonnay, stop into our tasting room to go through our different styles! We recommended serving our barrel-aged Chardonnay between 55° and 60°.

Riesling

Riesling at Laleure is a favorite. Lots of fruit, honey, tart apple, and pear depending on the vintage! Typically, our Riesling is made in a semi-dry style. Each year as our vines mature and our winemaking techniques improve we are able to reduce our residual sugars to lower values, yet maimntain a very balanced profile.

Sauvignon blanc

Our most recent planting of new vines was Sauvignon Blanc - furthering our relationship with the Loire Valley, our namesake. With young vines and only a few vintages under our belt, we are still learning what Laleure Sauvignon Blanc will ultimately be. Come join us on that journey!

Vignoles

Our Vignoles is preferred by customers seeking a crisp white wine. It is well balanced, crisp, and with acidity that renders a definite note of grapefruit at the finish. Vignoles is a versatile grape. We have experimented with multiple different winemaking styles for this grape including ice wine, skin-fermented (orange) wine, and hop-infused wine. Upcoming vintages will be returning to the style many of our customers learned to love, and maybe a little something for those preferring a sweeter style of wine.
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Three Dog White

Laleure Three Dog White is the most popular semi-dry white wine at Laleure. It is crisp with significant fruit overtones of citrus fruit and pineapple. Laleure Three Dog White is a blend primarily made from Vignoles and Bianca grapes. It is blended to be a bit softer than the Vignoles by controlling the level of the Bianca grape which imparts softness and reduces the high acidity of the Vignoles making for a very approachable, easy-to-drink white wine blend.The grapefruit tones from the Vignoles still permeate the taste profile, but with a lighter touch!

Bianca

Bianca is a lesser known Hungarian grape with some aromatic qualities that was developed in 1963. At Laleure,we primarily used Bianca as a blend grape for our Nine Bridges White, but have started bottling it as a single varietal in recent vintages. The decision has been a hit with our customers! A very easy-drinking wine for our porch on those hot summer days and nights!