Two members inducted into Ohio Wine Producers Association Hall of Fame

COLUMBUS — The Ohio grape and wine community met for their annual meeting Feb. 20-21 where the Ohio Wine Producers Association inducted two luminaries into their Hall of Fame, awarded two scholarships and chose their 2023 board of directors.

Christy Eckstein and Willet “Bill” Worthy were inducted into the Ohio Wine Producers Association Ohio Wine Hall of Fame.

Eckstein is the longtime executive director of the Ohio Grape Industries Committee and recently appointed as the Ohio Department of Agriculture Director of Markets. She began 2001 as a marketer for food and ag products, she was the program assistant for the grape industries and was named OGIC Executive Director in 2017.

Worthy was one of the state’s earliest pioneers and was among the first to believe fine wines could be grown in the Lake Erie region. He founded the Grand River Winery a decade before both the Lake Erie and Grand River Valley AVA’s were even established. In the mid-1970’s, few believed these areas could produce award winning viniferas.

Scholarships awarded

Two scholarships, awarded at the Ohio Wine and Grape conference, in the names of founding members of the OWPA. The first recipients of this scholarship are Arianna Borton, student at Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute, in Wooster, and Kurt Binder, student at Kent State Ashtabula, in Ashtabula.

A silent auction at the Ohio Wine Conference provided funds to make at least three awards in the coming year. Scholarship applications and criteria for students attending an Ohio college or university and expecting to join the Ohio wine community are on line at ohiowines.org.

OWPA Board elected. The Ohio Wine Producers Association elected new board members, including: Brad Indoe, winemaker at Gideon Owen Winery, Port Clinton.

Continuing on the board are: Ed Trebets, Urban Vintner, Willoughby; Eric Cotton, Silver Crest Cellars, Madison; Chad Edwards, Caesar Creek Vineyards, Xenia; Anita Davis, Breitenbach Cellar and Vineyards, Dover; Dustin Heineman, Heineman Winery, Put-in-Bay; Mark Dzobinski, Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard and Winery, Eaton; Joe Glista, The Vineyards at Pine Lake, Columbiana; Joe Juniper, Vermilion Valley Vineyards, Wakeman; and Andy Codispoti, Gervasi Vineyard, Canton.