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Winery lets farm market shoppers unwind
Canfield
A Green Township winery offers a convenient and elegant place to dine and unwind after shopping for fresh locally grown produce this fall at nearby farm markets in southern Mahoning County.
The Diletto Winery, 9182 Youngstown Salem Road (U.S. Route 62), stands out as a local landmark in a colonnaded building directly across from White House Fruit Farm, which is among the area’s best-known and busiest farm markets.
Built about 1930, the winery building originally was a country inn that accommodated overnight guests.
Specializing in fruit wines and owned by Jacqueline and Gary Shell, Diletto is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and 1 to 11 p.m. Saturdays.
Diletto is the Italian word for hobby, explained Jacqueline Shell, who also works as a per-diem hospice nurse.
Her husband, Gary, who is the establishment’s full-time wine maker, was previously a truck driver and served 23 years in the Army National Guard.
“Most of our friends had tried our homemade wine and really liked it and wanted to buy it and buy it for their friends,” Jacqueline Shell said, explaining how she and her husband got into the winery business.
“I hope that they feel that we’re sort of a casually sophisticated place to enjoy a different glass of wine,” she said of her establishment’s customers. “We’re a departure from traditional wineries. We’re more experimental,” she added.
“I want you to come in and feel like you don’t have to leave. You’re not getting rushed out the door, and I hope that you enjoy everything that we make, or that you try,” her husband said.
No grapes are grown on the winery’s premises, but Diletto uses locally-grown fruit in its products.
All alcoholic beverages sold at Diletto are made on the premises.
Among the winery’s activities are “sip and paint” classes, wine-making classes, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support classes, chair massages, murder mystery dinners and salsa dancing nights. It features live music every weekend, and it has no cover charge.
Carol Riley and her friend, Vera Sobotka, both of Salem, were among 17 participants in a recent sip and paint class.
“It’s small. It’s quaint. Gary and Jacqueline are wonderful people. Gary’s an awesome painter,” Riley said of Diletto and its owners.
“It’s fun. It’s a good time to get together with friends, and we have a beautiful picture when we’re done,” Riley said.
Riley was attending her third sip and paint class at Diletto and Sobotka, her second. Both enjoyed peach brandy as they painted.
“I try to make it as fun as I possibly can, but I make it educational,” Gary Shell said of the beginner-level sip and paint classes he teaches. “They love to paint bright-colored stuff, landscape paintings and flowers,” he said of participants.
“It’s got a nice atmosphere. It’s comfortable,” Sobotka said of the winery. “I’m trying to do one for my office,” she said of the painting she would produce at the class.
Another feature of Diletto is escape rooms, where willing participants are locked in a room and challenged to use clues to solve puzzles before time runs out as they compete with their friends, family members or co-workers.
“It’s basically an interactive game, where you and your friends are locked in a room for 60 minutes to solve all manner of clues, puzzles and riddles to figure out the code that unlocks the door,” Jacqueline Shell explained.
The winery, which opened in June 2014, features two fireplaces and an outdoor deck.
The winery accommodates private functions, such as bachelorette and birthday parties, and bridal and baby showers.
Bus tours and charter buses also stop at Diletto.
The winery features craft wines, hard cider, brandy, many sangria flavors and many non-alcoholic drinks. “On any given day, we have six or more types of sangria,” Jacqueline Shell said. “We create a lot of cocktails that are made with wine, too,” she added.
The establishment’s fruit wine flavors include blueberry, banana, strawberry, cranberry, blackberry and raspberry.
Diletto’s menu includes cheese plates, baked brie, slider sandwiches, gourmet pizzas and seasonal desserts.
“Culinary tourism, which includes wineries, craft breweries and places like that, is very hot right now,” said Linda Macala, Mahoning County Convention and Visitors Bureau director, explaining the proliferation of wineries in recent years in Northeast Ohio, including the Mahoning Valley.
“People are interested in the experience they get when they go to a winery, when they can sit down and do tastings of multiple wines,” Macala added.
“People aren’t spending the money on long, extensive, exotic vacations, so they’re going to things like wineries and breweries,” not far from their homes, she explained.
“There’s definitely a solid business foundation to it. People enjoy a glass of wine. It’s an affordable luxury,” Jacqueline Shell said. “It’s a big industry for tourism in Ohio,” she added.
Starting a winery requires a large initial investment in wine-making equipment, including tanks, pumps and lab equipment, said Gary Shell, whose establishment is one of seven Mahoning County wineries.
The number of Ohio wineries has quadrupled from about 50 in 2008 to more than 200 today, Gary Shell noted. However, he added that he believes the market will eventually reach saturation.