Anthony Nunes Insana is moving on up. The owner of Vino Veritas Cellars uprooted his 500-square-foot basement winery in Little Italy last fall and reopened as Vino Veritas in June with a 2 1/2-acre urban vineyard in Old Brooklyn. “I’ve got over 1,000 square feet for winemaking now,” he says. “There are lots of options for growth.” Although he currently crafts six varietals of wine using mostly California grapes, he’s already set up trellises and will plant vines in the spring that will produce grapes in three to four years alongside a bocce court, butterfly garden and a 96-by-30-foot greenhouse where guests can taste Insana’s creations alongside cheese plates and wood-fired pizzas. Try the Cougar Juice ($18 per bottle), a cherry wine that starts with the unmistakable scent of cinnamon (though there’s no cinnamon in it). Don’t mistake this rich organic wine as a dessert-only-option: Insana ferments leftover juice from cherry strudel to create a complex and earthy flavor.
4103 Memphis Ave., Cleveland, 216-650-9877, vinoveritascellarscle.com
Best of Cleveland 2017: Winery Reboot
Why go out to wine country when you could go to Vino Veritas in our own backyard?
