Along the row of eight craft beers at Lager & Vine Gastropub & Wine Bar is something that will get vino lovers talking. The new downtown Hudson restaurant, which opened June 11, is the first in Ohio to try wine on tap.
"It's a nitrous system [a pressurized keg fermented with carbon dioxide], so no air touches the wine until it's poured out of the draft system," says owner Cliff Cravens. "It's the best way to do it, only because there's no way the wine can get tainted."
A keg system eliminates the use of materials such as corks, cardboard boxes and glass bottles, making it more cost effective, says Cravens.
Lager & Vine offers four kinds of wine on tap for $5 a glass: King's
Estate's pinot gris and pinot noir, and Jim Neal Russian River chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. Cravens is expecting to add 12 to 14 varieties as the idea sparks the interest of more local suppliers — he's convinced the concept is going to be the next big thing in Ohio.
"The wine on tap had a bad name because everyone likened it to wine in a box," Cravens says. "It's getting people to try it. Once they try it, they're hooked."
