Opening up the area and region to more wine was one of the goals of the first Ohio River Valley Wine Festival Saturday at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Ironton. The event was part of the weekend Iron Furnace Heritage Festival.

Ironton aLive organized the wine festival, and Ironton aLive member Mike Pearson chaired the event. Doniella Winchell, executive director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association, helped out with the event alongside Pearson.

“We have some top-notch wineries from this area here and it seems to be going pretty well for our first event,” Pearson said. “It was a challenge because it’s never been done in this area, but it turned out pretty good.”

Winchell said events such as this are good for a number of reasons.

“These events provide education, with the wineries there up close to teach people how to pronounce certain wines and inform them about the wines, and it gives the consumer an opportunity to talk face-to-face,” Winchell said. “It also gives the wineries a chance to get their products out there to the consumers.”

Winchell said that the Ohio Wine Producers Association is trying to make wine a part of the culture in this part of the country, meaning Ohio and the Midwest, and specifically, the Ohio River Valley, where the American wine industry started.

The wine festival ran from noon-5 p.m. on Saturday, and featured wines from the Merry Family Winery, Valley Vineyards, Meranda Nicon Winery, O’Bannon Creek Vineyard and The Winery at Versailles. Cheese samples from Heini’s, out of Amish Country, were also available.

“This is a happy event,” Pearson said. “And it’s keeping energy within the community.”