We're Wild About Wine!!

Kate and I and several of our friends attended the Cincinnati Zoo’s Wild About Wine event last Thursday, which happened to be on the same day as my birthday. Coincidence? I don’t think so! I’m sure it was planned especially for me. ;)

As expected, it was a great time!! The Zoo has an entire series of Toast to the Wild events including Zootini, three Wild About Wine events and Zoo Brew. I’ve never been to Zootini or Zoo Brew (not a big martini or beer drinker), but Kate and I attended one of the Wild About Wine events last August and absolutely loved it. Actually, we loved it so much we bought the pass for all three wine events this year, which was less expensive than buying each ticket individually.


Photo from Wild About Wine website

Throughout the park, there are various food stations set up from area restaurants and wine samplings from Krogers and Banfi Vintners. Not only is there great food and wine, there’s also live music, up close animal encounters (I actually got my picture with a bearcat!), and a free wine glass! Now you know why we love it so much! 

I have absolutely no complaints about the wine (which is really the main reason I go), but I will be honest about the food - I was not very impressed. The food last year was more abundant and more easily accessible. They tried a new set-up this year that did not flow as well as last year’s event, and several of the vendors ran out of food before we got to them. 

My favorite food this year was from Butterbee’s American Grille. I’ve never heard of them before, but they definitely got my attention! They served mini pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw and Saratoga chips with barbeque sauce. Delish!! 

We also tried buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese from Keystone Bar and Grill….this was my second favorite. I actually had two servings of this! If you've ever had buffalo chicken dip, it tastes similar to that - but with mac and cheese! Sorry – I didn’t get very many photos, but it was great - take my word for it!

We tried cupcakes from Sweet Peace Bakery. This was my first vegan cupcake experience…and probably my last. I tried the vanilla and thought it tasted like Play-doh. Not good.

The other sweet treat there was Madisono’s Gelato. Thank goodness they did not disappoint and I was finally able to satisfy my sweet tooth! I got the pistachio gelato (which I have purchased at Bigg’s before). This is soooo yummy! It has a little kick to it, but I love the combination of sweet and salty.

The Bistro served a trio of items including a fresh fruit jam tart with honey mascarpone, duck liver mousse, and pork roulade with mustard and red onion marmalade. The fresh fruit tart was very good and so was the pork roulade. The duck liver mousse on the other hand....not so good! I didn't like the texture and it tasted like dirty feet in my opinion....which I may have said a little too loud after a few glasses of wine! I'm pretty sure The Bistro staff heard me say this...but oh well, I'm not sure why they would serve something so "risky" to begin with. They should have expected that kind of reaction with a dish like that at a zoo event!


Remembered to take a picture after already digging in to the fresh fruit jam tart!

There were chicken wings from Mt. Adams Pavillion, which I would have liked to try but they would have been too messy and difficult to eat. Imagine trying to eat a chicken wing while holding a glass of wine, a purse, a plate of food, an event program and a camera...then imagine doing this after about 6 glasses of wine. Not the best choice of items to serve for this type of event.

Other things we didn't try included a large cheese station from Innovations Culinary Company (line was waaaaay too long for just cheese), ZZ's Pizza (they ran out) and Bronte Bistro (never found it).

Even though the food is not the greatest, I would definitely still highly recommend going to the future Wild About Wine events! The wine is really the star, so I would go back for that in a heart beat! And it supports a great cause - the Zoo!

~Kris