We tasted American wine history at The Skeleton Root (38 McMicken Ave., Cincinnati; 513-918-3015; skeletonroot.com), a micro-winery in the Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. From the 1830s into the 1860s, Cincinnati was America’s wine country. Pioneer vintner Nicholas Longworth was shipping sparkling Catawba all over the world as the American riposte to champagne. And a good bit of it was being sold in Paris.

Catawba?

Over the years, we’ve been served some truly awful wine made from Catawba grapes. The native American green grape is vitis labrusca—the foxy cousin of the European vitis vinifera wine grapes. Since Longworth’s winery folded in 1870 (seven years after his death), most American winemakers have used Catawba in icky sweet wines with a pronounced foxy flavor. Hey, some people like chilly-chilly quack-quack, too.

Skeleton Root owner and winemaker Kate MacDonald has rescued Catawba from a century of ignominious treatment. She went back to the grape’s roots to make a strikingly good “Pet Nat” sparkling Catawba. Longworth’s 150-year-old notebooks gave her the clues. She ferments on the lees in oak casks using wild yeasts. Then she ages the wine. A long time. While slow ripening Catawba has a complex floral nose, it also has a sharp bite after fermentation. After experimenting, MacDonald found it finally reached a balance after three years in the barrel. Skeleton Root also bottles a still version as “Heritage Catawba.”

Tasting room bartender Jay Smith (right) helped us through an informative exploration of the Skeleton Root wines, but the Catawba captured our imagination. Both the still and sparkling versions are full of fruity esters with complex aromas of brioche and wildflowers. The palate is dry and food-friendly tart—a good combination with the charcuterie board served in the tasting room.

MacDonald continues to investigate the possibilities of Ohio winemaking, sourcing most of her grapes from Ohio and Kentucky along the Ohio River. We were especially taken with a soft red called “Teays.” Blended from separately vinified Carignan (a vinifera) and Isabella (a labrusca) grapes, it has notes of ripe strawberry, sufficient tannins to make a good meat and sausage companion, and a fox-free, pleasantly lingering aftertaste of ripe berries.

Skeleton Key, located only a block north of Findlay Market, is open Thursday to Sunday for tastings and sales. Check the website for hours.