Wine Your Way Thru -- Brunswick, OH


Wine Your Way Thru is an event that I see on Facebook year after year so I'm glad that our group of friends was able to select a date and grab tickets this year. The event is held by Mapleside Farms in Brunswick Ohio and requires tickets purchased in advance (and yes, dates do sell out). This year your tickets got you five wine or craft beer samples in a corn maze exclusive to Wine Your Way Thru participants (also known as there were no kids in this adult-only corn maze). The event starts with a scenic hayride to the maze (this is also your first sample stop) and once you're in the maze there are four stations to find throughout. We ended our time in the maze around dusk and headed into Pumpkin Village to split a bottle of wine. Our Wine Your Way Thru tickets were for 5:15 PM on October 19th so the sun set pretty early on our adventure. I would probably pick an earlier time next year so that we could enjoy a little more of Mapleside Farms.

Although there were some hiccups during our visit the majority of us agreed that this was a fun and unique event that we plan to repeat next year. Check out our pros and cons below!

Pros:
  • This is a unique event and once you're in the Wine Your Way Thru Maze there aren't too many people in the beginning of the maze and the event was easy enough to navigate that we weren't frustrated. The maze was not too simple or too difficult to navigate. 
  • The ticket allows for wine or beer samples at each station so you're not tied to one or the other for the entire event (for example, at one station there was a cider which I sampled instead of wine and most of us opted for the dessert wine at the end).
  • Our group of beer and wine drinkers were happy with the samples we received and thought the portions were a good size.
  • The snack box at station two was very much appreciated. And the apple from the orchard was a nice touch. 
  • Purchasing tickets online was easy and we received a discount for purchasing two four-packs of tickets. 
  • The Wine Your Way Thru Maze was kid-free which was appreciated since there are plenty of other family options at Mapleside Farms.
Cons:
  • Parking was a nightmare. There is not nearly enough parking at Mapleside Farms to sustain a busy fall evening (including a wedding) and this event. We managed to snag parking in a nearby business that was closed for the night and others in our group were able to get a spot in the Mapleside Farm lot after circling around the block a few times. For people who are totally unfamiliar with Brunswick, the parking situation was frustrating. Next year we plan to arrive an hour or so before our ticketed time so that we can take our time parking before splitting a bottle of wine.
  • Directions were unclear. I read several times on Facebook and the website that there was a separate ticketing line for Wine Your Way Thru participants. If it existed we couldn't find it and ended up spending quite a bit of time in the general admission line (which was packed). If there is already a separate ticketing window it should be made more clear and if there isn't there should be to help both lines move more smoothly. It was also unclear where we needed to access the hayride to start the Wine Your Way Thru maze since there were multiple hayrides going on simultaneously. A member of our group commented that all of the chaos made the event less fun for her. 
  • Disorganization. Some friends thought that the chaos at times made it difficult to enjoy the event since there was so much going on at Mapleside Farms and then what was perceived as a lax checking of wristbands in the maze since the staff was stretched too thin due to everything going on at the locations. This was also an issue at the end of the maze since most patrons didn't then exit the maze to head to Pumpkin Village which made the last station a little difficult to access.








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