Hog Dog

This winery was a bad experience. They had a lot of wine. You walked around and tried anything that you wanted. Some of the wine wasn't that bad. I tried one wine and it tasted awful, they had a pumpkin wine with water that they were rinsing out but had it out for people to try.Then we purchased a couple of bottles. We got home and realized he gave us someone else's wine. It wasn't even our wine.I'm not sure if this place is still in existence.

One of our favorite restaurant's, Hog's Head, mentioned in a Facebook ad that they were doing a wine tasting of Hog Dog during their Wednesday Wine special. I love Wine and I love Hog's Head so I knew we had to go. I remember reading an article in the paper prior regarding the opening of Hog Dog so I was excited to give them a try!The delightful owner was at a booth with some of his signature flavors: tomato, cherry, pomegranate and more. Everything was amazing! So unique and worth the visit. He makes the more traditional flavors as well, but I think he has something going with a lot of these off-the-wall flavors. Best thing about the business is him. You can tell he is a genuine Pittsburgh guy so has a true love for the craft of wine making. This is a hobby turned into a business and you can see that just by speaking with him. His creativity totally shows! I've yet to visit the actual winery due to limited hours, but I'm excited to pick up a few bottles!

My husband and I love wine tasting. We've found many excellent wineries in Ohio, western Virginia, the New York Finger Lakes, Spain, and the Pittsburgh area. We're always looking for more interesting places with great wine. This place is definitely not one of them! The tiny tasting room, about the size of an office waiting room, and with even less atmosphere, is only open twice a week, and we visited on a Saturday afternoon. I'd been looking forward to it because of some nice articles when they were first opening (we like dogs, and thought it was rather charming that the winery was named after their dog who passed away), and because there were so many different wines. The fact that 35 wines were listed on the website should have been a warning, but we were curious. So coming in, it was empty, except for the owner. You know how when you do a tasting, they pour you the wine you request and try to tell you a little about it? Not here! He just sat in his chair and said, go ahead and sample any of the bottles, pouring your own, using those little plastic cups, the kind you get with a bottle of Nyquil (another warning). The bottles were on a shelf that circled the room, as well as more shelving, and a high table in the middle. We had lots of questions about this unconventional setting, and he answered them as if he was on auto-pilot. He gets grapes from California, Chile, and the Lake Erie region, and has been making wine as a hobby for quite a while. So, alright, we thought, let's taste some wine! OMG. It honestly was the worst wine we've ever tasted. I do realize that taste is subjective, but do you like a nice Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, or Saugivnon Blanc? Or a good fruit wine? No resemblance whatsoever, except to each other. With so many types, it was expected that there wouldn't be a lot of difference in taste, and there wasn't. Quite a few were exceptionally bad, though. My husband spit one back in the cup, and said it tasted like rubbing alcohol. It did. The owner shrugged, and said some people have different taste. Yes, but generally people like wine that tastes good. Along with a couple others, I tried the Tomato and Banana wines out of curiosity, and can confidently say that the reason he is the only one in Pittsburgh who makes these wines is that you simply should never try to make wine out of bananas and tomatoes. Trying to find something decent, I poured wine from another bottle, and was dismayed that what came out with the wine was a whole bunch of little fruit flies. Yuck! When I told him, he was unconcerned, didn't even remove that bottle. I picked it up and put it on the desk in front of him. I thought, well, maybe that's a one off, and poured another. More fruit flies! Disgusted, we couldn't go on. After tasting quite a few wines, we felt like we should be polite and buy something, and they are all quite inexpensive, only $10. So we bought the blueberry, the least distasteful of the about 10 wines we tried between the two of us. After getting it home, we don't know if we'll have the courage to open it, and might just throw it away. I do feel sorry to write this unflattering review---I've never written a bad review---but I feel there is a purpose. First, it's a warning---if you are used to tasting quality wines, you will not like this place. You have to make an effort to go out Spring Garden Rd. on a Saturday he is open (I guess they do festivals sometimes), and you will regret that you made that effort. Second, I, in all sincerity, would suggest that they stop making wine. Or at least, if they enjoy that hobby, stop trying to sell it to the public. It's either insulting, or they are very naive, to think Pittsburghers don't know good wine. I initially gave them 1 star, but then felt bad, so I gave them 2 stars for effort. But please, that effort, time and energy could be better expended in another, entirely different, direction.

Great winery in Reserve township! Ed, the owner has been making wine forever and is super knowledge about wine making. The tastings were awesome. So many varieties that you will not be disappointed! My favorites include the banana, elderberry, tomato and watermelon. What a great evening sampling wines! All varieties are for sale in bottles to purchase too!