Wine Industry Ripens on Ohio Vines
NORTH KINGSVILLE, Ohio -- Greg Johns reaches into a patch of healthy leaves and produces a cluster of light-green berries the size of pellets. In about 100 days, these small berries will ripen into rich, red grapes ready to harvest and then be processed into cabernet wine.
“It’s all about the vine, the soils and the climate,” says Johns, director of the Ashtabula Agricultural Research Center here on South Ridge Road just west of Conneaut.
Row after row of leafy vines fastened to trellises stretch across five acres at the research center’s 22-acre site here, in a region that has earned a reputation as the heart of Ohio’s wine country.
This area of northeastern Ohio – known to connoisseurs as the “vine and wines” trail – is home to 22 wineries with more on the way. The brush of air from Lake Erie to the north, the area’s soil content, its elevation, as well as its proximity to the Grand River, make this stretch of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties among the best regions in Ohio to grow and experiment with wine-quality grapes.
“Nothing beats a great vineyard site,” Johns says. “Being up here, we have the right soils and the climate.”
Johns should know. For the last 28 years, he’s served as the director of the research center, an extension of Ohio State University established to study and develop efficient methods of growing high-quality grapes in Ohio.
Ohio’s vineyards work at an obvious disadvantage compared to other wine-growing centers of the country, such as California, Johns explains. The main culprit is the cold weather – especially frost – which can destroy budding fruit and ruin an entire crop.
“We’ve had temperatures as low as minus 22.7 degrees,” he laughs. “That’s enough to knock the socks off the high-quality wine varietals such as Riesling, chardonnay and cabernet.”
There’s a science behind building a productive harvest, and the research center is experimenting with new techniques, training methods, grape varieties, wind control, and natural compound additives that could enhance the quality of the wine produced in the state, Johns says. The grapes are then made into wine at the Wooster campus of Ohio State, and the research shared with winemakers throughout the state and the world. “We’re hoping to save them time, help them produce a better quality wine, and get the word out about Ohio.”
The Great Lakes region is especially conducive to grape production in Ohio, Johns reports. In this region, most vineyards are planted on slopes to protect them from deadly frost. Air, just like water, runs downhill, and in the spring and fall seasons, frost has a tendency to settle in low-lying areas.
In the spring, warm air is chilled by a very cold Lake Erie still emerging from a frigid winter, Johns explains. The air moving inland is therefore colder than what it would be 60 or 100 miles to the south. “It helps us because it delays our bud break,” he says, protecting the buds from spring frosts.
In the fall, just the opposite occurs, Johns continues. In the evening, air moving off a warmer Lake Erie also warms the soil inland, buying more frost-free days in the autumn: “It gives us a longer growing season.”
European, or vinifera, grapes such as cabernet franc, Riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot gris are choice bases for high-quality wine, Johns says. “They’re very well respected as a world wine, but they’re very winter tender,” he says. “We’re seeing that we can grow these grapes in Ohio, but there’s special management considerations that we have to take to do it successfully.”
It’s generally much more difficult to grow these kinds of grapes in areas such as the Mahoning Valley, but it can be done, Johns notes. “It gets really cold there,” he says. Often, a grower would need to plant the crops low to the ground – about knee high – and bury the vine’s canes during the winter months and bring them up in the spring.
“You can grow some of the hardier varieties, such as hybrids, and they do very well,” with less attention, Johns adds.
That hasn’t stopped winemakers who grow their own grapes and those who market and develop their specialty wines in the Mahoning Valley.
Eight years ago, the first winery and vineyard in Mahoning County, Mastropietro Winery, opened for business on 52 acres in Berlin Center, says its owner, Dan Mastropietro. “So far, it’s been a good year,” he reports. “When we get a nice Saturday night, we’ll have 300 to 400 people out here.”
Mastropietro has since earned a reputation as a destination spot for out-of-town guests, he says. The winery produces 17 wines, the most recent of which is Mastromiscele, a blend of merlot, cabernet and zinfandel that was introduced last year.
“Our sweet red and white wines are the ones that sell the best,” Mastropietro reports.
And, Ohio wines are starting to catch on across the country. “They’re winning medals in competition out in California, and it’s not just the sweet fruit wine,” he says.
The success of Mastropietro Winery kicked off a trend that has since clustered around the Lake Milton/Lake Berlin area of Mahoning County. In recent years, four new wineries have opened around or near Lake Milton, most of them small, but all of them answering to what they believe is a growing demand among consumers for good wine and the atmosphere it provides.
It’s this concept that helps drive the Ohio wine industry, says Donniella Winchell, director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association. “We’re trying to market these areas as clusters,” she says, knowing that a collection of wineries has much more of a drawing power than stand-alone businesses. “It’s very exciting.”
Wineries have exploded throughout the state within the last decade, Winchell says. “Half of the winemakers in Ohio didn’t exist seven years ago,” she reports. In 2008, for example, there were 144 wineries; today there are 178 with more in various stages of development. “We’re well on our way to 200,” she says.
Ohio’s wine business has helped the travel and tourism industry in the state, bringing new clientele to local bed & breakfast and hospitality businesses.
“A great number of our guests will come here and visit at least one winery,” says Jeannette Petrolia, general manager of The Lodge at Geneva-on-the Lake. Popularity of the local wineries in the Geneva and Grand River region is so great that the resort runs a shuttle service to four of the nearby wineries.
“We’re up to our fourth shuttle,” she says, which run every hour back and forth to the destinations. “Last year was a record year for us, and this year we’re ahead so far.”
Winemakers and wineries in the Mahoning Valley hope that a similar effect could be felt in the Lake Milton region, although on a smaller scale.
“This will be our fourth summer in business,” says Heidi LaPorte, who owns LaPorte Winery in Diamond with her husband, Joe. “We grow some of the grapes, but the dry reds are trucked from California.”
Joe started making wine as a hobby 20 years ago, LaPorte says, and three years ago decided to convert their three-car garage into a small winery that is open Fridays and Saturdays. “We make the wine on-site,” she says, noting that each barrel needs to set a period of two years before it’s served. “We’re not into rushing wine,” she adds.
Since LaPorte opened, the winery is getting requests from Cleveland and Canton, and this area of the county is slowly becoming known for the recent cluster of wine businesses that have opened.
“It’s growing,” LaPorte says. “We have a certain group of regulars, and some new people who are making it a destination area and spending the day. What’s good about it is that we all promote one another.”
The opportunity convinced brothers Ron and Mike Birchak to start their own winery at Lake Milton on land that abuts the Olde Dutch Mill golf course, which they own. The brothers purchased a former church whose congregation had moved plus land on the northern tip of the lake. For three years they didn’t know what to do with it, notes Ron Birchak.
Then, some customers at the golf course suggested that a new winery would complement the area perfectly, so Birchak and his brother renovated the church building and established Halliday’s Winery, which opened last September.
There was just one problem, Birchak recalls. “I didn’t know anything about wine.”
As Birchak investigated the market he found that the demographics fit and decided to contract with Chalet Debbone Vineyards in Madison, where Halliday’s original blends of wine are now made.
“Initially, they recommended just three reds and three whites,” Birchak says. “You’re going to hit 90% of your market that way.”
Birchak reports that three more varieties will be introduced this year, two of which are sweeter wines that he says are driven by market demand.
“One of the cool things about wine drinkers is that they are really into the subtleties of the product,” he remarks.
Other small wineries are following Birchak’s concept, electing not to grow a vineyard, but market wine and sell it in the Lake Milton region.
“We buy the juice from a number of locations,” reports Dale Mills, who with his wife and another couple operate ’Lil Paws Winery at Lake Milton. “Some of it comes from New York,” he says, “but we try to stay as local as possible.”
The business opened in January, and Mills says the winery is starting to attract more customers every week. “It’s able to sustain itself,” he reports, noting that his winery, as do others in the Lake Milton area, offer other forms of entertainment such as live music.
“As a group, we’re trying to promote the Lake Milton area and try to make it a little Geneva,” Mills relates. “If we pull together, we can help each other. It’s worked out very well so far.”
EDITOR's NOTE: This story appears on the front page of the July print edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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