Ohio’s Country Journal MID-OCTOBER 2006 15 ROPS Ohio wine pioneerC seeks regional “terroir” BY MATT REESE from a desk job to a grape farmer/wine “Terroir” is a French term used to maker required an understanding of describe how the unique characteristics the basics of wine making. of a region — the soils, climate, altitude “I decided I wanted something good and other factors — express themselves to drink with my meals, and the most through the wines produced. Every important variable in good wine pro- region (and every vineyard within a duction is the grape variety,” he said. region) has a different terroir, and from “The second most important variable is the California coastline to the ancient the climate — vineyards always do best vineyards of Europe, each place is by big bodies of water because they known for its own unique terroir. moderate the climate. The third vari- The eastern United States has been able is the soils — the heavier soils we known for many things through the have give you a high sugar content, years, but traditionally, wine terroir more intense flavor and bigger bodied was not one of them. Since 1968, how- wines. Fourth is the wine maker — his ever, Arnie Esterer has been working to job is to keep all of those good qualities change that in northeast Ohio, and is in the wine.” gradually succeeding in his effort. Frank’s methods had proven that Ohio has always been a good place growing vinifera was possible on the to grow grapes, particularly Concords right kind of site. After some research, for making juice. But the Vitis vinifera Esterer determined that a site in the grapes, such as Riesling, Chardonnay northeastern tip of Ashtabula County, Since 1968, Arnie Esterer has been working to grow Vitis vinifera grapes, such as Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot and Pinot Noir used for making top- near the shore of Lake Erie, would be Noir used for making top-quality wine. quality wine around the world never the best vineyard site in the region. He had much success in the harsh climate bought some property in Conneaut “We do different combinations of After a season of planting, pruning through the early 1900s. In 1951, how- with Tim Hubbard, a business partner, scion grafts and rootstocks,” he said. and fending off pests and disease, the ever, Konstantin Frank, a wine grower and Markko Vineyard was born. “The rootstock must be compatible roughly month-long grape harvest peri- for the dukes and commissars of “At that time, a lot of people in with the scion and the soil. The scion od gets started in late September or early Russian, came to the United States Ohio were making wine, but we came has to be compatible with the climate. October. Esterer has a crew of eight to 15 preaching his message about how in and planted real wine grapes, no If any of those things are off, it employees on hand for harvest. vinifera wine grapes could be produced one else was doing that,” he said. won’t work.” “We pick the grapes, press them and in the eastern U.S. climate. “We started out by planting 1 acre There was a steep learning curve for let the juice settle for clarity. Then we “Dr. Frank said that, ‘Americans of grapes a year for 10 years, and Esterer in the early years of Lake Erie put it into barrels and forget about it should drink the best wines and you we had to replant 1% to 2% every year wine production as he faced a wide for two years. After that we taste all the can, if you do as I do,’” Esterer said. due to losses. Vineyards are very labor range of challenges. barrels — every barrel is different. We “He worked with cooperators around intensive and it costs $10,000 to $15,000 “In this region, winter survival is pick out the best barrels to blend, then the eastern U.S. to show them how to per acre for grape establishment. Then our No. 1 challenge. Because of that, we let them marry, and we bottle the grow the vinifera varieties.” it takes five years until you harvest the some years we’ll produce 80 tons of wine and age it for another six As Frank’s message was spreading first grapes.” grapes and some years we’ll produce 4 months,” Esterer said. “We usually westward, Esterer was involved in a To successfully grow grapes in the tons,” he said. “We have to deal with make about 25,000 bottles a year that career as an industrial engineer in Ann northeast Ohio climate, Esterer has to winter loss, any spring frosts, bird we sell over the following three years Arbor, Mich., and ready for a change. use rootstocks using grapes native to damage and diseases, then we get or so.” Frank’s wine production in New York’s the region. Then the vinifera scions are what’s left.” climate intrigued him, but the switch grafted onto the native roots. continued on the next page

Linda Frisbee has been working with Esterer for many years. She helps taste the wine to determine which barrels After more than 30 years of hard work, Esterer has built up a reputation for quality wines from his vineyard. should be used together for blending a great wine. From page 15 from his vineyard, even rivaling The aging process the fermenting wines produced in other parts of wine goes through makes each the country. Some of Esterer’s bottle unique. wines command more than $30 “The way the wine ages is very a bottle. important. It is changing all the “We saw early on that we could time because it’s a living thing,” do well with Riesling and Chardonnay. Esterer said. “Wines mature like peo- We can make better white wine ple. A 100-year-old wine is like an old than California because they tend gentleman, but that gentleman had to to over-ripen their grapes in have good manners to start with. We their climate,” he said. “These qualities try to let the wines express their of wine are distinctive for each natural personality.” region, and we are in a relatively Esterer works to establish even more new region. We’re still looking for our local flavor in his wines by aging them identity, but we always say that the in oak barrels from trees grown on wine speaks for itself.” the property. In the past few decades, a significant “Wine makers used to tell me that number of wineries have started American oak can’t age good wines, so along the eastern Ohio Lake Erie we make our barrels out of white oak coast, and in recent years, Lake and French oak grown right here,” Erie wines have been showing up Esterer said. “We send the wood to bar- near the top in national and rel makers who let it dry for one to international wine competitions. threee years, make the barrel and then The effort will take time, but Esterer toast the barrel properly before they is hopeful that, as Lake Erie’s own send it back to us.” terroir emerges, the world will take As Esterer’s vines grew in the notice of the region’s maturing lakeside vineyard, so did his wine industry. knowledge and skills as a winemaker. More information about Through the years he has developed Markko Vineyard wine is available his own trellis system and boosted at markko.com. production, but Markko remains one of the smallest wineries in the state. With trial and error, combined Markko Vineyard benefits from with painstaking care both in the the lake effect and the eleva- vineyard and the blending of his tion of its site in the extreme wines, Esterer has built up a northeastern part of Ohio. reputation for quality products

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16 Crops • Ohio’s Country Journal • Mid-October 2006