Dr. Frank Winery

Grapes of Frank

Worth visiting just for its history alone

Dr. Konstantin Frank’s legacy of producing award-winning bubbly continues 50 years later

This winery has not only been passed down through three generations, but its great history is a favored story to tell for its owners.  When Dr. Konstantin Frank and his family fled the World War II-scarred Ukraine in 1951 with little more than the clothes on their backs, the eastern American wine industry had many years yet to see the fruits of its labor. At that time, U.S. industry experts didn’t believe that the fine European wines from the vitis vinifera plant could be produced because of the harsh winters. Up until then only the native wild grapes, called vinis labrusca, and some French hybrids, a cross between the wild and European grapes, flourished naturally.

Creating eastern house wines

Prior to his arrival, Dr. Frank, a PhD in plant science and a specialty in viniculture (growing grapes) had taught at the University of Odessa in Ukraine. His thesis: how to grow grapes in a cool climate. “He had the perfect background when he came to New York back in 1951 to create a renaissance in the eastern wine industry,” says Frederick Frank, Konstantin Frank’s grandson who now runs the family business in Hammondsport, NY. And did he ever make an impression, although, not at first. He spoke five languages, but English was not among them. When he heard about the Geneva experiment station at Cornell University, he got a job as a menial worker. The researchers didn’t really believe his theories but nevertheless it was a foot in the door that led him to a wine conference where he met Charles Fournier, a celebrated French-trained wine-maker at Goldfield Winery. Back then, Goldfield Winery was New York’s premiere winery and Fournier wanted nothing more than to work with grapes from his beloved homeland in France. At this meeting, Dr. Frank seized this opportunity to bend Charles’ ear and, in French, he explained his cool climate grape-growing theories and Charles hired him on the spot as the director of research at Goldfield Winery. It took a determined Dr. Frank only a decade to reverse three hundred years of failure.

Challenging cooler climate

In the early stages, there were three major obstacles which Dr. Frank had to overcome. Interestingly, he was among the European scientists who resolved the problem of insect pests which were accidently shipped to Europe in earlier 1900s and ultimately devastated vineyard crops. By grafting the wild American variety as a root stock they managed to join it with the European stock so it was resistant to the pests. “We also have fungus diseases that are native to the United States that are particularly devastating to the European vines that didn’t evolve in this climate, which were combated with fungicides,” the current family winery owner explains. “The third obstacle was the cold winters and that was alleviated by picking sites along the shoreline of very deep Finger Lakes in up state New York,” he says. But Dr. Frank’s original plantings of cool climate grapes namely: Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet-Sauvingon and the exotic Rkatstieli not only thrived but also formed the basis for New York’s world class wines and champagnes.

The lake effect

Fruits of labor

The wine-making business can be a fickle one because it is so reliant on the weather. In the current state of the economy, even Dr. Frank’s and its sister winery, Chateau Frank Champagne Cellars, have felt an impact on their bottom line. Even still, the family winery has vowed to present better quality wines to its consumers, lowered prices and an expanded lower-value line called Salmon Run from younger vineyards or purchased grapes from the area. “Our premium line called Dr. Konstantin Frank—which come primarily from our old vine estate vineyards—these older vines produced better quality but the downside is that the yield is lower, increasing the cost of production so, price is higher,” says Frank. “Our sister winery produces a sparkling variety in which a French technique borrowed from the Champagne district is used—methode champanoise –fermentation happens in the bottle,” explains Frank.

Smells of sweet success linger in the air

What really has staff excited about this year is the new dessert wine made from Riesling raisin grapes. “The German consider this the ultimate quality wine; they call it “trocken beeren auslese”, which translates to dry berry select harvest,” explains Frank, adding the 2008 will be released this all. “Basically, it’s wine made from raisins… there isn’t really much juice but once squeezed out it produces a nectar of the gods,” he tells. The first time Dr. Frank produced this wine in 1962 it was the first ever in the United States. “It’s the kind of wine we can’t make every year because the conditions have to be just right; the right amount of moisture, humidity and rain,” says Frank. While the family winery has made ice wines in the past, Frank explains that it is difficult because the conditions have to be exact. Admittedly, he says, Canadians do have an advantage in that respect. “But we can alternatively produce an abnormal rot which produces raisins that are hand-picked, so with not grapes,” he says adding the family winery believes they have a good chance of winning many awards with their hard-pressed raisins.

Solid foundation of knowledge gives an added-value

Frank’s father, Willy, surprised the industry in the late 1980s with the release of its exquisite wine made at his very own Chateau Frank. Since then, the family wineries’ popularity and flavours of golden awards have caught the attention of national US media including, Food Network, Time, NBC Today, Bloomsberg.com, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times Review. The Wine Spectator even induced Dr. Frank into its own Hall of Fame in 2001. Any signs of a secret family equation to success clearly point at Dr. Frank’s scientific background plus his knowledgeable staff of international experts –all with degrees in viniculture like the founder –and the family’s involvement in the business. To the winery family and their expert staff, wine making is truly a blend of art and science. “My father Willy wanted me get other experience first, which I did; I went to other wineries to work for 13 years,” tells Frank. “He had a European saying that you need to learn how to shave on another man’s beard. It was his way of saying you need to learn and grow in order to give back to business,” says Frank who is often asked to speak at industry conferences on the subject of New York’s vinifera and its prized Rieslings.

Now he has become the expert –evidently, it’s a trait that runs in the family.

Mission passed down the family tree

Frank carried on the missionary work that his grandfather and Fournier did when adding the vinifera to existing native and hybrid vines in the Finger Lakes area. When he joined the family winery in 1993 as president he had many ideas, and contributed toward increases in quality and production. Dr. Frank’s legacy carries on through the generations in his family, whose only hope is that Frederick Frank’s son Kyle will be the next owner in the family tree.

Selected wine list

Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling 2007

Dr. Konstantin Frank Semi Dry Riesling 2007

Dr. Frank’s Gewurztraminer 2007

Dr. Frank’s Pinot Noir 2007  ~Cornell University study says it is the healthiest wine see story**

Chateau Frank Célèbre Rosé

Dr. Konstantin Frank Wine Cellars and Chateau Frank Champagne Cellars is staffed with international experts from Germany, Australia, California and other parts of Europe. For more information on shipping and distribution, please visit www.drfrankwines.com . Most wines are available in selected locations across the US, as well as Ontario Canada, and will be distributed for the first time in Europe at the German Wine Show.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg | NewsVine | Mixx | FaceBook | Twitter