FRUIT OF THE VINE
Ohio wines are growing in sophistication and reputation. RICH WARREN visited wine country to discover how Ohio State has played a role.
Illustrations by John Schreiner
It’s the spring of 2007. A panel of experts is judging a variety of white wines, vintage 2005. They are especially enraptured by a pinot gris that they describe as “crisp,” “robust,” and “elegant.”
The judging is blind, however, so they have no idea they’re tasting a wine bottled in northeast Ohio using Ohio grapes. When they find out, the shock on their faces is apparent.
Far-fetched? Not really. The 2005 vintage of Ohio wines is expected to be spectacular. And Matthew Citriglia, a master sommelier with Vintage Wine Distributors in Solon, has seen his share of astonished reactions.
“If judges know in advance that it’s an Ohio wine they’re tasting, they invariably will say something like, ‘That’s a fairly good wine for Ohio,’” Citriglia said. “They couldn’t be more condescending.
“But if they don’t know where it’s from, they’ll usually say something like, ‘Wow, that’s a great wine. What is it?’ And when they’re told, they’re stunned. We’re making great wine here, but there’s a real perception against us.”
OHIO EDUCATES ITS PALATE
Gone are the days when Ohio wines were pink fizzy stuff with an unpleasant aftertaste. The state’s reputation has been growing by leaps and bounds since a watershed moment when a 1992 Ohio riesling took a gold medal and was named best of show in a San Francisco contest.
Since then, national medals have been sprouting as fast as Ohio vineyards, and publications such as Wine Spectator, Forbes, and USA Today have published glowing reviews of Ohio wines. Likewise, the number of gold medals has been increasing each year at a statewide competition that judges Ohio wines against one another.
Credit might be given to the rise in the number of Ohio wineries—from 37 as little as 10 years ago to 94 today. Most of them are small-scale, mom-and-pop establishments, but together they’ve put Ohio sixth in the nation in the number of professional vintners. Nowadays there’s a winery within a 45-minute drive of every resident.
And wine makers have been moving away from using the native grapes that are Ohio’s heritage. The sweet grapes are easily grown and create fine juices and jellies, but produce wine many connoisseurs disdain. More and more, local wines are using the prized vinifera grapes grown in France and California. The problem is, the fickle grapes thrive on long seasons of hot, sunny days and cool nights—conditions not always reliable in Ohio.
That’s why Ohio State’s Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster has attracted recognition for its role in bringing Ohio’s grape and wine industry to where it is today. For decades, OARDC researchers have been experimenting to expand the repertoire of grapes that can be grown and not only survive but prosper in the state’s mercurial climate. What’s more, they’ve worked to find viticultural practices that yield harvests large enough to be commercially viable.
Then they’ve taken that knowledge into the field, showing grape growers not only how to make their crops flourish, but how to turn them into award-winning products. “We used to be the red-headed stepchild of U.S. wines,” said Michelle Widner, program manager of the Ohio Grape Industries Committee, “but thanks to OARDC, we’re really starting to move up in people’s estimations.”
GRAPPLING WITH GRAPES
Grapes are notoriously difficult to grow. Vines can take several years to establish themselves, and they are susceptible to fungi and plant diseases like powdery mildew and bunch rot that thrive in Ohio’s humidity. Weeds sap the vigor from the root stock, and insects and other pests take their toll.
And there’s the weather—the harsh Ohio winters that can deliver vine-killing temperatures of -20 or below, and the long periods of spotty summer sunshine that slow the grapes’ ripening. It can take a decade or longer to discover whether a variety of grape can make a go of it in Ohio.
But OARDC has been grappling with grape varieties—and clones thereof—for more than four decades in search of ones that can stand up to the weather. Starting in the 1960s, researchers planted varieties other than the native concord, catawba, and niagara ones that had been the local mainstays. Much of the early work focused on hybrids, as the scientists grafted delicate French vines to hardy, disease-resistant American rootstocks. From there, attention turned to experiments with the vinifera vines that so excite oenophiles.
Sixty-five percent of Ohio’s grape and wine industry is centered around Kingsville, just a few miles from Lake Erie and its moderating climatic influences, so it’s important to find grapes that will thrive in the region. Research-ers at OARDC’s satellite station there monitor crop yields over a number of years before they can be confident a variety is one they would recommend to commercial growers.
Such information is important to the small business enterprises that make up the bulk of Ohio’s wine makers. “None of us has the ability to grow something for years just to see if it will grow,” said Lee Klingshirn of Klingshirn Winery in Avon Lake. “It can take as much as $10,000 to $15,000 of investment per acre, so OSU’s research keeps us from throwing away our money if something doesn’t work.”
These days, thanks to OARDC, Klingshirn and other vintners can make wine from a cornucopia of Ohio-grown grapes. There are the French hybrids such as chambourcin or vidal blanc, and the vinifera wines that have real name recognition among connoisseurs: the rieslings, the chardonnays, the pinot gris and noirs, the cabernet sauvignons. White wines in particular are Ohio’s strong suit, and in good years they go head to head with rivals from all over the country.
“Without question, the work done at Ohio State is responsible for the increased quality of Ohio wines,” said Donniella Winchell, executive director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association. “We’re really starting to come into our own.”
FRUITFUL COLLABORATIONS
OARDC studies go well beyond verifying which grapes grow best in Ohio. Some experiments evaluate the types that will do well on various trellising systems. Others look at how much pruning of leaves and shoots yields optimum results. Researchers analyze the timing of the harvest, and they evaluate how much of the crop should be culled to ensure the remainder produces maximum sugar content.
Improving winter hardiness is vital. Recent successes include the discovery that applying soybean oil to vines can delay bud break until all danger of a late frost is past.
OARDC also collaborates with commercial grape growers to move promising varieties into their own vineyards. Ken Schucter of Valley Vineyards in Morrow has been in business since 1970 and now grows 25 varieties of grapes and produces 18 labels of wine. “When I found out from OARDC that I could grow grapes, it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “I owe all my success to Ohio State. In fact, I think most Ohio wine makers wouldn’t be here today without Ohio State.”
Of course, it’s possible to produce bad wine even from good grapes, and that’s why OARDC also employs enologists to focus on wine making. Todd Steiner chemically analyzes wines for “off” flavors or aromas and suggests various courses of treatment. He may recommend adding sulfur dioxide to increase stabilization and prolong shelf life, or filtering to remove sediment. He might also suggest a secondary bacterial fermentation that lowers acidity and makes wines seem rounder and fuller in flavor.
Steiner goes so far as to analyze each of the more than 200 wines submitted each year to the Ohio Wine Competition, providing invaluable information to vintners on what’s making their product succeed or fail. Their goal—and his—is to produce wine that doesn’t merely taste good, but that also has the complex bouquet and “mouth feel” knowledgeable wine drinkers crave.
THAT SPECIAL SOMETHING
Urban encroachment threatens much of the core grape-growing area near Lake Erie and has led to a new field of study at OARDC: finding regions where grape production can spread. Researchers at a satellite facility in Ripley are studying grapes that would grow well in the Ohio River Valley, returning the state’s industry to its place of origin.
Viticulturist Imed Dami is searching for pockets around Ohio that have microclimates conducive to grape growing. A small site he found in Union County, for example, is sheltered from winter’s blasts by the hills to the north of it; sites to the east and west fare much less well. Such high-potential areas are waiting to be found all over the state, Dami believes.
This bodes well for matters relating to “terroir,” the effect on a wine of the local conditions where the grapes are grown. A single variety might produce wine with a peach-like bouquet if grown in southern Ohio, but with lemony or citrusy qualities if grown in the north, for example. The complexity of Ohio’s wines can only benefit from geographic distribution around the state, Dami says.
That raises the possibility that Ohio can produce wines with a character found nowhere else in the world. Though Ohio is considered a “cold climate” region similar to Germany or northern Italy, the conditions in the state, when at their best, produce wines that combine the “racy acidity and fragrance” of wines from France with the “ripeness and richness” of California wines, said Citriglia, the sommelier at Vintage Wine Distributors.
Instead of emulating other regions, many believe Ohio should embrace what is done well right at home. “We’re Ohio. We’re not the Napa Valley of the East,” said Greg Johns, manager of OARDC’s research center at Kingsville. “We’ve got the potential to make that difference something to be proud of.”
PLENTY OF POTENTIAL
And yet there’s that persistent image problem. Citriglia believes it stems in part from the diversity of the state’s product. The key is to concentrate on those high-quality wines that Ohio does best, he said. “Even California has decided to focus on a few well-made wines. In Ohio we’re trying to be the jack-of-all trades and master-of-none, so creating an identity for Ohio wines becomes complicated.”
Others see diversity as a strength. Michelle Widner, from the Ohio Grape Industries Committee, is among them. “You can get a wonderful blush here, a complex pinot noir, a fine cabernet, and a delicious, syrupy ice wine. There’s something here for just about every palate.”
There’s plenty of potential says Winchell of the state’s Wine Producers Association. Just as Americans’ diets have become more sophisticated because of exposure to different cuisines, so will wine drinkers eventually embrace the more complex vinifera-based wines Ohio now produces.
In the meantime, look to the 2005 vintage to win over new devotees. “It should be stellar,” said Ken Bement, owner of Whet Your Whistle wine store in Madison and a frequent judge at competitions. Weather conditions last year helped the grapes mature to a level not frequently reached in the Midwest. As a result, as the whites reach market later this year and the longer-aging reds in 2007 and beyond, wine drinkers and judges alike may find themselves toasting Ohio’s world-class wines.
