Host: I am here today with Fred Frank from Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars and Chateau Frank Champagne in Hammondsport, New York. The first question I had is, could you tell us a little bit more about the history of the Dr. Konstantin Frank Wine Cellars?
Fred Frank: Sure. Thank you so much for coming and visiting us here at Dr. Konstantin Frank Wine cellars. The winery was started by my grandfather Dr. Konstantin Frank, who was not a medical doctor but PhD in viticulture, that's a science of growing grapes. And his thesis was growing the vitis vinifera which is a European wine grape in a cold winery. So had the perfect background when he immigrated from Europe to New York in 1951 to basically create a renaissance in the eastern wine industry.
When he arrived on the scene only the native vitis labrusca or wild grape wine were growing a variety such as Concord and Catawba. These were great varieties for making jams and jellies and pies but they are not recognized in producing world class star wines. So he really felt Americans deserve better and he implemented techniques for growing the European Vitis vinifera or wine grape varieties in New York State and this created the renaissance throughout New York wine industry.
One of the obstacles was Phylloxera. While earlier attempts were unsuccessful but Phylloxera is a little insect, or a rootstock in the soil and these little rootstock keep the roots of the vinifera vines Now, the Vitis Labrusca had evolved to be immune to this test. So by grafting the roots of these rootstock of vitis labrusca through the beside on with a European wine basically allowed him and other growers successfully grow the vinifera in New York State.
So even though Phylloxera is still living throughout New York and other eastern states, they are not doing damage to the wines because their roots are now the native vitis labrusca and they have evolved immune to this test. So this is an example of what we strive for today in modern agriculture which is called biological control where rather than trying to kill pest from degrading the soils and run often into the lakes here. We are coexisting with the pests without using pesticides. With just through modern science and mother nature.
In this case we are using a resistant rootstock to grow these European dry grapes here. So that was one of the main obstacles while since Thomas Jefferson's time. Growers were unsuccessful in growing the vinifera in New York State. So with Dr. Frank's leadership and showing industry his techniques today New York State has 240 wineries stretching from Niagara Falls to Montauk Point on Long Island and is now recognized as one of the world class wine producers.
Particularly, with the northern European wine grapes, varieties like Riesling Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, sparkling wines. All of these varieties are grown or produced in the Northern Europe where a cool climate better fits them, produces a better quality wine. So the cool climate becomes an asset rather than a liability. So this is the trend in viticulture and wine making in United States where a new region for wine compared to Europe or a new grow producers so to speak. We are now evolving and specializing in what we do best in terms of techniques, in terms of wine grape varieties, what grows where. So we are evolving to specialize more in this Northern European wine grapes.
The awards that we are wining in streak here. We won the Governors Cup on the best wines in New York State. There is the Jefferson Cup that we won in Virginia. We won ‘Winery of The Year’ this past year in the New York Wine Competition has the most awards than any New York winery. So obviously it's A-1 in these European wine grape varieties combined with our cool climate, combined with good care in the vineyards and good wine making skill and the Cellar is achieving world class wine.
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