A Conversation with Fred Frank, the owner of Dr. Konstantin Frank
“Anything we can do to further promote the wine industry and help it grow is a good investment for the future success of our region,” said the sponsor of the legislation, state Senator George Winner, in a statement after the funding was approved.
The idea for such a center has been in the works since 2000. As small Finger Lakes wineries have earned a solid reputation for Riesling, Gewürztraminer and other varieties, Ithaca boosters argued that a center could help both the wineries and the city, which sits at the southern tip of Lake Cayuga and is home to Cornell University, which has the top viticultural program on the East Coast.
Visitors to the center will be able to learn more about the region’s wine industry, attend tastings and seminars and also purchase wines.
“It makes sense to have a hub here,” said the bill’s cosponsor, assemblywoman Barbara Lifton. “Every year, new wineries are opening, and I’m always running into colleagues in Albany who have been to visit.”
Although the region is already home to the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua. no one seems concerned about competition.
In fact, the NYWGF was able to secure funding during the same session to explore building another wine center in the Hudson Valley, near Hyde Park and the Culinary Institute of America. Empire State producers seem to realize that for emerging wine regions, promotion and tourism are crucial.
The center, which is planned for the space below the Cayuga Garage, had originally been scheduled to open Aug. 1, but it could not because it would not have been approved to sell wine by then.
At a press conference held at the Holiday Inn, Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance and a member of the center's board of directors, said the group officially applied for their three separate liquor licenses. “We've been told it can take up to six months to get the official licenses,” he said. “Based on that, we do not want to open the wine center in January,” when there is little wine tourism. “It is a very long, laborious process, and it takes a lot of effort to put this together.” Ferguson said construction on the center will start when the licenses are approved, or around Jan. 1.
The center, which will be a gateway to local wineries with a focus on wine education, has been in the works since 2000, and has received a total of $409,000 in state and local funding. Ferguson said they're still seeking approximately $186,000 in funding for the project.
Advocates say the new center will teach both interested locals and wine tourists — who spend about $300 a day while they're here — about the nature of wine making, and will act as a springboard to Finger Lakes wine country. The center will have six large wine exhibits, an interactive digital map of New York state wine regions, a tasting room with a rotating selection of 20 local wines and a gift shop where visitors will be able to purchase individual bottles of wine and other wine-related items. Wine will be priced so as not to be competitive with local wineries, officials said. A set of tastings will cost $5. The center will also be available for formal functions and other hosted and catered events, and visitors will be able to book wine tours at the center.
Local artists will be commissioned to create murals on the walls, said David Sparrow, president of the center's board of directors.
“The center is meant to introduce the wines of the Finger Lakes to a broad audience including residents of the regions and travelers from around the world,” he said.
A crucial aspect of the center that will differentiate it from others, like the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua, will be the focus on educational lectures and workshops, such as winemaking demonstrations and talks about tasting, wine history and viticulture, Ferguson said.
“Programming is going to be key,” he said.
Fred Bonn, director of the Ithaca/Tompkins Convention and Visitors Bureau and a member of the board of directors, said the wine center will do much to help encourage tourists to spend more money both at the 105 Finger Lakes wineries and in local communities. “It will become an attractor to our community, and we can use this center as a vehicle to support our friends across the Finger Lakes region and at the other wineries,” he said.
The 3,400-square-foot space will be leased from Bloomfield, Schon & Partners for $5,100 a month when construction begins in January, according to Andrew Dixon, a consultant for the project.
State and local officials have said the grant money will not be affected by a delay in the center's opening date.
Sherwood Deutsch, A Wine Icon
Deutsch graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in pharmacy. He worked for six years at Strong Memorial Hospital and part-time at other area pharmacies. By the age of 27, he had saved $10,000 and opened his own pharmacy called Sherwood Drugs. He opened a 480-square-foot liquor store near his pharmacy after six years of listening to people ask, “Is there a liquor store around here?” When his liquor business became so exciting, he sold his pharmacy and expanded the liquor store.
After spending time visiting various liquor stores in major cities, Deutsch realized that the future road to success was in the fine wine business. In 1971, he moved into a 17,500-square-foot spot that was originally an A & P. This was the beginning of Century Liquor and over the years it became one of the leading wine stores in all of New York State famous for its Bordeaux and Burgundy selection.
In March of 2007, Sherwood Deutsch sold Century Liquor and Wines to Nicole Wegman and she moved the liquor license to Pittsford Plaza in Pittsford, NY. At 74 years young, Deutsch had no intentions of retiring and joined the new Century as Vice President of Fine Wines. His nephew, Michael Misch, also joined the new store as Director of Wine Operations.
I sat down with Sherwood Deutsch and Michael Misch and discussed the future of the wine industry. Both agreed that it will continue to grow. Wine’s health benefits have changed the lifestyles of the alcohol drinking consumers. More and more travelers devote their travels around food and wine. The new generation of wine drinkers have become more wine savvy by searching the internet. The internet also opens up a whole new market for sales and information.
When I asked them about the New York’s tough state regulations on alcohol, Deutsch and Misch agreed that they offer challenges that help them make better decisions to overcome them. As far as wine in grocery stores, they feel the legislature has to make that decision. When asked why he decided to join the new Century store, Deutsch replied, “This is the store I dreamed about but it never materialized.”
Eric Volz and Fred Frank
Fred Frank is a third-generation vintner, one of a few throughout the United States. He has a degree in agriculture and economics from Cornell, and learned the business side of the wine industry working for Banfi Distributors. He studied viticulture and winemaking at the Geisenheim Research Institution located in Geisenheim, Germany.
Fred began by explaining that his family’s philosophy has always been to grow only vinifera grapes, use traditional European methods for making wine, and have the best vineyard management (led by his cousin Eric Volz) to grow the best grapes. He also added that at Dr. Frank he has an international team of winemakers and each is responsible for certain varieties of grapes.
Jean-Michel Jussiaume, Enology Degree, Ecole de Briace in the Loire Valley, France, oversees most of the French varietals. The aromatic wines such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer come under Toby Kitzer and Peter Weiss. In charge of Chateau Frank sparkling wines is cellar expert, Eric Bauman, a champagne specialist, who spent eight years learning his trade at “J” Champagne House in California. Mark Veraguth, a graduate of U.C. Davis is the senior winemaker who oversees al opeations.
Fred also mentioned that he felt that the reason that Dr. Frank wines are constantly winning awards and medals can be attributed not only to their wine making philosophy but also their being the only multi-generational, family-owned winery in the Finger Lakes that carries a pride of making great wine and a legacy to be lived up to. “Thanks to my grandfather, Dr Konstantin Frank, we have some of the oldest wines in the Finger Lakes” (note: In the 1960’s Dr Frank was the first winery in this country to plant Pinot Gris).All Finger Lake winemakers agree that the weather is one of the biggest challenge they face. At Dr. Frank they devote much time and effort in developing clones and rootstock that can withstand upper New York State winters.
Making wine in the Finger Lakes carries many challenges but Fred believes these challenges make for better grape growing and better wine making. When the weather is basically the same year after year, a winemaker can get complacent.
He equates wine making in this region to making wine in northern Europe. The weather in both places is a huge factor every year which makes for inconsistent vintages. In both wine regions, Mother Nature supplies all the water to the vineyards and artificial irrigation is not practiced.
Fred’s son, Kyle Konstantin Frank, has been working in the vineyards throughout his teen years and Fred feels confident that he will continue the family legacy, taking the company into its fourth generation. Fred has already begun expansion to meet Kyle’s adulthood by purchasing 63 acres of land in Hector, NY that will take many years to mature into prime producers.
More Riesling and another aromatic grape called Grüner Veltliner* is being planted in the Hector vineyards.
*To learn more about Grüner Veltliner read the article on this grape in the inaugural edition of WineTracks Magazine or online at www.winetracksmag.com and click on Wine Tidbits.
