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wine marketing photo by Jan Regan decessors would drop everything to host visitors. The tasting room was simple, even ramshackle, for decades. "It was our failing for not placing emphasis on winery tourism, and the location on a long dirt road was also a handicap. A few years ago our country road was paved, and we have placed signs to help customers find us." Recounting the episodes that led him to his late discovery of business sense, he elaborates, "My father (Willy) and grandfather (Konstantin) did not get along well; one was a businessman and the other a scientist. They clashed, working together only in 1984, until grandfather died in 1985. It was unfortunate, as they complemented each other's skills so well, which would likely have encouraged more wineries to start out sooner than they did. They also did not take advantage of the great view we have of Keuka Lake from our original tasting room." The junior Frank has refurbished grandfather Konstantin's original residence as a tasting room with a view of the lake, "although it was a struggle between me and my father. When he passed away in 2006, we built a Tudorstyle facility for our 70,000 annual visitors, a tasting room that increased sales and remains a success today. "Konstantin would use the ancient method to 'hill-up' soils to protect vines as an insurance policy for future vintages instead of losing thousands of vines to winter-kill (a labor-intensive practice). My dad Willy and I discussed the various best microclimates within the Finger Lakes and buying a site with more moderate winter temperatures. "I found a property in Hector (along a portion of 600 feet deep Seneca Lake), providing 5º-10º F warmer air than other lakeside locations, and where the soils are perfectly well-drained. Over the years, it has allowed us to grow more tender varieties such as Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Saperavi and Gewürztraminer. It is steeper than most Seneca Lake locations, and has become a productive site, though it does complicate managing machinery and applying vineyard attention." Frank views the winery as "coming full circle. Konstantin wanted all the world's great wine grape varieties in a nearly experimental situation." Today, Fred Frank has carefully and slowly finessed some of that into what is probably Dr. Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars' finest hour. Sheldrake Point Vineyard on Cayuga Lake. room. The rests sells to other east coast states along with the United Kingdom and Denmark with the hope of expanding to Belgium and Holland. Fox Run receives 60,000 visitors annually. "My worst decision was when I bought Fox Run," he says. "When we were nego- tiating everything was nice and green on what was then 25 acres of grapes. We closed and then harvested our first crop; the next spring I asked my vineyard manager about replants, normally calculated at about 1% occurring from winter damage. He replied there were going to Fox Run Vineyards Owner Scott Osborn farms 50 acres of vinifera making 15,000 cases per year, one-third of which is sold in the tasting pr actica l win ery & vin eya r d SEPTE M B ER 20 13 65