Harvest in the Estate Rows

The most important thing about harvest in the estate rows is when it does not happen. Inland vineyards at our latitude race an early frost. We mostly do not: by the first of October, Lake Erie beside the vines is normally still around 64°F, and that stored summer heat holds the first killing cold off the shoreline for weeks. The grapes get that time.

So picking here runs late and unhurried. The estate Cabernet Franc comes off the vines by hand, cluster by cluster into crates (no machine), because whole, unbroken fruit is the first decision in the wine. From the rows, the crates travel about a hundred yards to the cellar under the mansion, where the fruit is pressed the same day it is picked.

Then the slow part: twelve months in French oak before the estate Cabernet Franc is poured a floor above where it aged. The 2022 vintage of that wine took Double Gold at the 2025 Ohio Wine Competition, which we mention not to boast but because it is the clearest evidence for the argument this whole property makes: that this shoreline, with this lake beside it, ripens serious red grapes.

If you want to see it, the rows sit between the front door and the water. Come for dinner during picking season and you will likely see crates before you see a menu. The full story of why grapes ripen here at all is in The Grand River Valley, Explained.