TRIP REPORT
VISITING A FINGER LAKES WINE PIONEER
Fred Frank, president Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery and grandson of the founder, in the chardonnay vineyards. by MELISSA DOWLING
Forty years ago, the Frank family produced the first traditional-method sparkling wine in the Eastern U. S. made from the classic vinifera grapes used in Champagne. The move introduced a new standard of quality to New York’ s Finger Lakes wine region.
Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery recently invited several journalists to Hammondsport, NY, to learn more about the company’ s history, the wines and the region, and celebrate its contribution to sparkling.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Born in Ukraine in 1899, Dr. Konstantin Frank immigrated to the U. S. in 1951 and settled in the Finger Lakes to work in the wine industry. At the time it was widely accepted that classic European grape varieties— vitis vinifera— could not be grown in the region because of the cold climate.
Dr. Frank, who had a Ph. D. in viticulture, thought otherwise. He knew from his years growing grapes in Ukraine’ s frigid temperatures that the lack of proper rootstock and hilling up( covering the grafted roots with soil), rather than the climate, was the reason for the failure of vitis vinifera vines in the Finger Lakes.
After years of experimenting and successfully developing a vinifera program for another company, Dr. Frank founded Vinifera Wine Cellars in 1962. His son Willy Frank, who joined the company in 1972, began planting traditional Champagne grapes— chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier.
Willy Frank and his wife Magrit in 1980 purchased a historic wine cellar and surrounding land on Keuka Lake for a sparkling wine project called Chateau Frank. In 1985 they harvested the first grapes for what became the 1989 brut sparkling wine, produced via the labor-intensive Champagne method involving a secondary fermentation in the bottle.
It would be the first méthode champenoise sparkling wine from traditional Champagne grapes in the Finger Lakes. Before that, the area’ s sparkling wines were produced from native or hybrid grape varieties.
Willy Frank took over the company after his father died in 1985. His son, Fred Frank, today serves as president of what is now Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery, while his daughter Barbara Frank, is a consulting sparkling winemaker. Granddaughter( Fred’ s daughter) Meaghan Frank is vice president.
12 Beverage Dynamics • Fall 2025 www. beveragedynamics. com