New Wine Series Highlights The Women Behind The Wine
January 7, 2016 
Photo: Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery
When Meaghan Frank, general manager of Dr. Frank’s Winery, in Hammondsport, NY, tells the story of her family’s business, it starts with her great-grandfather, Dr. Konstantin Frank, who founded the winery in 1962. Her grandfather, Willy, then took over in the 1980s, followed by her father, Fred, in 1993.
“But behind them were their wives, their sisters and their mothers, who were really the core of the business,” Meaghan Frank says. “They helped make the business what it is today.”
The winery decided to pay tribute to the Frank women through a line of wines created in their honor. The first, named after Konstantin Frank’s wife, Eugenia, was released in late 2015. “She was just a really neat lady,” Frank says. “She was here from the beginning and helped Konstantin start the winery and encouraged him to go for his PhD (in viticulture), so she had a really key role in the success of the business.”
The Eugenia wine is a dry Riesling from the Keuka Lake estate vineyards, one of the winery’s oldest and steepest plots. Frank says the wine shows a lot of the minerality from the shale-rich soil, with notes of key lime, stone fruits and pineapple.
The second wine in the series, Margaret, will be released later this spring. It’s named for Meaghan’s grandmother. “She worked at the winery her whole life, and she played a huge part in the success of Chateau Frank, which is our sparkling winery, and really supported my dad through taking over the business,” she says.
Margaret is from the east side of the Seneca Lake. Like Eugenia, it’s a Riesling – but very different in style. “It’s picked a little later in the season,” Frank says. “It was barrel fermented, which is something you really don’t see often with Rieslings, so it gives the wine a lot of texture.”
Hilda, a single vineyard Chardonnay, is the third wine in the series, named after Konstantin’s daughter, whose husband, Walter, was Konstantin’s right-hand man. “He helped plant all the vineyards and worked here side by side with Konstantin from the early days, and Hilda also worked here and really helped the business get on its feet,” Frank says.
The winery took great care in creating labels with a personal touch for each wine. The brand name – Dr. Konstantin Frank – is actually on the back of the label, with the women’s names appearing prominently on the front. “We wanted it to be all about them. This wine – it’s a very emotional thing for us to do this and pay tribute to them, so we wanted to make it a very special wine with a back story, and make it really meaningful,” Frank says. “So we really highlighted their names on the front in this beautiful script. These are all amazing wines that have a great story, and I think it warrants some really nice packaging.”
The Winery plans to host an event this spring to showcase the three new wines.
Subscribe Today For
