Konstantin Frank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Konstantin Frank (1897-1985) was a viticulturist and winemaker in the Finger Lakes region of New York. He was born in Odessa, Ukraine and received his PhD in viticulture from the University of Odessa, his thesis being on techniques for growing vitis vinifera in a cold climate. After working for a time in then Soviet Georgia managing a large state-owned vineyard, he came to the United States in 1951. While working for the Cornell University Geneva Experiment Station, he urged New York State winemakers to move away from French Hybrid grapes and vitis labrusca and instead plant vitis vinifera, the traditional grapes of European winemakers.
His ideas were ridiculed. No one thought that vitis vinifera would grow in the colder New York area. So Dr. Frank founded Vinifera Wine Cellars in 1962 on Keuka Lake and began growing Pinot Noir grapes. Despite his success, other winemakers still doubted him for many years and he had trouble getting New York distributors to handle his wine.
Today, Dr. Frank is recognized as having led the revolution in wine quality in New York State and the East Coast. In 2001, the Vinifera Wine Cellars, under direction of his son, Willy Frank, won the first "Winery of the Year Award" from the 2001 New York Wine & Food Classic competition held at the Hudson River Club in Manhattan.[1]
