Conneaut Cellars
Winery is distinguished for its award winning wines. The winery fashions
itself after a turn-of-the-century winery and performs all of the winemaking
operations at the 6,400 square foot winery. Tender loving care is applied
to each process, from the grapes to the bottle. The grapes are gently squeezed
by small bladder presses and then aged in stainless steel tanks, French oak
barrels, and American oak barrels. The winery offers a broad spectrum of
tastes from the farm wines of our grandparents (native American) through
the more sophisticated French-American hybrids to the noble vinifera of world
fame. Some wines are labeled using proprietary names to promote the local
area. Conneaut Cellars Winery was founded by Dr. Alan Wolf in 1982. Dr. Wolf was exposed to winemaking when working for the US State Department in Germany in the 1950s, where he placed political refugees as winery workers. Some of these émigrés were biochemists. Later, he learned basic winemaking by enrolling in courses at the University of Würzburg and the German Wine Institute at Geisenheim. During the 1960's Dr. Wolf experimented with more than 130 grape varieties for Cornell University and The Pennsylvania State University, as well as teaching basic winemaking courses at several colleges. During the next decade, he saved and planned for starting his own winery. After retiring from education in 1981, Dr. Wolf and his wife, Phyllis, established Conneaut Cellars Winery with the mission to make a memorable and distinctive wine that reflects the northeastern climate of Lake Erie - the Lake Erie Wine Appellation. 
In 1982, Dr. Wolf
built the winery on the South end of the largest natural lake in the state-due
to the rich history of the property. Delaware and Seneca Indians called the
lake Conneaut, or “Snow Place,” because the surrounding forests were so dense
and that the snow remained after it had melted elsewhere. The lake’s spring-fed
waters attracted abundant wildlife, and in turn, prehistoric Indian hunters.
Their favorite camping site was the hill next to the winery overlooking the
lake’s outlet, the area’s best fishing spot. The outlet also lured the first
white settler, Abner Evans, who used its water to power his grist mill. A
village called Evansburg, now Conneaut Lake, grew up around Evans’ mill and
log cabin. The coming of the Erie Extension Canal, operated from 1843 to
1870, gave the village access to the outside world. 
The old canal ran
along the winery’s entrance driveway and is still intact just southeast of
the building. But it was the advent of the railroad in the late 19th century
that brought prosperity to the area. The Meadville & Linesville Railroad,
later the Bessemer, occupied the towpath of the abandoned canal. The railroad
was a boom to the lumber industry, especially to the Stratton & Company
sawmill, which stood on the winery’s property.
|
The ice harvesting
industry was another beneficiary. Demand for the lake’s crystal-clear ice
was so great that the Conneaut Lake Ice Company built enormous sheds to store
the 100 ton harvest. From these buildings, on the lake shore north of the
winery, trainloads of premium ice were shipped to urban markets. The railroad
also fostered the development of Conneaut Lake as a summer resort. Hotels
sprang up on the lake shore and a fleet of steamboats built to transport
the guests to them. Visitors arriving at the train station, which stood on
the winery’s property, walked to the boat landing next to the ice houses.
The Conneaut Lake Exposition Park, now Conneaut Lake Park, was established
in 1892 and Conneaut Lake became one of Pennsylvania’s leading resorts.