Dr. Konstantin Frank

Dr. Konstantin Frank (1899–1985) was a viticulturist and winemaker in the Finger Lakes region of New York. He was born in Odessa, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) and received his PhD in viticulture from the Odessa Polytechnic Institute, his thesis being on techniques for growing Vitis vinifera in a cold climate. After working for a time in what was then Soviet Georgia managing a large state-owned vineyard, he came to the United States in 1951. Speaking nine languages, English not being one of them, Frank was forced to take a job as a dishwasher in New York City. When he could save up enough, Frank moved with his family to the Cornell University Geneva Experiment Station in 1953. During the 1950s, he was a consultant to the Gold Seal Winery and established a Vitis vinifera grape nursery. He urged New York State winemakers to move away from native North American grapes, including Vitis labrusca and other species, and instead plant Vitis vinifera, the traditional grapes of European winemakers. For 300 years, failed attempts to plant "Vitis vinifera" varieties were blamed on the cold weather. With extensive experience growing the European grapes in below freezing temperatures back in Ukraine, Frank knew it would be possible with the techniques that he developed.

His ideas were ridiculed. No one thought that Vitis vinifera would grow in cold upstate New York. So in 1958 Frank bought a plot of land on the west side of Keuka Lake, about six miles from Hammondsport, NY. The first vintage released was in 1962 with a Trockenbeerenauslese Johannisberg Riesling made from botrytized grapes. A scientist at heart, Frank, in the twenty-three years that he owned his winery, planted over sixty different varieties to prove to the world that the eastern United States could grow the noble European vinifera grape varieties. In 1985, Frank died at the age of 86. His legacy is cherished in New York, paving the way for other Finger Lakes producers to grow the European grape varieties. In November 2001, Konstantin Frank was inducted into the Wine Spectator Hall of Fame for his outstanding achievements in the field of viticulture.

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