By April Amadon amadona@gnnewspaper.com
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
Since Martin’s Schulze’s family came to the United States from Germany in 1966, they have grown grapes for juicing and for use in wine.
Now, Martin’s wife Anne said, the family is taking their knowledge of grapes to a new level, opening the Schulze Vineyard and Winery in Newfane.
“It’s really nice, because everyone has their special expertise, so they help in different ways,” Anne said. “It really makes a nice group effort for us to begin.”
The winery, on the corner of Coomer and Old Coomer roads, will be open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 to 6 and Sundays from 12 to 6.
For more information, call 778-8090.
QUESTION: Who is involved in this enterprise with you?
ANSWER: It’s solely family. It’s my husband Martin and myself, and his father, Willi Schulze, and our extended family of our sons — Tyler, Noah and Shaun — and my father. It’s really nice, because everyone has their special expertise, so they help in different ways. It really makes a nice group effort for us to begin.
•••
Q: How did this whole idea begin?
A: We have 45 acres of grapes, and for the last 40 years, Martin’s family has been growing grapes, and they have a contract to sell most of the grapes for juice. Twenty year ago, they started thinking about a winery and growing grapes for wine-making. So he started planting different varieties of grapes. We have a large amount of grapes that are Niagara grapes that we sell for juice, but then he started planting reisling, cabernet and merlot. About five years ago, the different wineries in the area that are a little bit older than us, needed grapes, and we began selling those grapes to the local wineries, and started the process of getting our liquor license and started the plans of building our own winery.
•••
Q: What is expected when you open on Monday?
A: We’re going to have our grand opening in July. ... (Starting Monday), it’s going to be open for tasting and the sale of wine, just to get acquainted with the community. We will be a part of the wine trail event, which will be the 12th and 13th of this month.
•••
Q: What is unique about your wines?
A: All of our wines are made from the grapes we grow. One of our specialties, which is one of the things the other wineries don’t have, is sparkling wines.
•••
Q: Can you explain the wine-making process?
A: In the winter, the vines get trimmed and then tied on the wires in the spring. They go through the growing season and come September, begins the Niagara grapes. We go through the season until November, harvesting the different kinds of grapes. We have a harvester, so we do our harvesting and a couple of farms in the area. The harvester comes right to the pad here and immediately goes into the pressure stemmer, so it’s very fresh coming right off the vine. They’re pumped into the press, and then as the press works, pumped into the tanks to begin fermentation. We have a wine-maker, Dominic Carisetti. He develops the wines from the grapes that Martin grows. Growing grapes is a loving process, to be able to harvest grapes off of them. There’s lot of work and planting and maintaining, and we have to be watching them. Like during the humid season, any damage. You’re going by those vines quite a bit all year round. The vineyards here are so well-taken care of that Cornell brings groups down to show people that are interested in growing grapes what it should be and how to do it. They maintain their equipment just the way that they take care of their vineyards. It’s just beautiful.
•••
Q: Do you think New Yorkers should throw more support behind New York wines?
A: Yes, and it is beginning to happen more and more. Our winery is just opening, but our wine trail has many contacts in the restaurants and the liquor stores, and they have marketing planned through the wine trail to promote throughout New York State and also the surrounding state. The government, (Assemblywoman) Francine Delmonte and (Senator) George Maziarz, those people are right behind us, and legislation is happening all the time to promote this. Right now, the (Department of Transportation) is working on streamlining the actual wine trail, to make it more streamlined for the customer to find the different wineries.
•••
Q: Who else has supported your family through this process?
A: I think Martin’s father, Willi, has been probably the biggest support for us. The wineries themselves, we are a close-knit group. Especially Niagara Landing, they have really been a strong backup to the new wineries starting out, because they have the experience, and they have been very generous helping us with just the planning ... . Every single person involved in this took it to heart, as you can see by how beautiful it is. We hired Parco Builders in Newfane, and they had never done a building like this before. It’s just absolutely gorgeous. The bar is made out of cherry trees that Martin and his father cut down 25 years ago. They rough-cut and seasoned them for 25 years, and Tim Willard built that bar out of our cherry wood, and the cabinets also
April Amadon Union Sun and Journal
