We have a strong, razor-sharp purpose. . . . That purpose, all along, has been to employ the formerly incarcerated, teach youth viticulture, and create more economic opportunity in a neighborhood that doesn't have enough.
-- founder Mansfield FrazierIn operation only since 2010, Château Hough has taken 2nd prize at the Great Geauga County Fair for its Traminette white wine. There's a lot of domestic wines available nowadays . . .
but none have a story like ours: Inner-city, award-winning wines made by dudes fresh out of prison. Let me see anyone top that shit.¡±
Hough is the community I reside in. The vineyard is across the street from my home. My wife and I decided to build our home in Hough in order to be part of the urban pioneer movement. We wanted to be in the forefront of the movement to re-establish the black middle class in Cleveland.
And since banks are once again being allowed to redline inner cities, using vacant lots to create wealth by establishing vigorous and profit-making urban agriculture projects just seemed to make sense.But why wine?
Wine grapes have a high dollar yield per acre: Frazier estimates that each of his 289 vines could generate ten $10 bottles of wine per year: You can¡¯t get that off of bell peppers!Frazier encourages other urban farmers to consider the multiple layers of non- and for-profit that can be tied together in one place. . . But admitted there's no future to urban farming if it doesn't create wealth.
If you aren't doing this to make money, don't do it. . . . This isn't going to work long term with volunteers. You have to make this a paying job. For me, it became, "how do you take (vacant) land and create wealth?"Biocellar project
The name is political. If we¡¯d called it Château Westlake or Château Solon nobody¡¯d've raised an eyebrow. Call it Château Hough and people do a double-take. What we¡¯re saying is that the land we occupy in Hough is just as valuable to us as the land Hunting Valley* people occupy.Video
"It's a validation that opens other doors," he added. "When we start to sell the wine, we can charge a higher price..."2012:
This microappellation is the brainchild of 69-year-old Mansfield Frazier, who claims no enological expertise besides enthusiam.Thank you for the palate cleansing post!
"10 cases of $10 wine from each of his 289 vines. By my math, that's $28,900."Cases have 6 bottles so if that reading is correct (10 cases of 6 bottles per vine) it would be:
Gomer¡¯s of Missouri, a wine and spirits store in Kansas City, won a Jefferson Cup for a wine made from grapes grown on the side of a store in a strip mall.We have three distinct vineyard sites at our retail locations. One of the sites has 18 vines and we call it ¡°Sonic View¡± because it¡¯s next to the Sonic fast food restaurant. . . . Growing vines in a strip mall has its advantages, like automated sprinklers and no grape eating deer.
Joe Henke of Henke Winery in Cincinnati also has about 50 vines outside his winery in Cincinnati, but his vines are ¡°more for the ambience.¡±
Viticulturist William H. Shoemaker, recently retired from University of Illinois remains involved with the University¡¯s research vineyard on the fringe of the Chicago megalopolis. The first challenge, according to Shoemaker, is finding sufficient land in the city to grow grapes commercially. ¡°Although it¡¯s not unusual to find two or three suitable acres in an urban area,¡± he says.
No one has successfully started a vineyard in Chicago, but not for lack of trying. Before his death in March 2012, William Lavicka unsuccessfully fought the City of Chicago for approval to plant a small vineyard in a brownfield site on the South Side of Chicago.
Blake Kownacki, the winemaker for Michigan¡¯s Cherry Creek and Sleeping Bear Wineries, wants to plant grapes on 10 acres of Belle Isle, the state-owned island park in Detroit . . . .
¡°I see Detroit as prime vineyard territory,¡± Kownacki says, ¡°with its proximity to lakes and rivers, the soil, and a mediating climate it¡¯s the perfect backdrop for vines.¡± Kownacki wants to . . . start a program to turn urban gardens throughout Detroit into mini-vineyards. He envisions city residents tending their vines and selling the grapes back to Kownacki, thus creating side incomes for urban families.Shoemaker also addresses one of my concerns:
Vacant lots in residential neighborhoods usually pose no environmental or health hazards, but industrial sites could be a problem. The soil could be contaminated with heavy metals such as cadmium. In reclaiming that type of site for a vineyard, you would want to do an intensive soil analysis.posted by Herodios at 10:04 AM on October 10, 2014
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