Every great wine region has garnered respect for its vintages by growing quality fruit and developing winemakers serious about their craft.

Those are certainly givens, but are truly only part of the story. In our area, as we seek to move from regional respect to national acclaim for our wines, there are many things we can learn from our friends in California.

The words and images associated with the names “Napa Valley” and, more recently, “Sonoma” are synonymous with “exceptional California wine.” They have some of the state’s best soils and climate for producing great, world-class wines. When you drive from the California cities’ airports to these areas, you will see lots of stores, hotels, restaurants, etc. on the way, but several locations, including Napa and Sonoma, have enacted rules to protect against commercial development on the best growing sites.

We have Lake Erie, the Grand River Valley and Conneaut Creek regions to our east as well as the Ohio River Valley in the south. As a community of growers and vintners, we need to continue to identify the best grapes we can grow, put them in the ground, and find ways to protect the most sensitive microclimates from overdevelopment and excessive commercialization.

Beginning with UC Davis, continuing with Fresno and Sonoma State, and now extending throughout the California higher education system, Golden State students have access to exceptional instruction, forward-looking research, extension programming and technical training that has served as the underpinning of the modern California industry from its earliest days through today. We have the good fortune to have The Ohio State University programs in Wooster, at our Kingsville Station, and through research and extension supplied, in part, by the state-funded Ohio Grape Industries Program.

A decade or so ago, with the launch of the Kent State Ashtabula Viticulture and Enology degrees, our industry now has its own pool of well-trained students to launch their own wineries and to serve our long-established ones as they expand and move on to the next generation of managers.

In the 1970s, Napa had only a handful of wineries. Today, when going up Route 29 and down the Silverado Trail, every year, literally hundreds of wineries attract millions of visitors to spectacular buildings and gorgeous grounds. It is fun to look at brochures from the Lake Erie region when there were just names like Markko, Chalet Debonne, Grand River and later Ferrante Wineries. Today the Grand River Valley boasts over 35 wineries with several more waiting in the wings. We have two, going on three generations of winemakers in the region, complementing the established operations but bringing along several new state-of-the-art production facilities. All are attracting thousands of visitors flocking through our front doors every weekend.

California, often led by the brilliance of Robert Mondavi, spread the word about their emerging industry via wine tastings, festivals, good relationships with distributors and retailers, media placements and more. Ohio has studied and copied many of their efforts … and frankly is leading the national industry in the areas of using festivals as event tools, themed trails, social networking and direct-to-consumer sales in tasting rooms. More recently, we fill shelves and shelves at local retailers and are finding our way to ever more slots on restaurant lists.

From the earliest days in its modern era, as the California industry emerged, the citizens of that state have always led the country in per capita consumption.

Its restaurants have featured “only California”; its ancillary industries like lodgers and shops have always adopted winery themes. Our Geneva Lodge has led the way, but now there are more Ohio wines on more restaurant wine lists, additional hotel and bed and breakfast lodgers, dozens of livery services and more all across the region. “Fine dining in the GRV” is no longer an oxymoron. We’re building our own brand and a special local culture around our homegrown grapes and wine.

Although our native labruscas and our well-suited-to-our-climate hybrids keep lots of winery doors open, planting of classic varietals and the medals for our Rieslings, Chardonnays, Cab Francs, Pinot Noirs, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminers, Gruner Veltliners and Malbecs is growing dramatically. The vine-to-glass philosophy here and numerous national medals are helping spread our story with the “influentials” in the wider wine world.

We have a generation of work ahead, but we surely are well on our way to fulfilling the lessons learned from California’s wine industry as we continue to grow.

For additional information: dwinchell@OhioWines.org.