Lucian Dressel made a major contribution to the Missouri wine industry in the last half of the Twentieth Century, and now he’s working in the same direction in Illinois.
He’s the general manager and winemaker at little Mary Michelle Winery, in Carrollton, Ill., some 50 miles north of St. Louis on U.S. Highway 67, and if people want a look at his unusual project and high hopes, this is the weekend to visit. The four-year-old winery is not open to the public for tours or tasting, and wine is not sold there, but it will be open this weekend (Sept. 8-9) as part of Greene County Days.
In addition, his 2004 Norton will be on display, and available for tasting, on Saturday at the Missouri History Museum. The wine won a gold medal in a national competition among Nortons from more than a dozen states
The winery has a web site,www.marymichellewinery.com, and Dressel’s wines can be ordered through the site. Oddly, Illinois law keeps residents of that state from buying wine on the site, but there are links to show where it can be purchased. It’s also available at many wine shops and supermarkets in the St. Louis area.
Dressel grew up on his family’s farm only a few miles from Carrollton.
Lucian and his family owned Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta (Lucian’s brother, Phillip, is now the owner and Lucian is not associated with it), and along with the Helds of Stone Hill Winery in Hermann and the Hofherrs of St. James Winery in St. James, were the leaders as the state wineries grew and modernized and improved over the 1960s and 70s.
Lucian left Missouri in the early 1990s, moving to California and working there in and out of the wine business. Everything changed in 2003 when Ed Hindelang, now living in Santa Barbara, Calif., but born in Carrollton, decided to go into the wine business in his old home town. Hindelang, who grew wealthy as an communications business entrepreneur and in related activities, formed a consortium and bought the land. Coincidentally, they sought advice from Fred Dressel, Lucian’s son and an independent consultant on Midwest grapes and wine. Dad was an easy recommendation.
The Carrollton vineyard, which is flat and not hilly like the traditional California or Missouri vineyard, covers about 80 acres, and Dressel has some interesting vines, starting with the Norton/Cynthiana grapes (under either name, or even as Virginia Seedling, the grape is the same) from which he made splendid wines in Augusta. Despite the success of the Norton, he does not think it has the ability to last and to improve with age as decades go by, as French Bordeaux and Burgundy will, so he has crossed the native American grape with Zinfandel, a European grape used extensively in California. He calls the result Zinthiana, and he hopes to make wine in the next year or two. He also has crossed the Norton/Cynthiana with Cabernet Sauvignon, one of the classic French grapes.
In botanical terms, the Norton is vitis aestivalis, while the Zinfandel and Cab are of the genus vitis vinifera. The Norton also is extremely hardy, resistant to most pests and able to withstand all but the worst temperature extremes. The ‘04 Norton has the richness the grape should show, with blackberries and cedar in the aroma and a long, smooth finish. It’s also quite young, with a few strong tannin notes, and should be aged another year or so in the bottle before drinking.
Dressel also is making a dry white wine from the Chardonel grape, a cross of Chardonnay and Seyval. It’s crisp and tasty, nicely acidic, and does well with fish, especially well-chilled shellfish.
The winery is in a large, barn-red building just south of Carrollton, and it’s a major project, filled with new tanks and other equipment. Dressel does not believe in screw-top closures for his wine and buys corks from a top California producer The vines are heavy with second-growth berries, and picking was scheduled to begin in the last week or so. Sadly, the heavy freeze pf Easter weekend, with three successive nights of temperatures under 20, did as much damage in Illinois as it did in Missouri. Dressel figures that his Chardonel crop will be only about a fourth the size of a typical year. That won’t affect sales right now, because there is plenty of 2006 wine, both red and white. The ‘07 vintage will be on the slender side.
–Joe