Here's to the dream of owning a winery

Morten Hallgren met his future wife while taking a test in Texas.

He had come from France in 1984, at age 19, to promote the distribution of his family's wines in San Antonio.

He also wanted to pursue a degree in astrophysics. Morten met Lisa Gonzalez when both took the Scholastic Aptitude Test for admission to college. They both attended the University of Texas, where Morten earned his undergraduate degree in physics.

Next, it was off to Boston, where Morten pursued his master's degree at Boston University, while Lisa completed her undergraduate degree in marketing at Boston College. They were married in San Antonio on June 30, 1990.

As he was pursuing his doctoral degree in Florida, Morten says, "I got distracted." After nine years working in the field of physics, he went back to France and earned enology and viticulture degrees at Montpellier University. He has been producing wine ever since.

After making wine in Texas and Biltmore, N.C., in 1999 he joined the staff at Dr. Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars in Hammondsport as chief winemaker.

Morten continues to work at Dr. Frank's, but now he and his family are also living their dream of owning a winery, Ravines Wine Cellars on the east side of Keuka Lake.

The Hallgrens designed the building, built in a French traditional style. The box-shaped building is both business space and living quarters for the family.

"We love the idea of a family business," Lisa says. She remarked how wonderful it was to see the Stamp family members all together when they visited the family-run winery at Lakewood Vineyards last year.

With her own children (Max, 9, Sammy, 6, and Elise, 2) around Ravines, Lisa is sure to always have company.

When it came to naming their new winery, "We knew that we wanted it have something to do with the land," Lisa says. "Ravines" recognizes the two rocky gullies that border their property and drain water from the hillside.

Morten chose the location with a plan to plant vineyards on the recently cleared land. The winery is south of the bluff where Keuka Lake splits into two smaller bodies of water. The large reservoir of water located below the picturesque bluff will moderate air temperatures to protect new vines.

As the Ravines vineyard comes into production, Morton plans to focus on drier, dinner-type wines in a European style. During a recent visit, I was able to taste the three wines available now. The Ravines 2002 Riesling is quite elegant. It has lots of fruit that is balanced with acidic and cool mineral tones.

A sweeter wine is the 2002 House White. It is a blend of predominantly Cayuga with some vignoles. It finishes with a crisp, clean taste.

The third wine available is the Ravines 2001 Meritage. A blend of red grapes provides lots of fruit, with tastes of cherry, tobacco and oak.

The winery will be bottling chardonnay and pinot noir later this year.

- Ravines Wine Cellars is located at 14110 state Route 54 in Hammondsport. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears each Thursday on the Twin Tiers Life Food Page. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: thewineguy