Mastropiétro Presses Fine Wines

Marianne, Dan and Cathy Mastropiétro display some of the wines they produce at their winery in Berlin Center. Their onsite vineyards cover three acres and produce 12 tons of grapes a year.
Mastropiétro Presses Fine Wines
Some 600 customers visit
the winery on good nights,
1,000 for special events.
By Maraline Kubik
W
inemaking, a tradition in the Mastropiétro
family for generations, inspired the
entrepreneurial spirit of three family
members and introduced a rising star in the Ohio
wine industry to Mahoning Valley connoiseurs.
Five years after the vineyard and winery Dan,
Marianne and Cathy Mastropiétro built in a Berlin
Center cornfield opened, it’s become a weekend
hotspot, attracting 600 visitors on a good night and
building an international reputation for its award-
winning wines.
“It was just like the field of dreams – if you
build it, they will come. It’s been amazing,” Dan
reflects, thinking about how his hobby turned into
a full-fledged business that’s growing
so steadily neither he nor his partners
�������
– his wife, Marianne, and sister, Cathy
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– know how big it will become.
Since opening the winery in May
2005, Mastropiétro has gone from
making eight varieties of wine to
Sponsored by
making 19, including two specialty
wines – Frontenac port, a red dessert
ComDoc
wine, and Sweet One, a vidal blanc
ice wine.
Varieties are added and discontinued based
on popularity, Dan says, and production has in-
creased every year. In its first year of operations,
Mastropiétro Winery made eight varieties – chardonnay, riesling, cabernet, chambourcin, dolce
rosso, merlot, zinfandel and Valley Red – and sold
out of four. The winery made 3,800
gallons of wine that year, Dan recalls.
So, the following year production was
nearly doubled, to 7,500 gallons.
This year, Dan says, he plans to make
12,000 gallons. Mastropiétro Winery
will be able to produce significantly
more wine this year, he explains, because
winemaking operations will be expanded
and relocated to a new building under construction on the 52-acre property that houses
the winery’s Tuscan-style tasting and banquet
See MADE IN THE VALLEY, page 12
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