Deanna and Andy Troutman own two wineries in northeast Ohio. Here at the Winery at Wolf Creek, visitors can enjoy some wine and the scenic view, including vineyards and a reservoir in the valley. The Troutmans were named the Ohio Farm Bureau Outstanding Young Farm Couple in 2007.

Plant a vine, harvest grapes and turn the juice into wine. It sounds simple, but can take a lifetime to master.

The ancient art of growing grapes had a particular appeal for 10-year-old Andy Troutman growing up in Wayne County. His father was the county Extension agent, and he decided to take a 4-H grape production project.

"I was one of those kids who always knew what I wanted to do, even from early on," Troutman said. "The thing about grape growing is that every year is different and you learn something new every year. Like any kind of agriculture, there are new challenges every day. It's like in baseball, you are always hoping for that perfect season to get a Cy Young performance."

His early experiences with grape production in 4-H evolved into a hobby and a small business of producing Concords and seedless grapes for the fresh market. Troutman went to college at Ohio State to continue his grape production education and also served as a 4-H camp counselor on Kelly's Island, where he met Deanna. His new love interest, along with a lot of growth potential for Ohio's wine industry, kept Troutman in Ohio instead of heading for more distant and recognized wine production regions.

Ohio was, and continues to be, in the early stages of establishing a reputation for the production of fine wines.

"In the late 1800s, Ohio was the biggest wine producing state in the nation, but it was a lot of Concords and so forth, and not the vinifera varieties," he said. "I graduated from Ohio State in 1996 and that was when a lot of people were starting to have an interest in wineries in Ohio."

Varieties like Concord and Catawba have been widely grown in Ohio for many years, particularly on the islands and the coast of Lake Erie, due to their hardiness for the harsh winters. Ohio's more traditional varieties are great for eating and juice production, but can leave something to be desired for the production of high quality wines. Vineyard acreage in Ohio has expanded to more than 2,000 acres and that acreage is increasingly focused on producing European vinifera grapes for top-notch wines.

"There are still not many of the French vinifera varieties grown here, but they can be grown on good Ohio sites," Andy said. "The quality of Ohio wine has really evolved. As wineries have grown they have spent more money on technology and quality."

After marrying Deanna and graduating, Andy found himself in the right place at the right time to get hired in 1996 as the vineyard manager for the Winery at Wolf Creek in Summit County. The 35-acre winery is located between Barberton and Akron and was founded in 1980. The hilltop site was ideal for vinifera grape production, close enough to Lake Erie for the climate moderation benefits. The picturesque setting also was ideal for appealing to the large potential customer base surrounding the vineyard.

"We have a view of the reservoir for Barberton, and with all the trees, it feels like we're in the country, but we're in an urban area," Troutman said.

The initial 10 acres of grapes at the Winery at Wolf Creek were planted at the base of the hill below the winery, and another site was planted on top of the hill south of the winery. The first vineyard was planted with Cayuga White, Seyval, Vignoles, Dechaunac, Chancellor, Leon Millot and Vidal grapes. Troutman immediately set to improving the quality of the grapes, and the resulting wines produced from the 15-acre vineyard. Since Andy has taken over managing the Winery at Wolf Creek, much of the original hillside vineyards have been replanted with European grape varieties, including Cabernet Franc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat and Pinot Noir.

After two years on the job, Troutman had learned most aspects of the operation. Andy and Deanna were living near Andy's family in Wayne County and decided to plant a vineyard of their own in the spring of 1998 - a more than $10,000-per-acre investment. After three seasons of grape-friendly growing conditions, the first crop was harvested in the fall of 2000, with the winery building housed in a renovated chicken coop on the site. Troutman Vineyards offered three wines from this first vintage in 2001.

Once again in the right place at the right time, the Troutmans had the opportunity to purchase the Winery at Wolf Creek in June 2002. Now the 11-acre Wolf Creek winery focuses on production volume, while the 4.5-acre Wooster-based Troutman Vineyards is focused on boutique wines made exclusively from locally produced grapes.

"In Wooster we'll bottle once a month and produce 4,000 to 5,000 gallons annually," he said. "Here at Wolf Creek we'll produce 25,000 to 30,000 gallons a year and we're bottling twice a week."

The Wooster location caters more to tourists, while locals are the bulk of the business at Wolf Creek where visitors can enjoy cheese and crackers or bring their own food.

"At Wolf Creek, we're open later and it is a local place to go," Troutman said. "We serve alcohol, but it is not a bar, and I don't want it to become a bar. I want to showcase what we grow."

The Troutmans were named the Ohio Farm Bureau Outstanding Young Farm Couple in 2007 for their early success in the wine business. They now live with their two young children at the Wolf Creek site. Deanna handles the marketing, payroll and paperwork for the businesses, while Andy oversees the operations from vineyard establishment to the final product.

Andy has developed a system of composting the grape remains to provide fertility to his vines and says one of the biggest pest challenges is the Asian lady beetle that can add an unpleasant smell to the wine. The Wooster vineyard has three employees and at Wolf Creek there are 15, including a new wine maker to help with Andy's ever-expanding workload. Andy's father also spends a lot of time helping out.

While retail sales make up the bulk of their business, the Troutmans also sell wholesale to about 80 stores, including Giant Eagle.

"Around 10% to 15% of our business is wholesale," Troutman said. "We like retail and we focus on that, but when you send out a truck, you like to hit as many stores as you can."

The sweeter wines tend to be the most popular, since they appeal to a broader segment of U.S. wine drinkers.

"If you walk down the street around here, nine out of 10 people don't even drink wine," he said. "People who are just starting to drink wine tend to like it sweeter. People also may start drinking wine because of the health benefits of red wine, so there is some interest in that too. Our goal is to make wines that aren't intimidating like 'Cabernet Sauvignon.' We have 'Farmer's White' and 'Farmer's Red.'"

The Troutmans also try to make their wine selection easy for new wine drinkers to understand.

"We don't have 30 or 40 wines on our list," Troutman said. "In the summer, we'll have 10, but those 10 run the gamut and that makes for less confusion. We've learned that it works better to focus on a few good quality wines that cover the spectrum of taste."

Having two separate wineries allows for a lot of cross-promotion for the Troutmans and they also regularly work with other wineries in the area to attract and educate new wine connoisseurs.

"In Ohio, wineries are not really competing with each other, we're competing with $4 bottles of California wine," he said.

To compete, Ohio has to continue to build a reputation for quality and focus on its strengths. In the future, the Troutmans hope to start producing their own cheese from their 20 dairy goats, another long-time hobby of Andy's, to sell at their retail locations and boost the profitability of the small farm.

"The barrel room for our wine is a great place to age cheese, and we can't grow grapes on a lot of our acreage, but it is fine for pasture. Our visitors also like to see the goats," he said. "The long-term goal for this is to have a sustainable agricultural business 5 miles from downtown Akron. The reason there are still vineyards in Europe where real estate is valuable is that what we're producing is a valuable product."

For more information, visit www.troutmanvineyards.com and www.wineryatwolfcreek.com.