Wolffer Estate Vineyard Celebrates 30 Years

Thirty years ago, in a Sagaponack farm field just north of Montauk Highway, there sat a simple barn, some wine-making equipment, and several acres of very young vines.

The year was 1988 and Sagpond Vineyards was just starting to grow—both literally and figuratively.

The vision of German-born Christian Wölffer, within a few short years the property had a new name, Wölffer Estate Vineyard, and a new winemaker, Roman Roth, who for the last 26 years has been instrumental in taking what was a passionate hobby for Mr. Wölffer and transforming his vision into some of the finest wines on the East Coast.

Now, at the age of 30, the vineyard has matured greatly and come into its own—but not without a lot of hard work and a great deal of heartbreak along the way.

On New Year’s Eve in 2008, founder Christian Wölffer was killed in a swimming accident off the coast of Brazil. In the wake of his death, two of his children, son Marc Wölffer and daughter Joey Wölffer, along with Mr. Roth became partners in Wölffer Estate Vineyard, taking the reins and the brand to a new level. Also a key player in running the business is Ms. Wölffer’s husband, Max Rohn.

Today, the 175-acre Sagaponack estate grows 55 acres of vines and also is home to Wölffer Stables. The wine is produced, sold and tasted in the classic 12,000-square-foot Tuscan-inspired villa that Christian Wölffer built on the property in 1997. The estate also has 52 more acres of vines on the North Fork, and another 160 acres managed in collaboration with North Fork growers.

Meanwhile, Marc Wölffer, who lives in Salzburg, Austria, owns vineyards in Spain and Argentina, where Finca Wölffer Rosé and Finca Brau are grown, aged and bottled.

The brand also extends to Wölffer Kitchen, a restaurant with locations in Sag Harbor and Amagansett, while Joey Wölffer has self-named clothing and accessories stores in Sag Harbor and Palm Beach.

“We all have what we focus on—I have my own business and Marc has his,” explained Ms. Wölffer during a recent interview in the Wölffer tasting room. “My father was involved in everything. I have no idea how to make wine, but I know what I like and what people like me like, so I leave the wine up to Roman and Marc.

“Max runs it. He’s really the boss,” she added. “I focus on the marketing, design, PR, and the look of and feel of it all. It’s a nice family thing. … I’m preaching that we have to stay humble. No matter how big we get, we’re local and gracious.”

Ms. Wölffer was 26 years old when her father died. Initially, she had no interest in running the property. But in the time it took to settle her father’s estate, she admits she had a change of heart.

“I had met my husband six months before my father died. I thought, ‘If he can deal with it, he’s my future,’” she said. “I got married and could see myself doing this. Max had been a consultant his whole life. I said the best way for us to learn as a family is to do it together. Bringing Roman in as a partner was another decision we made at that point.

“I’m grateful we can live out here and work. What a joy that this became a passion, job and career,” she said. “We realize that while it’s important to pay tribute to my father’s legacy and vision, we’re younger and it’s an opportunity to make this our spin with a lot of heritage.

“We’ve modernized it, but stayed true to the style.”

“It’s definitely come a long way,” agreed Mr. Roth, who landed at Wölffer in August 1992 after making wine in his native Germany, as well as in California and Australia. At the time, there were just 27 acres of vines planted.

He was speaking from the extensive wine cave on the lower level of the villa. The space is filled with massive wine storage casks and in the adjacent production room, workers were busy bottling this year’s rosé, Wölffer’s top seller.

Rosé represents one of Mr. Roth’s earliest wine-making efforts here and his first year yielded 82 cases. Now Wölffer makes more than 60,000 cases of rosé a year, representing 70 percent of the vineyard’s total production.

“‘Anything I touch turns pink’ is the joke around here,” grinned Mr. Roth. “In five years, it’s become an important additional leg for the winery.”

Mr. Roth credits three local winemakers for showing him the ropes on the East End: Bedell Cellars’ Richard Olsen-Harbich who at the time of his arrival was at Bridgehampton Winery (now South Fork Natural History Museum), Eric Fry from Lenz, and Russell Hearn at Pellegrini.

“The three couldn’t have been more different, and they had different styles,” Mr. Roth said. “Eric was traditional, Russell was very modern, Rich had a lot of experience.

“I came in and stayed somewhere in the middle,” he added. “In general, I want to be the person who finds the middle ground. I like punk and the Metropolitan Opera.”

Mr. Roth could right tell away that Chardonnay grapes were extremely suitable to the growing conditions in Sagaponack. By 1993, Wölffer’s Chardonnays were highly regarded on competitive wine lists. Then, the ’94 Chardonnay began appearing on menus in four-star restaurants in Manhattan, and in 1996, Sagpond Vineyards officially became Wölffer Estate Vineyard.

“Christian realized we were on to something. He felt proud and changed the name to Wölffer Estate and built this building in 1997,” Mr. Roth said. “The confidence changed once we were seeing results.”

More plantings followed, and today, Wölffer grows Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and small lots of Trebbiano, Pinot Noir and Vignole grapes under the supervision of longtime vineyard manager Richie Pisacano.

“First, people said, ‘You can’t grow grapes on the South Fork.’ Then we did, and they said, ‘You can grow great white grapes, but you can’t grow red,’” Mr. Roth recalled. “Our 2000 vintage Cab Franc was named the best wine in New York State. We showed we could make high-quality red wines, and in the meantime, the rosé kept on growing and growing.”

In addition to wine, Mr. Roth has also added hard cider and gin to the list of products created on the property. This October, Wölffer will launch a new brandy, with just 600 bottles produced this first year.

“The whole wave could only happen by finding partner growers,” Mr. Roth said. “You have to push on many different levels to become a world-class winery. The quality improves even today. We’re fine-tuning and investing. … We want to have the first wines on the East Coast traded at Sotheby’s.

“We’ve only scratched the surface, that’s the great part of Long Island,” he added. “There’s so much potential.

“It almost went beyond our dream.”