Wine Industry Advisor has expanded its Wine’s Most Inspiring People (MIP) articles into a monthly series. We will be profiling individuals from within our industry who showcase leadership, innovation, determination and inspiration — both within the industry and in society at-large. If you would like to nominate someone for MIP consideration, fill out the form here.
Wine’s Most Inspiring People: J. Stephen Casscles, Esq. – Educating for the Future of American Wine
By Laurie Wachter
J. Stephen Casscles, Esq., grew up on a fruit farm in New York’s Hudson River Valley, along with 40 other family members including grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins. It was a remnant of the fruit farm where his great-grandparents grew currants, berries and, of course, grapes that his grandfather turned into wine.
His grandparents inspired him to apply for a job at the neighboring Benmarl Winery, and at 14, he began helping in the vineyards and wine cellar — and made his first 300-gallon batch of
Seyval Blanc wine. Benmarl holds the first New York Farm Winery license and maintains one of the oldest continually farmed vineyards in America, first planted in the mid-1700s.
Falling for grapes
Casscles was captivated by the history and began planting his own vineyard with French-American hybrids first developed in the 1860s.
“I got cuttings of hybrids from Benmarl,” says Casscles. “Whites like Vidal, Verdelet, Seyval Blanc and Ravat, and reds like Baco Noir, Chelois and Chambourcin. And I just kept expanding.”
Alongside his legal career with New York State, he founded Cedar Cliff Vineyard and Nursery to grow, evaluate and propagate these hybrids and 19th-century American heritage varieties from the Hudson Valley and Boston’s North Shore. He distributes cuttings to botanical gardens, research facilities, commercial nurseries, universities and wineries throughout North America.
“I like growing hybrids because environmental change is causing warmer climates, more violent weather patterns and a lot more rain,” he explains. “These conditions make Vitis vinifera harder to grow, while these hybrids are much more resilient.”
Influencing the Hudson Valley and beyond
In addition to more than 50 years as a viticulturist, grape hybridizer and winemaker, Casscles writes and lectures at prestigious institutions, including Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and UMass Amherst. As a lawyer, he authored legislation for New York State’s liquor authority and, with State Senator William J. Larkin, Jr., the report A Proposal For Renewed Growth of the Hudson Valley’s Grape and Wine Industry, which helped reinvigorate the region’s wine industry. He also introduced Hudson-Chatham Winery’s founders, Carlo and Dominique DeVito, to the winery’s award-winning specialty, Baco Noir wines, and became its chief winemaker.
Linda Pierro, co-founder and managing editor of the Hudson Valley Wine, says, “The highlight of Steve’s contribution is putting all his knowledge into his Grapes of the Hudson Valley book. It’s a definitive work on grapes in our region, the first since the 1800s, and he’s broadened the 2nd edition to include New England.”
The book organizes upwards of 220 grape varieties by historical breeder — many of which Casscales was the first to identify correctly — and discusses how they behave in the field and wine.
Looking to the Future
These contributions are only a small portion of Casscles’ influence on the wine industry and his inspirational compilation of knowledge about American heritage and French-American hybrid grapes. He’s also looking to the future, not only with more resilient varieties, but by working with cofermentation innovators.
His advice to the wine industry? “It’s going to be tough, so we have to try different things to hook the younger consumers who want variety from day to day — different grape varieties, weird flavors and colors, and cofermented hybrid grapes blended with beer or cider — and
these grapes have to be grown sustainably.”
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If you would like to nominate someone for MIP consideration, fill out the form here.
Laurie Wachter
Laurie Wachter writes about the food and beverage industry from her home in Northern California’s wine country, drawing on more than 30 years of experience in consumer behavior and analytics at MSA, Circana and Catalina.
