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Portage County business adds to the winery boom in Northeast Ohio
Kelvin Anderson and his family opened the doors to the Cana Valley Winery at 5665 Waterloo Rd. in Portage County's Atwater Township on Oct. 11, continuing the family’s entrepreneurial tradition. The winery is family-run, with Anderson focusing on creating the wines and his wife, Esther, his son, Kelvin II, and daughter-in-law, Amber, handling the service and other duties. Pictured here from left are Kelvin Anderson II, his wife Amber, Esther and Kelvin Anderson. (Photo courtesy of Cana Valley Winery)
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: November 7, 2013
Those who are familiar with the Bible know Cana as the place where Jesus performed his first public miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Recently an Ohio family living in Portage County’s Atwater Township named their winery in honor of this account.
Kelvin Anderson and his wife, Esther, opened the doors to the Cana Valley Winery at 5665 Waterloo Rd. on Oct. 11, continuing the family’s entrepreneurial tradition.
“Based on our Christian beliefs, it was the perfect name for our winery,” said Anderson.
The idea for the business dates back several years and grew out of a conversation Esther had with a coworker at FirstMerit Bank.
“My coworker was talking about how his father-in-law made wine and I mentioned it to my husband who decided to try doing it for fun,” said Esther.
But what began as a “do-it-yourself experiment” quickly took hold after Anderson began letting family and friends sample his creations. “Making wine is something I always wanted to try just for myself,” said Anderson. “But after several people tasted it and said it was really good and that I should consider selling it, I decided to check into what the wine industry was all about.”
What he learned is that making wine was not as simple as it looked, especially if he wanted to take it to the sales level.
“There is way more chemistry involved than I expected and I gained a real appreciation for people in the industry,” said Anderson. He said he received a lot of input from other northeast Ohio winemakers, allowing him to hone his craft.
“Given the limited amount of grapes that can be grown in the state because of the climate and what Ohio winemakers have to work with, I learned to do a lot with a little,” Anderson said. “Ohio winemakers certainly deserve their due.”
Born in Akron, Anderson has been an entrepreneur of sorts right from the start. After graduating from Springfield High School in Springfield Township in Summit County, he became a professional musician playing bass guitar and singing with the Top 40s-style group “Punch” for over 10 years.
He and his wife bought the 40-acre property where the winery is now located about 16 years ago, starting Anderson Engraving, which he operates out of his home. “We have manufactured tags for many local manufacturing companies which I still do during the day,” said Anderson.
Since obtaining his license and other necessary credentials in October 2011, Anderson said his main objectives have been running the engraving business and producing high-quality wine for all levels of drinkers.
“Now that our wine tasting room is open (since Oct. 11), we have been able to share our work, which has been in the making for two years with others and that has been a rewarding experience.”
The tasting room was created from an old horse barn, which now sports a modern look, but keeps its country feel paying tribute to Anderson’s roots.
The winery is family run, with Anderson focusing on creating the wines and Esther, his son, Kelvin II, and daughter-in-law, Amber, handling the service and other duties.
“We all weighed in on the decisions about the décor,” said Amber. “We went for a modern look with a fireplace in the back corner, stone-type floor and black tables with a centerpiece. The bar is the focal point and we have cattails and reeds in a vase because Cana means place of reeds.”
“We did a lot of research and spoke with a lot of other wineries around the area,” said Kelvin II. “We were surprised to find out that the other wineries in the area treated us like part of their community, not a competitor.”
“We are hoping to keep it family-only as long as possible,” said Esther.
As for the religious name, although the owners are Christian, Kelvin II stressed, “This is not a Christian winery but a winery run by Christians. The name was not an attempt to force theological views on others but a way to keep us connected to the proper view of God’s gifts without abusing them, one of those gifts being wine. The Bible talks about wine a lot so it makes sense that Christians can own wineries.”
In addition to the traditional wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Riesling, a few of the flavors have Biblical names such as Virtuous Woman (Chocolate Raspberry) and Adam’s Apple (Sweet Green Apple Riesling).
There is also a selection called Amber (Sweet Peach Chardonnay) and another one entitled, Blue Star (Sweet Blueberry Merlot).
“Blue Star is named after my wife because Esther means star,” said Anderson.
Prices range from $1 for a sample to $5 for a glass and $15 per bottle. There is also a sample flight, which features one of each wine for $9. Dessert wines are slightly more expensive. The winery is open from 4 to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 4 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays.
While all the wines at Cana Valley are made by Anderson, he said so far the juice that he used to create them comes from California.
“We are still working on our vineyards,” said Anderson. “Ohio has good Concord grapes and Niagara grapes but we are also looking at some of the hybrids like the Chardonel grape which is being grown at Ohio State.”
The tasting room seats about 60 people and patrons are allowed to bring their own food or order from Magrell’s Pizza, which delivers.
“We would like to expand and add picnic tables and entertainment at some point but one thing that we don’t want to do is food service,” said Anderson. “We want to focus on making the wines.”
The winery is the newest one in the area, but Anderson said the business is already drawing a good crowd.
“Based on the advice of other wineries we decided to do a soft opening and it went very well,” said Anderson. “It’s been incredible ever since. Having all the wineries in the area is a good thing since it drives everyone’s business. There are a lot of people who want to tour multiple wineries at the same time.”
Aside from the Facebook page, word of mouth has been driving the force for attracting visitors, Anderson said.
“A lot of people followed us on Facebook before we opened and then came in. I’m not sure how much advertising we will do. We are going to wait and see. If enough people like us and tell their friends we might not have to do any,” said Anderson.
“The one thing we don’t want is to grow too big too fast.”