History

Klingshirn Winery is a third generation family farm winery established in the fall of 1935. A large surplus grape crop prompted first generation Albert R. Klingshirn to begin producing wine commercially, in twenty 50 gallon wooden barrels in the cellar of his home. Five years later Albert built a small winery consisting of two levels. The basement housed the fermentation tanks and two hundred 50 gallon wooden barrels. The small ground level room served as a Bottling/Storage/Sales Room. The wine press was stored on a nearby farm.

Albert's son, Allan, purchased the farm and winery in 1955 and began expanding the product line. As the business grew, small barrels were replaced by larger wooden casks and stainless steel tanks. In 1978 the winery was expanded to four times its original size. The building was now large enough to contain all the production facilities and a retail sales room.

Allan's youngest son, Lee, graduated from Ohio State University in 1986 with a Bachelors Degree in Viticulture and Enology. Lee, the third generation operator, is now the winemaker and works with his parents to continue the family tradition.

Each man has contributed to the winery in distinct ways and has helped to create the business that Klingshirn Winery is today. Below, you can take a photo tour through the livlihood of three generations of Klingshirns.

First generation wine producer, Albert Klinshirn and his wife, Theresa built the original winery just west of their home. The winery consisted of a basement and small ground-level floor.

The "Blitz", a homemade tractor, was built in the early 1940's.

Second generation, Allan Klingshirn, became the operator of the winery and vineyards in 1946. At this time, the wine was still stored in smaller wooden barrels and only a couple of stainless steel tanks.

The Klingshirns handpicked all of the grapes until 1978 when the first mechanical harvester was purchased by Allan and four other Welch grapegrowers in the area.

Allan made several improvements for the winery. He built a quonset to house farming equipment and more steel tanks.

In 1978, Allan also oversaw the expansion of the winery to four times its original size. The addition provided space for storing large wine barrels and stainless steel tanks, as well as a retail room.

Below are the larger wine barrels with Lee, the current winemaker and operator, standing in front of them.

Third Generation, Lee Klingshirn took over the family business in 1985 when he returned from college.
In 1988, Lee became the first of the Klingshirn proprietors to manufacture champagne.The process needed a great deal of refinement, but with enough trial and error, and the eventual acquisition of the equipment neccessary for a sound package,medal winning Lake Erie champagnes have been produced.

Then, as fate would have it, Lee met Nancy Autullo at the Columbus Wine and Arts Festival in March of 1992. As the saying goes, one thing led to another,and by 2002, we had a happy family.

And in 2004, Lee, Nancy, Theresa, Frank and Josephine are all ready to wish their friends a Merry Christmas and Happy 2005.