Rooted in viticulture: Love for grapes and wine led viticulturalist to Germany
Friday, December 13, 2024
Media Contact: Sophia Fahleson | Digital Communications Specialist | 405-744-7063 | sophia.fahleson@okstate.edu
A deep-rooted passion for plants took Aaron Essary across the ocean to Germany. Essary’s interest in horticulture began at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where an introductory botany class sparked his curiosity.
“I did not know anything about grapes or wine back then — I just knew I loved plants,” said Essary, Oklahoma State University Extension viticulture specialist. “After finishing my bachelor’s degree at Stephen F. Austin, I started working at a local plant nursery in Tyler, Texas.”
For eight months, he honed his skills at the nursery, Essary said. Then, he discovered a nearby vineyard that sparked a new interest: viticulture.
Essary purchased a camper and traveled around Texas, working for different wineries and farms, gaining hands-on experience, and deepening his connection to the industry, he said.
He completed a master’s degree in horticulture at Texas A&M University. He worked in the industry for a year before joining the Ferguson College of Agriculture faculty in August 2022.
In 2023, Essary enrolled at OSU to work toward his doctoral degree in viticulture and enology.
“Starting my doctorate, I’m still focusing on grapes and winemaking,” said Essary. “My dissertation is focused on the interaction of grapevines and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.”
Using the Cimarron Valley Research Station in Perkins, Oklahoma, Essary and Blake Tittsworth work hands-on with grapes. The pair spend about 60% of their time in Perkins at the research facility and 40% in a lab in the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center on the OSU campus.
“We’re either conducting research and taking soil moisture measurements for Aaron’s dissertation, or doing normal vineyard work, such as setting up wires, irrigation, or planting,” said Blake Tittsworth, horticulture and Spanish junior.
As a state viticulturist, Essary offers educational information and resource materials statewide, specifically to those interested in winemaking, vineyards, or professionals within the industry.
“OSU Extension is about teaching the public,” Essary said. “I put on workshops, host webinars and also teach a class, but it’s not a formal classroom of students.”
Essary teaches an in-person class once a month from March to September at the Cimarron Valley Research Station.
The class, centered around prospective growers, allows participants to look at the cyclic nature of a grapevine from bud to harvest, Essary said. He also hosts monthly webinars for industry professionals.
In his role, Essary assists 63 licensed wineries across Oklahoma, Essary said. He visits at an owner’s request and provides advice as needed, he added.
Essary has an 11-month contract, “I realized I had the entire month off and decided I wanted to leave the country,” Essary said. “Rather than sit here and do nothing, I decided I’m going to Germany.”giving him July off.
The idea was supported by colleagues and by horticultural and landscape architecture department head Justin Quetone Moss, who told Essary this opportunity was one he should not pass up.
“When Aaron first mentioned this unique opportunity, I encouraged him to take advantage of it,” Moss said. “It’s not often one gets the chance to learn about enology from one of the best regions in the world. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and experience for Aaron, and he will now use this knowledge to benefit Oklahoma growers and winemakers.”
Beyond the industry experiences, Germany has a special meaning for Essary as a way to reconnect with his heritage, he said.
“First and foremost, my grandfather is German,” Essary said. “My grandfather was born and raised in eastern Germany. I wanted to see where my family hails from.”
Germany has been a destination Essary has always wanted to visit, he said, but stepping into his role as state viticulturist provided him with a path to get there.
“The connection I made in Germany was completely personal,” Essary said. “It wasn’t your typical study-abroad course recognized by OSU.”
Like the United States, Germany has wine regions, or geographical areas known for wine production because of the climate.
Essary started researching wine regions throughout Germany, specifically Mosel, he said.
“I found a little family operation called Weingut Alten,” Essary said.
The Alten family, consisting of Klaus, Dorothee, and their two adult daughters, Julia and Daniela, own a 20-acre vineyard in Mosel.
“I read about their operation and sent them an email,” Essary said. “I told them who I was and what I did and explained I would work for free if they would house and feed me.
“They responded and said it sounded fun,” Essary said “We met over Zoom, and it just took one Zoom meeting. I said I’d love to come if you would have me, and they gratefully accepted.”
Once his arrangements were made, Essary booked a ticket to fly to Mosel, Germany. The rest of his story unfolds among the vines, as he immersed himself in the life of a small German vineyard and welcomed the culture of German winemaking.
On the first day, Essary began his work in the vineyards alongside the Alten family. The family maintains all aspects of the winery from the vineyards and the winemaking to the packaging and selling of wine. The marketing for the vineyard is even taken care of in-house by the two daughters, Essary said.
“We worked six days a week and started every day at 7 a.m. in the vineyard,” Essary said. “The start of the day was a lot of canopy management, leaf pulling, and hedging. Then, we would typically break for lunch around 1 p.m., which typically consisted of bread.
“Then, we’d either go back to the field or go to the warehouse to label bottles, filter wine, or package and ship wine, and typically end our day around 7 p.m.,” he added.
Working alongside Klaus Alten, who only speaks German, often provided a challenge for Essary, he said.
“I learned a few German phrases, and he learned how to speak slow and simply,” Essary said. “I learned to say ‘ich verstehen,’ which is ‘I understand,’ and ‘ich verstehen nicht,’ which is ‘I don’t understand.’ So, he would ramble something in German, and I’d say I understand, or I don’t understand, and he’d try again.”
Winemaking throughout Germany is essentially the same as it is in the U.S.; however, Essary noticed subtle differences, he said.
For example, Americans use T-posts and wire to grow vines horizontally, whereas Germans use a single pole and grow vines vertically, Essary said.
“Another thing the Germans do is wild fermentation,” Essary said. “They don’t add yeast when they pick grapes and smash them to make wine. The yeast they use occurs naturally.”
Germany has a thousand-year build up of naturally occurring winemaking yeast everywhere, eliminating the need to add yeast, Essary said.
Attempting wild fermentation in Oklahoma would be taking a great risk because of the unknown yeast in the air, resulting in poor taste and spoilage, he added.
Essary also observed the difference in the terrain on which Germans maintain their vineyards compared to Oklahoma, he said.
“All of the vineyards are on a slope,” Essary said. “So, half the time I was working it felt like I was hiking. You couldn’t get a tractor up and down the vineyard, so you had to do everything by hand.”
Back in Oklahoma, Essary plans to complete his doctorate and hopes to begin teaching crop physiology and viticulture classes within the Ferguson College of Agriculture, he said.
“I don’t know where to begin to get it in the works, but if I had it my way, I and another professor would take 10 students and go live abroad while also working on a vineyard winery for weeks at a time,” Essary said.
Engaging with viticultural universities in Germany, Essary would like the program to partner with one of the universities to provide housing for students while exploring the vineyards, he said.
In the meantime, Essary plans to incorporate some of the differences in infrastructure at the facility in Perkins by adding the single pole practice this spring, he said.
Essary hopes to visit Germany during winter break to see the vineyards in a dormant season and then return in summer 2025, he said.
“The fact the vineyard and wine connect us is why I want to keep going back,” Essary said.
Essary learned and experienced much about a culture that goes back hundreds of years, he said.
The experiences he gathered and memories he made are ones to appreciate for a lifetime, he added.
“The biggest impact was learning how to just appreciate life, appreciate wine, and understand it’s a product from the earth,” Essary said.
Story by Alexis Vickrey | Cowboy Journal