Kendra Knapik, Ellison Estate Vineyard, Grand Isle and Stowe
Kendra and Rob Knapik and their trio of red-heads in Ellison Estate Vineyard, Grand Isle. PHOTO COURTESY ELLISON ESTATE VINEYARD
Kendra Knapik was enjoying a successful career as Vermont’s first veterinary oncologist in northern Vermont while raising her young family. Yet she felt something was missing. She dreamed of creating a business with her husband Rob, chair of the physics department at Norwich University. The couple pondered making premium ice cream, but a weekend at a winery in Maryland uncorked Kendra’s creative juices that eventually fermented into Ellison Estate Vineyard, the winery she established with Rob in 2018.
Already a wine geek, Kendra took a viticulture class at University of Vermont in summer 2017. The instructor mentioned that an abandoned vineyard in the Champlain Islands was for sale. Kendra knew the area well; she spent many childhood summers at her grandfather’s dairy farm in Alburg. Kendra and Rob immediately fell in love with the Grand Isle property on a southeastern slope overlooking Lake Champlain. In February 2018, they closed the deal with owners Bob and Linda Livingstone who had planted 10½ acres of cold-climate vines between 2005 and 2011. Kendra and Rob began the lengthy process of reviving the vineyard and converting it to organic. They also decided to sell their grapes to other winemakers while they eased their way into the project. “It was a complicated first year, and we didn’t have a clue what we were doing initially. But starting our own farm in Grand Isle felt like coming home,” Kendra says.
One of Ellison Estate‘s lightly sparkling reds, truly refreshing on the palate. PHOTO COURTESY ELLISON ESTATE VINEYARD
“Deirdre and Caleb Barber, along with Ken Albert and Ethan Joseph of Shelburne Vineyards, were all so encouraging and helpful as we were getting started. Deirdre told me to get some grapes, smush them up, and start experimenting.” –Kendra Knapik
PHOTO COURTESY ELLISON ESTATE VINEYARD
Concurrently, the family moved from Waterbury Center to Stowe where they bought a house with a basement large enough to set up a production facility. “2018 was a crazy summer,” Kendra recalls with a laugh. “We were living in an Airstream trailer on the vineyard with three young kids, two dogs, and two cats, trying to figure out how to run a farm, tend the vines and failing trellises, and set up a winery back in Stowe, an hour away.” In September, the couple processed their first 2,000 pounds of fruit, borrowed Shelburne Vineyards’ de-stemmer, foot-stomped the grapes, fermented the juice, then waited to taste the results of their first experiment in winemaking. That first season yielded 50 cases of delicious wine. The following year, Kendra and Rob obtained a commercial license to make wine, and with a small team processed 8 tons of grapes producing 500 cases that they released during the 2020 pandemic.
Ellison Estate Vineyard now grows 12 varieties of hybrid grapes on 15 trellised acres in Grand Isle. Back home in Stowe, Kendra makes small-batch, minimal intervention wines using native yeast fermentation, co-fermenting and blending whites and reds. Approximately half are sparkling wines. “Because our grapes have higher acidity, they’re perfect for making beautiful pét-nats and traditional method sparkling wines,” she explains. I sipped several styles of still and sparkling wines on a late summer afternoon and found each one refreshingly pure, clean, and utterly enjoyable. Equally charming are the distinctive labels that boast either drawings of their beloved working sheep or vintage wallpaper featuring the farm’s flora and fauna.
Kendra and Rob tasted several of Deirdre Heekin’s La Garagista wines early in their journey and knew they wanted to make similar styles of natural wine. “Deirdre and Caleb Barber, along with Ken Albert and Ethan Joseph of Shelburne Vineyards, were all so encouraging and helpful as we were getting started. Deirdre told me to get some grapes, smush them up, and start experimenting. Not having a formal wine education allows me to tap in to my science background and have fun learning. I understand microbes and Rob is a master of logistics, so we make a good team. It’s exciting to be part of this pioneering effort as we figure out which varieties produce best and prove the most adaptable to our changing climate. Thanks to Deirdre, a number of us are adopting more natural winemaking styles, farming the grapes in the healthiest ways, and producing some authentic Vermont wines.”
Kendra and Rob infuse even the intense harvest days with fun. PHOTO COURTESY ELLISON ESTATE VINEYARD
“Farming requires patience, and I’ve had to learn that there’s a lot we can’t control and accept there’s only so much we can accomplish. That’s been healthy for me.” –Kendra Knapik
Kendra‘s flock of sheep plays a major role in helping maintain the vineyard‘s landscape and provide soil fertility. PHOTO COURTESY ELLISON ESTATE VINEYARD
Ellison Estate labels boast a vintage wallpaper aesthetic, each related to a specific varietal. PHOTO COURTESY ELLISON ESTATE VINEYARD
Ellison Estate has a tasting room in Stowe where visitors can taste flights, order by the glass, purchase bottles, and enjoy curated cheese and charcuterie boards.
Ellison Estate has a tasting room in Stowe where visitors can taste flights, order by the glass, purchase bottles, and enjoy curated cheese and charcuterie boards with products from Jasper Hill Farm and Sage Farm Goat Dairy, cured meats from Agricola Farm, Tavernier chocolates, and fresh baguettes from Two Sons Bakery. Enthusiasts can join the FLOCK wine club, named for the sheep that play a vital role grazing, fertilizing, and aerating the vineyard’s soil. Participants can receive three or six bottles quarterly, and FLOCK membership allows access to certain exclusive wines. Wine can be shipped to 37 states outside Vermont.
Kendra concludes: “I’m a type-A person, but farming requires patience, and I’ve had to learn that there’s a lot we can’t control and accept there’s only so much we can accomplish. That’s been healthy for me. Winemaking and growing grapes is all about balance. That’s what we’re trying to achieve on the farm, in our wine, and in our lives.”
