Fresh from the vine

For some, winemaking is a hobby. For others, it’s a family custom that allows them to embrace their cultural heritage and continue a tradition they can pass on to their children.

Regardless of the purpose, the process requires time and patience. It sometimes takes years to perfect.

And like any art form, taste is subjective.

For Stark County winemakers Armen Pileggi, Diane and Ray Rovira, Bernie Ferrante, and Ken and Joyce Carani, wine is both a part of their heritage and a hobby.

It’s what brings their families and friends together and makes them part of a tradition and history.

Much like old family recipes and photos, wine can tell a story and bond generations.

The following pages tell a bit of the stories behind these Stark County winemakers.

ARMEN PILEGGI

For Pileggi, a good wine is true to the fruit from which it is made.

After making wine for 45 years, anywhere from 200 to 300 gallons per year (14 different kinds), the Italian-American father of three and grandfather of seven can be called an expert.

“It has to have a good taste, smooth, not strong,” he said.

Coming up with his award-winning wines required much trial and error for Pileggi. Although his father made wine, he was not satisfied using the recipes of others.

“I learned on my own, with experience,” he said.

In the past 10 years, he has won 30 medals for his creations.

Pileggi has 12 kinds of grapes growing in the backyard arbor at his northwest Canton home. While some home vintners use grape juice sold in 6-gallon containers, Pileggi uses only fresh grapes.

“There’s nothing like making wine from fresh grapes,” he said.

“I take six or seven kinds, put them on a platter and let people taste. There’s nothing like the true fruit.”

With fruit, he said, he can make a second wine, called LaQuata, from the pulp that is left.

“I fool people with it, honest-to-God wine connoisseurs — even my father-in-law,” he said with a laugh of his wife Frances’ late father, an Italian immigrant who also made wine.

Pileggi’s wine is not found in stores because he gives it away only to family and friends, often boxing it and shipping it to relatives in Brooklyn, N.Y. He spends many hours in his kitchen teaching his methods to fellow members of the Sons of Italy.

His favorite wine is his white Niagara, which has won several wine competitions.

For those not fortunate enough to try Pileggi’s wine, take heart — he says you don’t need to go out and pay a lot of money for a bottle of wine.

“I don’t believe in it,” he said.

DIANE AND RAY ROVIRA

For the Roviras, making wine at home is a hobby they both enjoy.

“It’s something we do together. That’s what I love about it,” Ray said. “She fills and I cork, and we laugh the whole time we do it.”

The couple, married five years, started making wine from home kits about seven years ago.

Diane said the kits are an easy and inexpensive way to make wine at home, with one kit yielding 28 to 30 bottles for $3 to $8 per bottle, depending on the kind.

The Roviras’ tastes have evolved over the years, which they say is common.

“We like the dry reds. As you age, you start to prefer dry over sweet,” Diane said.

Summer wines, she said, can be enjoyed in as few as three months.

They often will make wine with friends and split the bottles. They say it’s a fun way to socialize.

The North Canton couple enjoy winemaking so much, they recently decided to make it their business.

Ray was laid off from his job in information technology, and Diane had quit her job as a computer operations manager to take care of her elderly parents.

“We’re too young to retire and wait for Social Security,” Diane explained. “We thought, let’s do something we love and share it with others.”

Vino Fabbricante at 4029 Hills & Dales Rd. NW opened a few months ago. There, the couple sell winemaking kits and equipment.

What makes their shop different is that customers can choose to make their wine there to avoid the mess at home.

“They can make their own labels here,” Diane said. “It’s great for weddings and gifts.”

They also offer classes and wine tastings so that customers can taste, then choose what they want to make.

KEN AND JOYCE CARANI

Living on 11 acres in Waynesburg, Ken and Joyce Carani have dreams of making their property their own local vineyard and accompanying wine shop.

They have 17 years of winemaking under their belts, as well as some medal-winning creations, but it wasn’t always a successful endeavor.

“Some years ago, I tried two years in a row, and it was a flop,” said Ken, who works at Myers Controlled Power in North Canton.

It was later when he tried a friend’s homemade wine and got his recipe that he decided to give it another go round.

“Both of us are of Italian heritage,” Joyce said, who cites family tradition as a reason for their love of winemaking. “We get the grandchildren involved. It’s fun and rewarding.”

Ken enjoys the camaraderie of getting ready for the annual winemaking with relatives and friends.

Although they initially started with kits using grape juice, they have evolved to using grapes shipped from California.

“The trick of it is letting it ferment with the skin,” Ken said. “It gives it a bolder flavor. A richer, better flavor.”

They are anticipating their production with more excitement than usual this year because, for the first time, they will use grapes harvested from the 25 vines on their property.

They’ve used locally grown grapes for the past few years while awaiting their own and prefer using grapes over juice even though “it requires more baby-sitting,” Ken said.

Last year, the couple made 100 bottles. Although their wine is not yet available for purchase, they see a label from “Woodland Winery” in their future.

BERNIE FERRANTE

Winemaking has been a family tradition in the Ferrante family for generations, handed down from Bernie’s great-grandfather who lived in Italy, south of Verona.

For the first-generation American, it is a tradition Ferrante intends to preserve, with some tweaking. He hopes to promote and sell the wines with his own label in the near future.

“We like to make organic wines with very little sulfites,” he said of the wines he makes with his father, Anthony, and a friend.

His tag line: “It’s not chemistry, it’s basically nature,” he said.

Making wine without the traditional sulfite ingredients that protect the wine from organism growth and oxygen and allow it to age is a challenge.

“There is a bit more waste this way,” Ferrante explained. “You have to watch it more closely so you don’t lose a batch.”

Right now, Ferrante, who works in the family masonry business, trades and sells his wine to friends and through word of mouth.

His favorites include Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and a few zinfandels.

He plans to make about 500 gallons this year, just under the limit allowed without a license. He hopes to maneuver through the government licensing red tape and be ready to expand soon.

“Everyone starts small. You need to perfect the method,” he said.

Through the methods he learned from his father and grandfather, as well as from tips on the Internet, his product continues to evolve.

“Combining the old and the new (methods), you can improve with leaps and bounds. That’s very helpful,” he said.