More than 160 years ago, Carl Limpert’s great-grandparents settled on over 70 acres of farmland in Dover, known today as Westlake. The Limpert family established a fruit farm in the 1910s and shifted to making fruit wine commercially in 1934, a year after Prohibition. The family determined the market for wine at the time was more robust than the fruit produced at the farm.

Over the years the area has transitioned from large tracts of undeveloped land to a highly developed commercial area and the fruit farm had decreased in size to 25 acres. Known for its simple country wine sold only in gallon quantities, regulars would purchase it from the back porch of Limpert’s house. The location in the 1990s offered four varieties of Concord, a semi-sweet Niagara, and one dry variety. All of the wine was produced from Labrusca grapes, apples, plums, and apricots grown on site. Carl Limpert, with help from his daughter Nancy Rodgers, ran the winery until his passing in 1998.

Photo features Carl Limpert, winemaker and wine owner