From Wine to Spirits: How One Winery Expanded Its Horizons Almost By Accident
CrushBrew Editorial · Wine & Spirits · 8 min read
Mazza has been making wine in the Lake Erie Wine Country since 1972, when brothers Robert and Frank Mazza opened Mazza Vineyards in North East, Pennsylvania. More than 50 years later, the family business spans three locations across the Lake Erie AVA in Pennsylvania and New York, and a portfolio that now reaches well beyond wine into small-batch spirits and craft beer under the Five & 20 brand. We talked with Mario Mazza, the founder’s son and the company’s general manager, about expanding into new territory while keeping the traditions that matter.
In This Article
What is Mazza, and how did it begin?
Mazza is a family-owned wine, spirits, and craft beer producer on the shores of Lake Erie. It began in 1972, when brothers Robert “Bob” and Frank Mazza, sons of a Calabrian immigrant who had bought the land a decade earlier, opened Mazza Vineyards in North East, Pennsylvania, one of the first wineries to launch after the state’s Limited Winery Act. The Mediterranean-style winery still nods to the family’s Italian roots.
Over the years the operation has grown into three locations across the Lake Erie AVA: Mazza Vineyards and the South Shore Wine Company in North East, PA, and Mazza Chautauqua Cellars in Westfield, NY. Founder Bob Mazza remains president, while his son Mario serves as vice president and general manager and the company’s oenologist, and daughter Vanessa is creative director. The wines range from blends and hybrids to sparkling wines and the family’s signature ice wine.
What makes Mazza’s ice wine special?
Ice wine is one of Mazza’s signatures. Asked whether the winery was the first in the United States to make it, Mario offers a careful correction: Mazza was the first winery in Pennsylvania to produce ice wine, and while he is not sure where that ranks nationally, it was certainly a fairly early adopter. The winery started in the early 1980s, around the same time as Inniskillin, the Niagara-region winery in Ontario that helped pioneer icewine, and has made it since 1984.
Ice Wine
Ice wine is a specialty dessert wine made from grapes left to freeze on the vine. The frozen grapes are pressed while still frozen, yielding a small amount of intensely sweet, concentrated juice. Mazza’s is usually made from Vidal Blanc, and the cold Lake Erie climate is well suited to it.
That cold-climate advantage runs through the whole region. The moderating effect of Lake Erie lengthens the growing season, but its hard winters make the deep freeze that ice wine depends on a near-certainty most years.
Why did Mazza expand into spirits and beer?
Mario came to the family business by an unusual route: after studying chemical engineering and working briefly in that field, he went back to graduate school for oenology in Adelaide, Australia, then returned to the Lake Erie Region. The distillery, he says, grew out of a conversation about opening a New York location.
“The distillery started almost as a joke when my dad and I were talking about opening a new location in NY.”
— Mario Mazza, general manager of Mazza
A few months later, while Mario was still overseas, they had bought the property and ordered a still from Germany. For years distilling stayed an ancillary part of the business, focused on grape- and fruit-based spirits like grappa, fruit brandies, and fortification spirit. Then the craft-spirits opportunity got serious, and the operation grew into grain spirits, liqueurs, and cordials too.
What does Five & 20 Spirits & Brewing make?
Five & 20 Spirits & Brewing, named for its location on Route 20 in Westfield, makes a wide range of spirits, plus a rotating lineup of craft beers brewed with grains grown on the surrounding farmland. The distilling draws on the blending techniques Mazza has honed over decades of winemaking.
| Spirit | What It Is |
|---|---|
| Grappa | A brandy distilled from grape pomace, the skins and seeds left after pressing wine. |
| Eau de vie | A clear brandy distilled from fermented fruit. |
| Rye whiskey | A grain whiskey made largely from rye. |
| Bourbon | A barrel-aged American whiskey made largely from corn. |
| Limoncello | A sweet Italian-style lemon liqueur. |
| Bierschnapps | A spirit distilled from beer. |
Grappa
Grappa is a brandy distilled from pomace, the grape skins, seeds, and stems left over after pressing grapes for wine. It was among the first spirits Mazza distilled, a natural extension of the winery’s grape supply.
Beyond its own labels, Mazza runs a robust custom and contract operation, offering custom crush, contract bottling, and contract distillation for outside brands, from large companies to emerging ones. Over the years it has produced spirits and liqueurs for clients including Bittermens Spirits, and has blended and bottled rums for Ed Hamilton’s Ministry of Rum.
What is Lake Erie Wine Country, and what else does Mazza offer?
Mazza is part of Lake Erie Wine Country, a cooperative of wineries along the lake in both Pennsylvania and New York that market the region together and host trail-wide events to draw visitors. Mario credits it as a platform that helped Mazza grow, noting that the number of wineries on the trail roughly doubled over a recent decade.
Lake Erie AVA
An American Viticultural Area is a federally designated wine-grape region. The Lake Erie AVA, which spans parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, is the largest grape-growing region east of the Rocky Mountains, with tens of thousands of acres of vineyards.
Mazza also runs a private-label program that has operated for more than three decades, started by Mario and his sister Vanessa when they were still in high school. Customers can commemorate weddings, corporate functions, and even civic occasions, like the dedication of the Flagship Niagara, the brig from the War of 1812-era Battle of Lake Erie, with custom labels and decorated bottles, whether they want a few bottles or a few hundred.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mazza
🍷 Mazza at a Glance
Key facts about the family, the brands, and the beverages.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1972, by brothers Robert and Frank Mazza, in North East, Pennsylvania. |
| Family | Robert “Bob” Mazza (founder/president); son Mario (VP/GM and oenologist); daughter Vanessa (creative director). |
| Locations | Mazza Vineyards and South Shore Wine Company (North East, PA); Mazza Chautauqua Cellars / Five & 20 (Westfield, NY). |
| Wines | Blends, hybrids, sparkling, and the signature Vidal Blanc Ice Wine; in the Lake Erie AVA. |
| Spirits & Beer | Five & 20: grappa, eau de vie, rye whiskey, bourbon, limoncello, bierschnapps, and craft beer. |
| Ice Wine | Made since 1984; the first in Pennsylvania, per the winery. |
| Distinction | Mazza Chautauqua Cellars / Five & 20 is New York’s first combined winery, distillery, and brewery. |
| Visiting | Tasting rooms in North East, PA and Westfield, NY; hours change seasonally. |
| Online | enjoymazza.com (wines) and fiveand20.com (spirits & beer). |
