Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Cotton.
Eric, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Arizona into a family of Engineers, Ranchers, Miners, and Lawyers. My parents were both engineers, and we moved wherever one of them would get a better job. I ended up in Clear Lake, IA when I graduated from high school, and I got my Chemical Engineering Degree from Iowa State University. From there, I got a job at Bailey Controls (now ABB) in Wickliffe, OH.
I grew up on a farm, and I wanted to find a way to get back to that lifestyle. Ever since I was in college, I had an idea in the back of my head that I would plant grapes and make wine someday. I had always figured it would be out west somewhere, but living out here, I discovered this odd little warm wine region in the Grand River Valley… and the land was about 1/100th the cost of vineyard land out west.
I moved out to Madison in 2005 and started clearing the site for what has now turned into “Vineyard #1.” It was heavily wooded, and I was able to market the timber and start preparing that land to plant a vineyard, and started planting vines in 2010. I also worked for another vineyard nearby from 2006-2010 while I was getting my own vineyard up and running.
Since then, my brother bought some land just South of me, and we are growing grapes over there now, as are two neighbors beside him.
Another grape grower and I built and operate Silver Crest Cellars which we opened in 2018 using the grapes from six vineyards in our little grape-growing “federation”.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a relatively smooth road, but only because of an enormous amount of planning, education, hard work, and a little bit of luck. In the mid-1990s, I started attending grape and wine seminars in Ohio and in Germany. I joined several agricultural and wine-growing organizations. I also sat down and discussed my plans with educators at Ohio State, and visited the “old timers” in the grape and wine industry here in NE Ohio and in Europe. I started looking for property seriously in 2001 and bought my vineyard property in 2005. The property where the winery is situated became available in 2012, and the planning for the vineyard and winery buildings started in 2013.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I left my job as an Advanced Control Systems and Simulation Engineer/Project Manager in 2011. Soon after that, Kent State University was looking for an instructor for their Viticulture and Enology (grape growing and wine making) program. The manager of the Ohio State Grape Research Vineyard in Ashtabula ratted me out to them, and I’ve been teaching at the KSU Ashtabula Campus ever since. This has been a great experience for me. It forces me to stay current on the research being done in the industry, and the students ask the most interesting questions that I then have to answer!
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
In my old job, I was responsible for chemical plant construction projects. As you might imagine, you have to develop a high level of organization and planning skills for that. Every detail has to be accounted for when you are building and starting up a chemical plant, and there is no “partial credit” when you flip the switch. It all has to work. It is a pass/fail situation, and an A- isn’t going to be good enough!
Contact Info:
- Website: silvercrestcellars.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silvercrest_cellars/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silvercrestcellars/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtH5xOoQn_QDcxqbfKhVIQ
