Madison, Ohio · Lake Erie
Michael and Katy Profeta bought an unfinished stone house above Lake Erie. The outside was mostly built; inside there was no plumbing and not one finished room. Eight years later it opened as a winery, a restaurant and an eight-room inn. These thirty photographs were taken across the seasons.
I The Lake
Michael Profeta first saw the house while dropping a friend off nearby. Its whole north side looks out over Lake Erie, and below the lawn there is a seawall and a beach.
Lake Erie is slow to warm and slow to cool. Near the shore that adds weeks at both ends of the season, enough for Cabernet Franc to ripen.
Grand River Valley · more than 1,300 acres of vines · one acre on this estate
II The Vineyard
The family planted the first acre in 2020 with advice from Ohio State viticulturists. They were told to expect usable fruit in three years. It came in fourteen months, before the winery had its equipment, and neighboring wineries helped make the first vintage.
III The House
Another family began the house in the late 1990s and never finished it; a bank and then a group of investors owned it after them. The Profetas spent eight years finishing it, doing much of the work themselves alongside local tradespeople. The roof slate came from a church in Pennsylvania.
Digging the pool, the crew kept finding broken plates and forks. A forty-room summer hotel had stood here for nearly fifty years.
Cottage Grove Inn · 1914 — 1962
IV The Table
Michael Profeta makes the wine here in Madison. Chef Jeff Gable’s cooking starts from the two family tables behind the name, Italian and Irish, and changes with what West Orchards, Bonner Farms and Rainbow Farms are harvesting.
V The Rooms
The inn is for adults. Each room has a king or queen bed, a private bath and a view of the lake, and breakfast is cooked to order downstairs. They are the first guest rooms on this ground since Cottage Grove Inn closed in 1962.
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