Burt N.Y.- The grape harvest at Schulze Vineyards & Winery, is a family affair, with a unique story of a German immigrants dream realized.

With eight varieties of grapes spread across 45-acres of vineyards in eastern Niagara County, the production of an array of award-winning wines is truly a labor of love for Ann and Martin Schulze.

And yes at Schulze Vineyards & Winery, love has a little bit to do with it.

I visited Schulze winery last week to garner a better understanding of the grape harvesting process, take a look at the mechanisms used to produce some of Niagara County’s most acclaimed wines, but left with the unique story of how a vineyard brought together a family and how the dream of a German immigrant was realized along the Niagara Wine Trail USA.

It was 1966 and the Schulze family was living in Northern Germany, near Berlin. The Cold War and Russian occupation of East Berlin, led Martin’s father Willi to move his family first to Stuttgart, Germany and then in 1969 to Niagara USA, with a dream to own and operate a vineyard and winery.

Fortune brought the Schulze family to eastern Niagara County where they purchased 122-acres of farmland along the Lake Ontario Plains region of Niagara County and soon began the diligent process of growing and harvesting grapes. It was at first, an extremely labor-intensive process; Martin’s family would spend days hand-picking the grapes, which were then outsourced to commercial fruit juice companies, wineries and other commercial operations.

“It was a dream for us to come here and yes, it was a lot of work,” Martin admitted. “And yes we love it, I can’t say I’d want to do anything else.”

The family began in 1969 by growing the native Niagara and Catabwa grapes, in the years since, Martin moved forward with the idea of turning their grape growing operation into a wine producing farm. He began planting a variety of grapes including Vidal Blanc, Siegfried Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and concord grapes.

In the 45 years since arriving in Niagara County, Schulze Vineyards & Winery has grown from 16-acres of vineyards to 45-acres of vineyards, a tasting room, award-winning wines and the realized dream of a German Immigrant. (Schulze earned Double Gold for their Vidal Blanc and Gold for their Mon Cheri at the 2011 Finger Lakes International Wine Festival)

Oh, and that love story I mentioned before.

Ann and Martin met on the Schulze farm more than a dozen years ago, as she often volunteered performing odd jobs during the grape harvest. Over the years, the two grew close and what once was a labor of love turned into just that and Martin and Anne were married in 2003. In nearly a decade since marrying, Anne and Martin have worked to establish Schulze as one of Niagara County’s premier wineries.

Today, Schulze is as much a family-owned operation as it ever was. Martin and Ann are joined by their children Tyler, Noah and Shaun in the day-to-day operations of the vineyard. While the once laborious task of hand-picking grapes has been replaced by an enormous harvester, the unique tradition started decades ago by Martin’s father Willi, has not changed at Schulze.

“The most satisfying thing about all of this is making people happy,” Ann said. “The public appreciation of what is happening here is amazing and we couldn’t have done all of this without them.”

Check out the list of wines featured at Schulze.

If you go, Schulze Vineyards and Winery is located at 2090 Coomer Road Burt, NY 14028

For more information visit www.schulzewines.com.

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