The next generation is ready to put his mark on the
Mulberry Creek Herb Farm legacy.
Ben Langan, eldest son to Mulberry Creek owners Karen and Mark Langan, is bringing his own flavor to the family farm in the form of his new venture,
Mulberry Creek Winery.
“I’ve always wanted to kind of find some way to take over the family farm,” Ben Langan says. “And my parents have always had the core belief of, hey, you can inherit the land, but you’re not inheriting the business unless you find some way to make it your own. Make it your own, as in, find some way to renovate it, because my family very strongly believes in the old German philosophy of the first generation creates it, the second generation maintains it, the third generation destroys it.”
Don’t worry, Langan doesn’t have any plan to destroy what his family has worked so hard to build.
“Even though they probably wouldn’t see their baby die, they don’t want to just start seeing it crumble in front of their eyes,” he says. “So they said, hey, you need to come up with a business that you’re incredibly passionate about, that you can take the lead, and integrate our herb business more as a secondary add-on than the primary business. You’ve got to make your own business your own child, where you want to focus on it, improve it, grow it.”
Those words from his parents took Langan back to his college days at Kent State University, where Langan’s interest in the wine business began in the form of a college project.
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Mulberry Creek websiteThe Mulberry Creek Homestead circa 1980During his tenure at Kent State, where he earned two degrees in business, one of Langan’s projects was to develop a hypothetical business.
One of those businesses? A winery.
In order to learn everything he could about wine, Langan studied in Germany and Sicily, and came home with ideas and a plan.
“So that’s kind of where I got my appreciation for wine, beer, and other alcohols, because previously, my only connections to wine were the cheap box wines,” he laughs. “Now, box wines have come a long way since then, but that was my main introduction to wine, and my main introduction to beer was Natty. So going to Europe, seeing that, yes, wine and beer can be fantastic. It was a huge light-bulb moment for me.”
That light-bulb moment led the now-28-year-old Langan back to school for a third degree. He knew if he was really serious about starting a winery that he would have to learn every facet of the business–including how to make the wine itself. That led him to pursue a degree in enology (wine and alcohol production). This solid foundation, coupled with hands-on mentorship from seasoned professionals, has allowed him to bring this dream to life.
“It goes to my core belief of vertical integration, where I need to understand how to do the simplest job to the most expert job, just so I fully understand the business,” he says.
The winery, which is in its soft-opening phase, is offering a selection of wines sourced from both the West Coast and Ohio. While they’re importing some of their grapes, like Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Zinfandel from California, the focus is shifting towards using Ohio-grown grapes as much as possible in the coming fall. The current lineup includes five wines, with a sixth one—a late harvest sweet red—set to be released soon.
While sipping on a glass of wine, guests can enjoy glasses of wine along with snack offerings like chips, cheeses, and nuts. They are also welcome to order food from local restaurants to enjoy with their wine. Soon Langan plans to schedule food trucks to park on the property on the weekends.
“It will give people a reason to come out, try something different and try to help support some other local businesses,” he says.
When the seasons change, he also plans to host board game nights, card games, and summer-themed activities.
“In the wintertime, we can truly offer something unique and special, where you can be surrounded by plants,” he says. “It’ll feel like summertime, even though snow’s blowing around outside.”
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Beth WerlingWhen the seasons change, the winery will host board game nights, card games, and summer-themed activities.Also coming this fall will be the release of some fall and winter wines, including dried fruit wines and meads.
For those who prefer sweeter options, the fruit meads will incorporate honey to add complexity and depth, making them appealing even to those who don’t usually gravitate toward wine.
In addition to the expanding wine selection, Langan is also planning to venture into ice wines, but with a twist. Instead of risking the traditional method of allowing grapes to freeze on the vine—a process fraught with challenges—he will freeze the grapes in a controlled environment. This method, known as "iced wine," preserves the rich flavors and sweetness of the traditional ice wine but at a more affordable price, offering customers a premium product without the premium price tag.
It’s a huge undertaking, but one Langan is ready to explore, even if he is a business of one at the moment, including taking on the title of winemaker.
“Right now, it's me, myself and I, and it's the 3Fs as in any friends, family, and fools that I can have come out to help me,” he jokes. “So it's mainly just me needing help with bottling, because when it comes to everything else, I have my cellar pretty well set up so that one person can pretty much run the show. It just makes it incredibly faster if I have someone else helping me bottle.”
Even if he is working solo, Langan credits his parents with instilling in him such a strong work ethic. Langan has been working in the herb farm nursery since the age of 8, and he is proud to continue on the family legacy, which has been going strong since 1989.
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Beth WerlingA section of the garden is dedicated to each bottle of wine with pairing notes.“Not many people have heard of us,” Langan says of the herb farm. ”We're kind of a hidden gem.”
The flavors of that hidden gem will be incorporated into the winery side of the business.
In the springtime, the nursery boasts more than 1,400 different varieties of plants and herbs, which, to Langan’s knowledge, is the largest number of varieties on this side of the Mississippi. Mulberry Creek is one of the last remaining certified organic nurseries in Ohio.
“Most people were either too dumb or too stubborn to quit,” Langan laughs, “but most people have moved on from that certification.”
In order to remain an organic nursery, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association visits the farm each year to take soil samples and complete a full audit of the property.
“It’s one of those things that, if you want to pick off a basil leaf and smell it, you can,” Langan says. “And when it comes to 1,400 varieties, what that pretty much involves is, you think of basil. It’s like, what flavors are you looking for in basil because we have 25 different kinds. SO we have the whole specialization that you come to us with an idea of what you’re looking for and then we’ll have a plant to match it.”
And it’s not just basil.
“Tomatoes–we’re well north of 50. So we have pretty much everything from the world’s hottest pepper to the world’s smallest daisy and kind of everything in between,” Langan says. “We focus more on the fun niche, more unique things you’re not going to find anywhere else.”
The nursery’s business model falls in line with that of the winery, he notes.
“So that’s kind of the fun way, pairing with the winery, that it’s like, ‘If you just conveniently forget about a birthday, anniversary, special event, swing by our place, grab some plants, a bottle of wine,” Langan smiles. “You get your get-out-of-jail-free card.”
To continue to grow both the winery and the success of the nursery, Langan says he hopes to renovate the on-site barn into a second tasting room in the next five years. He also plans to start up grape production, with about six acres planted in the next year or two. Until then, though, he is starting off small, with a patch of land to grow blueberries, raspberries, aronia berries, and nanking cherries for the winery’s fruit meads.
While his plans may seem lofty, Langan is ready for the challenge.
“If you would’ve asked me five years ago if I would’ve started a winery, I would have thought you were ridiculous,” he says. “It wasn’t until the last four years that I’ve truly taken a passion to it and found my calling.”