Photos by Michael Piazza

As a child growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Eliot Martin grew fruits and vegetables in his backyard. You heard that right—not helping his parents with their garden, but cultivating one on his own. That parlayed into a passion for sustainability and the general art and science of food and cooking—and ultimately, winemaking.

“Over time, everything I’ve done has been centered around sustainable food and agriculture,” says Martin, the founder/CEO and winemaker for Marzae Wines, an Acton-based natural winery (the only one of its kind in Massachusetts). He holds a master’s in food policy and nutrition from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

By the time Covid hit, Martin and his wife, winery co-founder Katie Luczai, were in the early stages of discovering sustainably produced natural wine and found inspiration from producers along the East Coast. “Then, with the pandemic, all of a sudden we didn’t have a sommelier to help us pick out wines,” says Martin.

So the couple started trying natural wines on their own, and realized there was a gap in the market for New England–produced sustainable, natural wine, specifically in Massachusetts. Martin decided to put together a pro forma, to determine if there was a viable way to close this gap.

“I describe it as an aha! moment when the idea for Marzae was conceived because it was kind of the realization that it perfectly combined everything that I’d been interested in,” he says.

The next couple of years became about gaining experience and knowledge; then, with fruit and equipment on order, Martin and Luczai, who live in Bedford, found the Acton industrial garage space to lease, with a long-term goal of developing their own vineyard someday. “It was all like a big iterative business development and expertise-building adventure,” Martin says.

In August 2023, Martin and Luczai officially launched Marzae (the name is a blending of their surnames) and that fall welcomed the winery’s first vintage with 20 wines; they are poised to usher in their second vintage of 29 wines this fall.

Marzae sources everything as locally and sustainably as possible, with grapes from producers in Vermont, the Finger Lakes (NY), Long Island and Massachusetts. Fruit also comes into play for cofermented fruit wine, including cherries, apples and blueberries. Their Sauvage brand features wines named for edible flora and fauna of Massachusetts, and the labels boast beautiful art by Olivia Bush. V. trilobum, a juicy sparkling pink wine, features a highbush cranberry; S. nigra’s label shows an elderflower, a complement to this floral, orange wine that draws from Riesling, Chardonnay, La Crescent and Aromella.

The wines are aged in stainless steel tanks, concrete eggs, terra cotta amphora barrels or new French oak barrels, or in a combination of these vessels. Martin explains the process for each wine like it’s a chemistry lesson.

“It works well with the way my brain works, thinking through the intersection of the art and science of winemaking and conceptualizing what the different components will do fermented together,” Martin says. But it’s never prescriptive.

“We’re not trying to engineer a certain flavor profile. There’s a general style or flavor profile we’re going for and we adapt as we go, letting the fruit do its thing and decide what it wants to ultimately be.”

As Martin and Luczai, who also holds the title of head of community for Marzae, prepare for their second vintage, their dream of opening an urban winery is in the works for Cambridge’s Central Square this spring. This next phase will allow them to be more commercially viable and affordable via direct sales but also to realize their vision of creating a community.

“We want to create a space where people can come and can have a good time and try everything we’re doing, and have that experience in a social setting and in an affordable way,” says Luczai.

marzaewine.com

This story appeared in the Fall 2024 issue.