Larry and Sandra Manning – Co-Owners

You don’t need to spend too much time with the husband and wife team of Larry and Sandra Manning to realize that the pair are driven mainly by one thing: a voracious entrepreneurial spirit. As it turns out, that spirit one that’s shared by the entire Manning family is matched only by their passion for wine and art. It’s only natural, then, for these qualities to have been personified by Freedom Run Winery, the family’s newest venture situated in the heart of the burgeoning wine region on the bench of the Niagara Escarpment. It’s no accident that the winery’s location evokes the hospitality of the sleepy farming community of Cambria, New York, where both Larry and Sandra grew up.
And so it’s with a palpable sense of excitement that Larry, a retired vice president and co-owner of a large manufacturing corporation, and Sandra, a preschool teacher, are embarking on this new aspect of their lives. After all, it’s only natural, as the two have spent a lifetime enjoying good friends, good food and great wines. With Larry’s progressive and well-developed business sense and Sandra’s eye for art, the two are helping redefine what the wine experience can be: something that engages your intellect as well as your senses.
Today, Larry Freedom Run’s chief operating officer oversees sales and production of the winery’s boutique offerings. If he’s not on the road selling Freedom Run Winery, he’s on a forklift in its state-of-the-art production facility, moving bins of grapes or pallets of wine. He and Sandra – along with brothers and co-owners Sean and Chip Manning, the winery’s agricultural manager also know that Freedom Run couldn’t exist if it weren’t for the help and expertise of those they are surrounded by. It’s a tenet that has become a guiding force at the winery.
For Larry and Sandra, their main goal is simple: to provide a welcoming, friendly atmosphere at Freedom Run, one where wine lovers of all experience levels and tastes can come to indulge their individual palates and artistic sensibilities. This sentiment is echoed in a saying coined by Sandra: “We View Wine as Art!” Indeed, the notion that the winery offers something different for each visitor is at the core of the Freedom Run experience and a philosophy that Larry and Sandra will continue to nurture.

Chip Manning – Co-Owner

When it comes to tending Freedom Run Winery’s vineyard, orchard and organic vegetable garden, there’s nobody more apt for the job than co-owner Chip Manning. Described by brothers Larry and Sean Manning as someone with a highly developed green thumb, Chip can usually be found among Freedom Run’s 10 acres of vines, coaxing from them six different varieties of vinifera grapes that eventually become the winery’s showpieces. But he doesn’t just have his eye trained on Freedom Run’s fruits and vegetables. He is also, with the help of Amish craftsmen in the area, in the midst of renovating the grand old barn that’s adjacent to the tasting room. A culinary school alum, Chip who left a local mill in Lockport New York to work alongside his brothers and other family members at Freedom Run is known throughout the area for going out of his way to help anyone who needs it. With wife Vickie at his side who helms Freedom Run’s accounting department and runs its organic-vegetable farm stand the two work diligently to keep the winery’s agricultural operations running smoothly. But like everyone else in the Manning family, it’s nothing if not a labor of love for the pair, born from a tireless work ethic that can literally be seen as well as tasted.

WINEMAKER: Robert A. Green
Assistant Winemaker: Larry Manning

Robert Green has been making wine in the Lake Erie Region for over 20 years, producing award-winning wines from the Region’s native, hybrid and traditional vinifera varieties. For the past 11 years he has taught wine and food courses at Mercyhurst College in the HRIM department at the Erie Campus and at the Culinary and Wine Institute at the North East Campus. In addition, he is active in the Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt Heritage Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the region’s lifestyle centered on the grape industry. He resides with his family in northeast PA.

R. Sean Manning – Co-Owner

Though Sean Manning scoffs with no small measure of discomfort when people use the word “visionary” to describe him, there’s no denying the vision it took to bring Freedom Run Winery to life – but there’s also no denying it was anything but a singular effort. Three years ago, Sean stood with brothers Larry and Chip at the edge of the 90-acre property on the bench of the Niagara Escarpment where the vineyard now stands, looking out over the 1000-tree apple orchard and gently sloping wheat field that was there when he took ownership. The trio was tossing around ideas on what to do with the land, which sits just a few minutes from where three generations of Mannings settled and raised their families in Cambria, New York. It was Larry – now Freedom Run’s chief operating officer – who suggested they open a winery. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Freedom Run – the name of which pays homage to the route slaves took along the escarpment to get to the narrowest part of the Niagara River, where they swam to their freedom in Canada – is a true family enterprise. Along with Larry, who oversees Freedom Run’s day-to-day operations, Chip, co-owner and agricultural manager, tends to its 15 acres of grapes and the apple trees that still stand on-site. And most of the extended Manning family – from mother Maureen on down to Sean’s 13 nieces and nephews – is also actively involved. Sean, of course, wouldn’t have it any other way.

A retired electronics industry executive, the 45-year-old Sean isn’t done putting his stamp on Freedom Run by a long shot. These days, Sean, who divides his time between Lockport and St. Petersburg, Florida, spends a good portion of his free time at the potter’s wheel in his on-site artist’s studio, shaping clay into pieces that adorn the winery’s exceptional tasting room. Among others, there are plans to restore a circa-1826 stone house on the property to its original beauty and turn it into a champagne house.

But at the end of the day, being able to work shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and other family members is what propels Sean forward – and is square at the heart of what Freedom Run is all about. For Sean, it’s also very much about recognizing and honoring his roots – while at the same time laying the foundation for the future.