Château Hough provides wine and peace in rugged Cleveland neighborhood

By Aamina Edwards and Laila Dyer

NABJ JSHOP Reporters

When you search “Hough Neighborhood Cleveland” on Google, you’re met with headlines like, “Child Stabbed in Cleveland’s Hough Neighborhood” or “22-year-old man murdered in Hough.”

But these headlines don’t tell the whole story of the neighborhood. They don’t capture all that it has to offer. 

This week, a group of NABJ JSHOP reporters from Cleveland and Chicago traveled to the neighborhood and were greeted by a deer galloping across the street and the warm, inviting scent of fermented grapes. 

There, they met by Brenda Frazier, owner and operator of Château Hough Vineyards and Winery, a little bit of nature in an urban setting. It’s located between downtown Cleveland and University Circle.

“To me, Cleveland is a very positive place to live,” Frazier said. She took over the Château after the death of her husband, local writer and community activist Mansfield Frazier, in 2021. 

Frazier’s serious but gentle tone brightened when she spoke to the students about her husband.

“Whatever ideas Mansfield Frazier came up with mostly, people would be drawn to,” she said. “He was my idea man.”

She said her husband responded to the city of Cleveland’s request for proposals to start a vineyard in 2009, and he started planting the grape vines in 2010. Helping his city was a big part of Mansfield Frazier’s life.

Because he had been in prison, Frazier made it a point to hire workers who were formerly incarcerated as a way of supporting them, the city and the neighborhood. According to the vineyard’s website, the goal of the project was to introduce a broader audience to the Hough community and “improve the economics” of the community, which helps with public safety.

“We wanted to be a part of revitalizing it,” Frazier explained. “(Mansfield) wanted people to know that Cleveland is a city to take note of. It’s a city that should be appreciated.”

Despite having no previous knowledge about growing grapes, let alone operating a vineyard and winery, the Fraziers made the vision come to life in their own way. 

The vineyard grows two kinds of grapes. The red grapes (Frontenac) are a French group hybrid. The white grapes (Traminette) produce wines described as floral, spicy and suited best for cooler climates. 

There is no fence around the vineyard. Their fiercest intruders are the deer roaming the area and spotted lanternflies, deterred by a perimeter of chicken wire and green bug nets, respectively. 

Human visitors are welcome. 

“We like the fact that we are a destination,” Frazier said. “People come from everywhere.” 

Frazier said she hopes that visitors take away an appreciation for the grapevines and time outdoors. “We need to be more appreciative of what we can get from the earth, and we need to take care of it,” she said.