Born in 1939, Tom Burgess grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in the northern part of the state. His father, Otis, was a co-founder of Morse Controls, and Tom?s summers were spent selling parts out of a station wagon for Morse Controls. He had an early exposure to wine in Ohio. Prohibition had closed down Ohio?s fine wineries, but by the time Tom was a teenager the industry had begun a modest recovery, and vineyards were beginning to appear on the shores of Lake Erie once again.