Surge of vintners has us popping our corks
by Jerry Shriver on Jan. 17, 2007, under Taste
Raise a full glass to toast the 40th year of Robert Mondavi’s landmark winery in the Napa Valley, where the founder has preached the gospel of American winemaking and California wine-country tourism to a once-skeptical world.
But save a few cheers for the folks in the rest of the nation who have adapted the seeds of Mondavi’s vision and sown them deep and wide in their own backyard. In a majority of states nationwide, including Arizona, entrepreneurs are planting vineyards, building wineries and opening tourist-friendly tasting rooms at a pace that’s unprecedented since the end of Prohibition. As a result, they’re ushering in a new era of grass-roots wine appreciation that finally is erasing the stigmas of mystery and elitism.
In places where the winery wave is strongest, it’s aiding sagging local economies, spurring leisure travel and expanding the scope of America’s palate. (Haven’t tried a norton from Missouri, a North Carolina viognier or an Ohio riesling? They’ve all won top honors at major competitions recently.)
“We’re in a golden era, and it’s getting more golden,” says wine educator Kevin Zraly, who assembled the first great collection of American wines at New York’s Windows on the World restaurant in the 1970s and whose Kevin Zraly’s American Wine Guide just was published (Sterling, $12.95). “We’re not a wine-drinking nation yet. But do I feel a turning point? Yes.”
That momentum is due in part to the rise in regional (non-West Coast) viticulture, which gained widespread notice in 2002 when North Dakota became the 50th state to open a licensed winery. But it has been building over a decade, as the number of U.S. wineries has grown to roughly 4,000 from about 2,100 in 1995 (different groups count wineries differently, but all agree that the number has doubled in that span).
Arizona has 13 producing wineries, most in southern Arizona, with more in development.
Now, wine appreciation is taking on a more casual, down-home flavor, and it’s reaching audiences that previously never glanced at grapes. Most of the newer tasting rooms sport a casual atmosphere and offer a broad array of wines. The lineup typically includes simpler versions that appeal to novice drinkers alongside the more famous varieties such as merlot, chardonnay and riesling, and they’re treated with equal respect.
“Our customers are very open to learning about wine and how to hold the glass and smell it without being intimidated,” says Mary Jo Ferrante-Leaman of Ferrante Winery in Harpersfield Township, Ohio, where 26 wines can be sampled. “There is no pretension here.”
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Winemaking may embrace artistic expression, but it is also a competitive business, says Bob Witham, who learned to mix it up in the military and health-care arenas before moving here to launch Two Rivers Winery in 1999.
“So the question in the Grand Valley is, how are you going to compete with California? With Australia?”
Witham and his fellow vintners in Colorado’s most popular wine-producing area address that question by focusing on familiar grape varieties that thrive in the high desert, presenting well-made, smartly priced wines in attractive tasting rooms near Interstate 70, and letting the area’s gorgeous scenery speak for itself.
Those approaches have led to an increase in the number of area producers to 18 (from eight in 1998) and an estimated 100,000 annual winery visits. Many of those visitors combine winery visits with golf, river rafting, and mountain bike outings and driving tours of the Colorado National Monument and the Grand Mesa area.
Witham and wife Billie raised the stakes considerably when they opened a 13,000-square-foot, $1 million chateau-style hospitality center on a 15-acre site in Grand Junction at the foot of the monument. The grand structure features 10 bed-and-breakfast rooms and a palatial reception area, and the grounds sport a barbecue pit and an open-air pavilion for weddings and musical concerts.
“The strategy from Day 1 was to get people to taste the wine in a pleasant environment where they could have a good time, and then get recognition for the wine,” Witham says. They now host 60 weddings each year and stage public and corporate events, all of which expose their wines to a far-flung audience. “This idea is panning out.”
Although Two Rivers and Grande River Vineyards, the state’s largest grape-growing operation, command the highest profiles in the Grand Valley area, at least a half-dozen other smaller wineries produce notable wines. Cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and merlot dominate production and sales, but riesling, gewurztraminer, syrah, viognier and cabernet franc, from producers such as Garfield Estates, Canyon Wind, Carlson Vineyards and Plum Creek, show even more promise. And Graystone Winery has won awards for its ruby-style ports, and Carlson Vineyards for its fruit wines.
“This industry reminds me of Oregon and Washington 25 years ago,” says Bill Musgnung, who moved here from Oregon to work for the state as a consulting enologist (winemaking expert). “People are still learning what will grow here and what won’t, but there has been a great improvement. The industry just needs consistency.”
Though Grand Valley is the dominant force, impressive winemaking also occurs in the West Elks area, 35 miles to the southeast via a scenic route that goes over the Grand Mesa and past the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. There, a handful of small wineries are creating a successful niche with wines made from cool climate grapes such as pinot noir, chardonnay, gewurztraminer and riesling. The vineyards there are some of the highest in the world, at about 6,300 feet above sea level (the Grand Valley area is about 1,000 feet lower), the temperatures are cooler and the growing season is relatively short, but those conditions result in wines that compete with those from the Grand Valley for quality. Among the wineries to look for: Terror Creek, Alfred Eames, S. Rhodes, Black Bridge and Stone Cottage.
Says Lance Hanson of Jack Rabbit Hill in Hotchkiss, who grows organic grapes and other fruits atop the desolate but beautiful Redlands Mesa and turns them into dry wines, eau de vie and grappas: “If you can crack the code on growing really special fruit that has characteristics that only come from here, that’s the key.”
IF YOU GO
State wineries: About 66, up from five in 1990
Acres of vines: About 850
Popular grapes: cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, gewurztraminer, merlot, pinot noir, riesling, syrah, viognier. Also ports, fruit wines.
Key areas to visit: Grand Valley American Viticultural Area, along the Colorado River between Palisade and Grand Junction; and West Elks AVA, along the North Fork of the Gunnison River between Paonia and Hotchkiss.
Vintage lodging: Two Rivers Chateau Wine Country Inn, Grand Junction; (866) 312-9463; tworiverswinery.com
Other notable areas: Front Range area north of Denver
Fun festival: Colorado Mountain Wine Fest, Palisade, Sept.13-16; coloradowinefest.com
Information: www.coloradowine.com
What to drink where
Wine, price and winery
2005 Slate Point Pinot Gris, $12, Two Rivers Winery, Grand Junction
2004 Cabernet Franc, $15, Garfield Estates, Palisade
2002 Port II, $23, Graystone Winery, Clifton
2005 Laughing Cat Gewurztraminer, $12, Carlson Vineyards, Palisade
2005 Lone Eagle Riesling, $16, Jack Rabbit Hill, Hotchkiss
Alfred Eames Cellars Sangre del Sol, $18, Black Bridge Winery, Paonia
2003 Pinot Noir, $25, Terror Creek Winery, Paonia
HAMMONDSPORT – Half a century after Konstantin Frank planted what would become some of the most influential grapevines in the country along the shore of Keuka Lake, grandson Fred Frank still doggedly carries on “our missionary work.”
Frank runs Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars, known for wines made from vitis vinifera grapes such as riesling, chardonnay, gewurztraminer and pinot noir.
The wines, particularly the rieslings, have won top awards at major competitions and are sampled by 60,000 visitors each year in the tasting room. Yet Frank and fellow vinifera growers in America’s second-largest wine-producing state (after California) “still fight the stigma that New York wineries make only concord wine.”
For 150 years, New York viticulture has been geared to producing bulk industrial wines made from native grapes such as concord and catawba that can withstand the often harsh climate. They still account for about half of total wine production.
But in the 1950s and 1960s, experiments conducted by Konstantin and a few other pioneers in the region showed that the noble vinifera grapes preferred by connoisseurs also could grow in most years, and the resulting wines could be on par with those made anywhere in the country.
Those lessons, along with vines from Frank’s nursery, have spread slowly throughout the Finger Lakes and the east end of Long Island, as well as throughout the East Coast and the Midwest. Today, many wineries in those areas produce a wide array of wines that range from simple sweet blends made from native or hybrid grapes to vinifera wines for discerning drinkers.
“As our region matures, you’ll see more specialization and less of the smorgasbord approach,” Frank says while pouring wine in his home-style tasting room. “To compete nationally, you have to produce a consistently good product, and riesling has that consistency here.”
For now, the smorgasbord works just fine. The latest industry survey shows that about 1 million visitors a year stop by the more than 90 wineries that hug the shores of the four glacier-carved lakes between Rochester and Syracuse. Canandaigua, Cayuga, Keuka and Seneca each has its own well-developed wine trail, a concept that has been copied widely by other states. Coordinated signage, brochures, festivals and special events guide visitors.
“We see people on their way to Niagara Falls. They know we offer bathrooms, a clean facility and a good glass of wine, and it breaks things up,” says John Martini, owner of Anthony Road Wine Co. on Seneca Lake.
Visitation probably will jump given the June opening of the $7.5 million New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua. The complex features demonstration gardens and kitchens, food and wine tasting bars, cooking classes and exhibits all showcasing regional bounty. The center is expected to join the mainstay attractions of boating, fishing, tours of the Corning Museum of Glass and winery-hopping.
The wineries mostly are small and family-run, and many have tasting rooms with gorgeous views of the vineyards sloping toward the lakes. A few take hospitality a step further. On Keuka Lake, Bully Hill Vineyards offers a restaurant, two gift shops, a wine museum, an art gallery and a tasting room serving nearly 40 types of wine. On Cayuga Lake, Goose Watch has a boat dock and delivery service from the winery. And on Seneca Lake, Glenora Wine Cellars has an inn and a restaurant, Fox Run Vineyards and Red Newt Cellars both have bistros, Lakewood Vineyards offers indoor-outdoor play areas for children, and Anthony Road Wine Co. has an “education garden” planted with various fruits whose flavors commonly appear in grape wines.
“We’re all in showbiz, but we’re farmers first,” Martini says.
“If you don’t have a good product, the showbiz doesn’t matter.”
IF YOU GO
State wineries: About 219, up from 63 in 1985
Acres of vines: About 33,000
Popular grapes: cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, catawba, chardonnay, gewurztraminer, merlot, niagara, pinot noir, riesling, sauvignon blanc, seyval blanc, vidal, vignoles. Also ice wines, sparkling wines.
Key area to visit: Finger Lakes American Viticultural Area around lakes Cayuga, Seneca, Keuka and Canandaigua
Vintage lodging: The Inn at Glenora Wine Cellars, Dundee; (800) 243-5513; glenora.com
Other notable areas: Hudson Valley, Long Island
Fun festival: Finger Lakes Wine Festival, July 20-22, Watkins Glen; flwinefest.com
Information: nywines.org
What to drink where
Wine, price and winery
2004 Dry Riesling, $18, Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars, Hammondsport
“Love My Goat” blended red wine, $7.50, Bully Hill Vineyards, Hammondsport
Tony’s Red, $7.50, Anthony Road Wine Co., Penn Yan
2003 Lemberger, $18, Fox Run Vineyards, Penn Yan
2002 Estate Bottled Pinot Noir, $20, Chateau LaFayette Reneau Hector
2004 Cayuga Lake Riesling, $15, Hosmer Winery, Ovid
LEXINGTON, N.C. – North Carolina’s wine revival was puttering along nicely when Richard Childress arrived on the scene a few years ago. And as befits a NASCAR mogul, he has sent the movement into overdrive.
After earning a fortune as a stock car driver and racing team owner, Childress decided to indulge another passion by founding a winery and 72-acre vineyard estate on the edge of the Yadkin Valley. The area in the Appalachian foothills had emerged as a focal point of the state’s reinvigorated wine industry, which has seen the number of wineries more than double this decade to about 55. Sixteen operate in the valley.
“I looked at some wineries in California and the Finger Lakes area (of New York), then I said, ‘Why not North Carolina?’ ” says Childress, who was born in nearby Winston-Salem. “It has lost its No. 1 cash crop of tobacco, we can play a role in helping the economy, and it’s great to be able to walk through vineyards close to my race shop.”
When he opened the doors to his 35,000-square-foot, $8 million Richard Childress Vineyards complex in fall 2004, it became a mecca for NASCAR fans, for wine fans and for a growing number of people who reside in both camps. The luxurious Tuscan-style hospitality center drew an estimated 50,000 visitors last year. That number likely will swell when a hotel-shopping complex near the winery is completed and the $107 million NASCAR Hall of Fame opens in Charlotte in 2009.
Already the wines are roaring out the door. Winemaker Mark Friszolowski produced about 15,000 cases for the inaugural vintage and nearly doubled that amount for 2005. Chardonnay is the most-planted grape variety, but viognier and pinot gris have won the most critical acclaim. “They’re the natural grapes to grow in this climate,” he says. Syrah and cabernet franc also show promise, he says.
While Childress’ operation dominates the southern end of the Yadkin Valley, another showcase, Shelton Vineyards of Dobson, has anchored the north since brothers Charlie and Ed Shelton founded it in 1999. The 383-acre property is the largest winery estate in North Carolina and features 200 acres of vineyards, a 33,000-square-foot winery, a restaurant and a gleaming tasting room serving a dozen types of wines, most of them made from classic European varieties.
More typical are smaller, more rustic operations such as Westbend in Lewisville, which pioneered winemaking in the valley in 1990. RayLen is built on a converted dairy farm near Mocksville, and four-year-old RagApple Lassie, which is named after a calf that won the North Carolina State Fair, draws about 500 visitors a week during the summer to a converted tobacco farm near Boonville. All feature casual tasting rooms, a growing number of medal-winning bottles on the shelves and deep connections to local agriculture.
“With the demise of tobacco, going to grapes was our Plan B,” says Lenna Hobson, RagApple co-owner with husband Frank. His family has owned the property for 99 years, and “we had to be profitable so the land wouldn’t become a housing tract, so this is not a hobby. It’s meat and potatoes.”
Two other hugely popular wineries also are helping the state slowly regain its stature as a top national producer, which it held until Prohibition. The winery at the famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville draws more than 600,000 visitors a year and makes more than 20 varieties (though some grapes come from out of state). Duplin in Rose Hill bills itself as the largest muscadine grape winery in the world, producing more than 175,000 cases a year.
IF YOU GO
State wineries: About 55, up from 21 in 2000
Acres of vines: About 1,500
Popular grapes: cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chambourcin, chardonnay, merlot, muscadine, pinot gris, riesling, scuppernong, seyval blanc, vidal blanc, viognier. Also fruit wines and ports
Key area to visit: Yadkin Valley American Viticultural Area, west of Winston-Salem
Vintage lodging: Rockford Inn B&B, Dobson; (800) 561-6652; rockfordbedandbreakfast.com
Other notable areas: Currituck County, Outer Banks; mountain region, near Asheville and Hickory; sand hill/coastal region, north of Wilmington
Fun festival: Great Grapes, Oct. 6, Charlotte; find dates for other events in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey at uncorkthefun.com
Information: www.ncwine.org
What to drink where
Wine, price and winery
2005 Barrel Select Viognier, $15, Childress Vineyards, Lexington
2004 Yadkin Gold, $13, RayLen Vineyards, Mocksville
2004 Estate Grown Syrah, $16, RagApple Lassie Vineyard, Boonville
2005 Sauvignon Blanc, $12, Shelton Vineyards, Dobson
2003 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, $16, Westbend Vineyards, Lewisville
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The sentiment didn’t make it into the Declaration of Independence, but Thomas Jefferson believed in his soul that drinking wine was an inalienable right. His $10,000 wine tab upon leaving the presidency was evidence, as were his decades of frustrating attempts to grow grapes at his Monticello estate.
He’d be gratified to see that more than 100 wineries and 200 vineyards have taken root across Virginia and that the top wines, particularly certain viogniers, chardonnays and cabernet francs, are considered among the best in the country.
But he might be even more impressed – or amused? – by how these wineries have capitalized on his legacy.
The prime grape-growing area is an oversized appellation called Monticello, covering 1,250 square miles and extending into four central counties. A Monticello wine trail directs tourists to 21 wineries, including a Jefferson Vineyards on Thomas Jefferson Parkway. And area wines compete for the Monticello Cup at the annual Monticello Wine Festival.
The connection is fully expressed at Barboursville Vineyards in Barboursville, which draws 80,000 visitors a year.
Visitors can view the ruins of a Jefferson-designed plantation house, eat in the Palladio restaurant (named after the Italian Renaissance architect who inspired Jefferson), sleep in an inn that dates to Jefferson’s times and sample a merlot-based wine named Octagon after the symbol favored by Jefferson in his architectural designs. And beginning in late August, visitors can view a permanent exhibit on Jefferson’s role in Virginia winemaking.
“Jefferson understood better than anybody that wine gives us a sense of connection with the land,” says general manager Luca Paschina, one of the deans of Virginia winemaking.
Paschina draws most of his grapes from the 142 acres of vineyards on the stunningly beautiful 830-acre estate, which was converted from a sheep farm 30 years ago by the Zonin family, one of Italy’s largest grape-growing operations.
He’s best known for his Cabernet Franc and his Octagon Bordeaux blend, but his Italian heritage has compelled him to experiment with grape varieties such as barbera, sangiovese and nebbiolo, and with an Italian-style dessert wine, with encouraging results.
The area winery with the highest profile boasts no overt Jeffersonian attributes other than close proximity to Monticello.
Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard is situated on a 3,000-acre farm southeast of Charlottesville and has become famous for its grand surroundings, its internationally famous consulting winemaker (Michel Rolland), and its boldly priced $58 New World Red Bordeaux blend. Philanthropist-socialite Patricia Kluge and husband William Moses, the winery CEO, have reportedly spent in excess of $30 million on the project, and they’re not done yet.
“Our intention is to build a major wine company that will stand shoulder to shoulder with any wine company in the world,” Kluge says. “Now that we know we can do it and have a team in place, the only issue is growth.”
The Kluge wines, which also include a pair of excellent sparkling wines and an aperitif wine, are offered for tasting at the winery’s three-year-old Farm Shop, an upscale country store that sells gourmet deli items for takeout, as well as artisanal cheeses and jams made from estate-grown fruit.
The shop, which conducts about 100 tastings a day, has the feel of a charming hideaway. In the works: converting a carriage museum into a showcase 37,500-square-foot visitors center and sparkling-wine-making center. The current 120 acres planted with vines is expected to grow to 300 by 2010. And Kluge is building a housing development called Vineyard Estates on an adjoining 511-acre parcel, with plans for many of the 24 houses to have their own small vineyards.
Says Kluge, with a declaration that Jefferson would admire: “We did months of research and travel and decided we could either be a regional winery or a world-class winery. We are in the great-wine business.”
IF YOU GO
State wineries: About 122, up from 86 in 2002
Acres of vines: About 3,000
Popular grapes: cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chambourcin, chardonnay, merlot, norton, riesling, seyval blanc, vidal blanc, viognier
Key area to visit: Central, around Charlottesville
Vintage lodging: The 1804 Inn at Barboursville Vineyards, Barboursville; (434) 760-2212; the1804inn.com
Other notable areas: North Fork of Roanoake, Rocky Knob, Shenandoah Valley, Northern Neck and Eastern Shore
Fun festival: Virginia Wine Festival, Sept.15-16, Leesburg; virginiawinefestival.org
Information: virginiawines.org
What to drink where
Wine, price and vineyard:
2002 Reserve Merlot, $25.95, Jefferson Vineyards, Charlottesville
2003 Blanc de Blanc New World Sparkling Wine, $38, Farm Shop Kluge Estate Winery, Charlottesville
2004 Cabernet Franc, $23, Barboursville Vineyards, Barboursville
2005 Viognier, $20, Horton Cellars Winery, Gordonsville
2003 Sweet Shanando, $13.95, First Colony Winery, Charlottesville
CONNEAUT, Ohio – The granddaddy of modern Ohio viticulture looks at the dozens of wineries that have sprung up around the state and likens them to gangly teenagers.
“We have raging hormones and potential but haven’t found our identity yet,” says Arnie Esterer, 75, who founded the landmark Markko Vineyard in 1968 and makes some of the region’s most respected wines. But lest he sound curmudgeonly as he putters around his rustic tasting room in the far northeast corner of the state, he adds: “I’m happy with the way Ohio wines have developed. There are a lot of wineries opening and a lot of people with dreams.”
Those dreams are being realized most fully in the northeast quadrant, home to a third of the state’s approximately 90 wineries. They offer a smorgasbord of wines and tourism experiences that represent the leading edge of what’s happening elsewhere in the state.
When the Ohio wine industry was a national leader in the mid-1800s, it was focused along the Ohio River and was based upon wines made from the native Catawba grape. But the post-Prohibition renaissance is mostly in the north, along the ridges a few miles from Lake Erie. (A notable exception is the state’s most-visited winery, Breitenbach Wine Cellars, in the Amish country near Dover.) Here, growers such as Esterer are finding success with European vinifera grapes such as riesling, pinot gris, chardonnay and pinot noir.
Within that long swath, a prime growing area east of Cleveland has emerged called the Grand River Valley. The valley’s six wineries include a few small producers with tasting rooms that are becoming known for particular wines, including St. Joseph Vineyard in Thompson with its pinot noirs and Harpersfield (Township) Vineyard with its chardonnays.
But the anchors are the larger Ferrante Winery near Geneva and Debonne Vineyards near Madison. Both draw more than 1,000 visitors on summer weekends; during the week they’re popular stops on motor coach tours that combine wine tasting with excursions to the lakeshore and the 16 covered bridges in Ashtabula County.
“Wineries here have to work a little harder to get people here, so they have to offer more when people do get here,” says Ferrante co-owner Mary Jo Ferrante-Leaman. The winery, founded by her grandparents in 1937, has become one of the area’s most popular attractions by offering a restaurant with vineyard views and a spacious tasting and retail area that offers 26 wines. The lineup includes the 2005 Grand River Valley Golden Bunches Dry Riesling, which recently won the top prize for white wines at the Riverside International Competition in California.
A similar vibe reigns at nearby Debonne Vineyards, which draws visitors with weekly concerts, a grill serving sandwiches and appetizers, and a tavernlike tasting room offering 23 types of wine. Owner Tony Debevc farms 115 acres, the largest spread in the state, and says he’s beginning to see a shift in wine preferences, away from the sweeter blends made from hybrid and native grapes and toward the European varieties.
But the category Debevc says could become northern Ohio’s calling card is ice wine, a somewhat rare and expensive ($25-$30 a half-bottle) nectar made from grapes that are left on the vine until they freeze and become concentrated. Only a few places in the world can produce them consistently, and the Lake Erie area is emerging as one.
“Here they can reach full ripeness to give them that extra flavor component,” Debevc says. “They’re very labor-intensive, and only a select number of wineries are willing to spend the time and buy the equipment, and most are doing them in small quantities. But they’re beginning to show some profit. In many wineries, they’re a wine of distinction.”
IF YOU GO
State wineries: About 96, up from 37 in 1996
Acres of vines: About 2,200
Popular grapes: cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, catawba, chambourcin, chardonnay, concord, pinot gris, pinot noir, riesling, seyval blanc, vidal blanc. Also ice wines, sparkling wines, fruit wines.
Key area to visit: Northeast Ohio, particularly the Grand River Valley American Viticultural Area east of Cleveland along Lake Erie
Vintage lodging: The Lodge at Geneva State Park, Geneva-on-the-Lake; (866) 442-9765; thelodgeatgeneva.com
Other notable areas: The Lake Erie coastal area west of Cleveland to Toledo
Fun festival: Vintage Ohio, Aug. 3-4, Kirtland; visitvintageohio.com
What to drink where
Wine, price and vineyard:
2004 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine, $30 half bottle, Debonne Vineyards Madison
2002 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, $27, Markko Vineyard Conneaut
2004 Reserve Pinot Noir, $25, St. Joseph Winery Thompson
2004 St. Fiacre Pinot Gris, $16, Harpersfield Vineyard Harpersfield Township
2005 Golden Bunches Dry Riesling, $20, Ferrante Winery Geneva
Red Raspberry American Wine, $8.50, Breitenbach Wine Cellars Dover
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The West Coast states and New York still lead the pack (and account for 98 percent of domestic wine production), but the federal bureau that grants winery licenses says 2005′s 12 percent rise in applications was fueled in part by Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Virginia and a few other states.
Among the multitude of factors that are fueling U.S. winery growth:
> Some state legislatures have adopted laws that make it easier and more economically feasible for small-scale wineries to sell their products from their tasting rooms and/or ship them directly to customers in other states.
> The emerging, 70-million-strong millennial generation – the first to prefer wine over beer and spirits, according to a recent survey – is viewed as a potentially lucrative market that is showing great interest in local produce and food products. “There is a lot of buzz about regional wines,” says Jeff Carr, co-owner of Garfield Estates Winery in Grand Junction, Colo. “Europeans get the concept, while in America people think wine only comes from two or three magic places. But now there’s a new understanding.”
> Advances in winemaking techniques and vineyard management make it possible to create better wines in far more places than once was thought possible. “There are so many (vine) clones available and the variety of rootstock is so great now. I couldn’t have done this 10 years ago,” says Mark Friszolowski, winemaker at Childress Vineyards in Lexington, N.C.
> Shifts in agricultural markets have sent some farmers in search of alternatives. “The tobacco buyout has had a big effect on smaller growers,” says Margo Knight, head of the Wine & Grape Council in North Carolina, where about 30 wineries have sprung up since 2000. “There aren’t a lot of crops where you can take 10 acres and make a living, but wine grapes make it feasible to continue to farm the family plot.”
> Tourists looking to save fuel costs and stretch leisure dollars are attracted by area winery tasting rooms, which sell an affordable luxury product and sometimes offer entertainment or dining.
“I don’t need to go to California or France anymore to see a winery and see how wine is made,” says wine educator Kevin Zraly.
- USA TODAY
