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Is the cork finally off Virginia’s wine industry?
More
wineries and talent could boost state’s image as
a major wine country, drawing tourists and dollars.
Related
stories:
- Patricia Kluge puts Virginia
wine in the spotlight
-
Publisher's Profile —
agriculture
by
Paula C. Squires
Virginia
Business
November 2003
Their
favorite time is evening, particularly after long harvest
days. That’s when Al and Cindy Schornberg go to
the second-story porch of their manor home to watch
the sun set over their vineyards against the misty backdrop
of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Schornberg’s picturesque
winery in Keswick is worlds away from the fast-paced
corporate life they used to live in Holly, Mich., running
a $30 million, 300-employee computer-software company.
Back then there wasn’t much time to savor sunsets,
with the couple’s frequent travel for both pleasure
and business.
During one trip to Canada’s Northwest Territory
in 1995, the small private plane they had chartered
crashed. “We hit the trees on the side of a mountain.
It sheared off the back of the plane and ruptured the
gas tank,” recalls Cindy. Miraculously, the pilot
was able to make an emergency landing, and the couple
escaped injury. “We were able to walk away, and
we got to thinking, ‘For what purpose?’”
The crash prompted an epiphany. The Schornbergs looked
at their hectic lifestyle and decided to make a change.
Since childhood Al Schornberg, 53, had dreamed of making
wine like his grandfather did at a family winery in
France. A year after the crash, they sold their business
and began visiting possible winery sites in California,
Texas and Virginia.
Wineries in Virginia
Click each region for list
of Virginia wineries |
Central
Virginia, with its seasonal climate and favorable terrain,
won out. In 2000, the Schornbergs bought a 400-acre
country estate, started a family and by 2001 had planted
rows of French white varietals and Bordeaux reds. They
built a winery, hired a staff and produced 1,500 cases
of wine from their first 2002 vintage. One of the wines
— the Viognier Estate Reserve 2002 — beat
out whites from 14 top-producing states and 12 foreign
countries for the title of “Best White Wine in
America” at this summer’s Atlanta International
Wine Summit. Not a bad start. Al plans to boost production
to as much as 10,000 cases a year, and open a tasting
room for visitors.
The
Schornbergs are part of a new wave of vintner entrepreneurs
who are investing millions in the state’s burgeoning
wine industry at a critical time. Virginia is on the
verge of a breakthrough, say industry followers, with
enough critical mass and talent to establish the Old
Dominion as a premiere wine country destination. If
production of high-quality wines continues to climb
and vintners can carve out a niche by teaming such wines
with a unique vineyard experience that plays on Virginia’s
strengths — namely its history and beautiful countryside
— then the wine industry has the potential to become
a huge tourism draw, creating jobs, generating taxes
and keeping Virginia green.
Already
in place are 80 wineries that draw more than 500,000
tourists a year and pump more than $95 million into
the state’s economy. Since 1993, the number of
wineries has doubled and more are on the way. The increase
has bumped up commercial grape production. In 2002,
1,800 acres produced 4,600 tons — a $6.2 million
crop nearly 10 percent larger than the year before.
Currently, Virginia ranks 11th among states in commercial
grape production. It lags way behind its biggest East
Coast rival, third-ranked New York, which produces 156,000
tons, and top-ranked California with 6.5 million tons.
Yet,
Virginia moves up to fifth place among states with vinifera
grapes of European origin, which traditionally have
produced world-class wines. It’s also number five
in total number of wineries. While some vintners breathlessly
speak of Virginia as the next Napa Valley, others say
that’s not the goal here. For one thing, California’s
sunny climate is unmatched in America for growing grapes,
while Virginia’s seasonal weather and terrain is
more comparable to European vineyards. While much can
be learned from Napa’s overwhelming success —
its wineries and restaurants attract more than 4 million
visitors annually — some feel Virginia should refrain
from replicating a model with such a strong commercial
feel. “Instead of going from one driveway to the
next 10 feet apart (the way visitors do in Napa), you
get to see horses and the Blue Ridge mountains when
you come to wine country in Virginia,” says Tareq
Salahi, CEO of Oasis Winery in Hume. “This is part
of the reason why Virginia is unique and why we will
succeed.”
No
matter how Virginia positions itself, as a nouveau Napa
or a charming country getaway, the pieces are in place
to move the industry to a more competitive level. A
friendly political climate — Gov. Mark R. Warner
owns a small vineyard himself in King George County
— state support and new laws are helping Virginia
evolve from a small-time player into a significant wine
state. And while the industry is still young, it’s
clearly moved beyond the experimentation stage. An important
endorsement of Virginia’s growing respected place
among wine producers came with this year’s release
of the fifth edition of the World Atlas of Wine written
by respected British wine author and authority Hugh
Johnson. He writes that “... the Eastern state
that, after New York, offers the most excitement today
is unquestionably Virginia, which has more than 50 small
passionate wineries, with Merlots and Cabernets being
particularly successful.”
Making
the wine list of a well-known national restaurant chain
has also raised the state’s profile. Last year,
Outback Steakhouse, the popular Australian-theme restaurant
with 1,000 locations in North America, began offering
Virginia wines on its corporate wine list and serving
wines from Oasis Winery in many of its restaurants.
By next year, Oasis will appear on the chain’s
wine menus in the West. “We find that our Virginia
selections sit comfortably on our wine list beside Mondavi,
Fetzer, Black Opal and Kendall-Jackson,” Outback
Steakhouse founder Tim Gannon told a delighted industry
crowd during a ceremony in June when his company was
recognized for supporting Virginia wines.
The
national exposure afforded by Outback puts Virginia’s
name out to a large audience and adds to a list of accolades
for Oasis. In 1997, the winery was rated by Wine Enthusiast
magazine as having one of the top ten champagnes in
the world. Its Brut was placed in the same company with
such heavyweights as Krug and Moet’s Dom Perignon.
Today, Oasis is one of Virginia’s most successful
wineries, producing 20,000 cases a year, which ring
up more than $5 million in sales. It began in 1979 as
a small family operation back when 34-year-old Salahi
was just a child helping his parents tend the grapevines.
After graduating from one of the country’s top
enology schools — the University of California
at Davis — he returned to the winery and has helped
it grow.
In
2000, Salahi started a lucrative sideline, offering
limousine tours of wineries located within a few miles
of each other in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains
in Virginia’s northern viticultural region. For
a $400 fee, the limos pick up groups at hotels and bed
and breakfasts who want to spend a leisurely day visiting
wineries. Salahi says the winery schedules about 15
tours a week. Its success has attracted suitors. “We
have been made offers from umbrella groups representing
wineries in California and other states — repeated
offers,” says Salahi. But, he adds, Oasis is not
for sale. “We’re not interested. It’s
our love and our passion.”
If
a major California name buys up a Virginia winery, that
would bolster the state’s stature as a new player
in the wine world. Yet even if that scenario doesn’t
play out, what’s certain is that wineries are here
to stay, and it seems like everyone wants a piece of
the action. Luminaries such as multimillionaire Patricia
Kluge (see story on page 15) and musician Dave Matthews
have opened wineries a few miles from each other just
outside Charlottesville.
What
makes a state better known for its peanuts than Pinot
Grigio attractive to vintners? Besides offering a grape-friendly
climate and mid-Atlantic location, Virginia provides
marketing and technical support. Early on in 1980 it
passed a Farm Wineries Act that taxes wineries like
a farm rather than a commercial business. Even in these
tight budget times, Virginia spends nearly half a million
dollars a year on wine industry research, marketing
and educational efforts. Plus, it pays the salaries
of a state enologist and a viticulturist at Virginia
Tech, who offer assistance on everything from what grapes
are best suited to the state’s geography to the
economics of winemaking.
While
wine grapes can grow throughout the state under certain
soil and weather conditions, Virginia has six specially
designated viticultural regions where grapes definitely
thrive: the North fork of Roanoke, Rocky Knob, Shenandoah,
Monticello, the Northern Neck George Washington’s
Birthplace and the Eastern Shore.
State
enologist Bruce Zoecklein, who has worked with winemakers
since 1985, describes them as a young, progressive lot,
dedicated to producing fine wines. While overall quality
remains spotty across the board, Zoecklein says Virginia
is already at a plateau where some producers consistently
make fine wines that hold their own against California
and foreign competitors. “If you define the big
leagues as making wine that’s as high in quality
as anywhere else, I’d say we’re already there…We
make some outstanding Cabernet Francs and some good
Viogniers.”
Yet,
no matter how good the winemaking, vintners must still
contend with the weather just like any other farmer.
September’s Hurricane Isabel with its drenching
rains and high winds wiped out some of the grape crop
right in the middle of harvest. Still, Zoecklin’s
not willing to write off the 2003 vintage. “It’s
premature to put a negative note on the season. To say
it’s been a difficult season is correct. How the
winemakers will come through it remains to be seen.”
Last
month’s issue of Wine Spectator, the world’s
leading consumer wine magazine, gave the Schornberg’s
award-winning Viognier a rating of 87 out of 100, or
very good. Other wines receiving a “very good”
rating included the 2001 White Hall Chardonnay Virginia
Reserve, which scored an 88. It’s made near Charlottesville
and retails for $23 a bottle, less than half the price
of Keswick’s wine, which sells for $49.95. While
many quality wines come from smaller operations, Zoecklein
sees a trend away from Mom and Pop-style boutiques.
“It’s a highly technical, expensive business
to be in, and if you don’t have a good understanding
of marketing, a sense of technology and the capital,
you can’t expect to succeed.”
Typically,
it costs $10,000 to $15,000 an acre in Virginia, not
including the land, to establish grapevines with trellis
and irrigation systems. Oak aging barrels can run $700
each, and a machine used to crush grapes costs in the
neighborhood of $18,000. When there’s a danger
of frost, some vineyards install giant wind machines
or even deploy helicopters to keep air circulating around
vines so their growth won’t be stunted by the cold.
By the time vintners throw in bottling and labeling
— not to mention dog food for as many as a dozen
dogs used by some vineyards to guard vines against wildlife
— it’s easy to see why commercial winemaking
tends to be a second hobby or career for the rich. “It
takes millions. It’s a huge investment,” says
Cindy Schornberg, who declined to say what it cost to
start Keswick Vineyards.
Most
owners don’t expect to break even on annual costs
until five to seven years down the road when vines yield
higher tonnage. Long-term, though, winemaking can reap
profits, because small amounts of land are capable of
producing big yields. So important is the economic potential
of the wine industry when other agricultural products
such as tobacco and peanuts are on the wane that the
General Assembly recently passed laws to help wineries
broaden their markets. Most important was direct shipping,
which allows wineries for the first time since Prohibition
to ship directly to customers in 13 other states with
reciprocity laws. In addition, Warner has created a
wine study work group that’s developing a long-term
strategic plan, including
incentives such as low-interest loans and interstate
highway signs to promote wineries as tourist attractions.
While
planners plot the future, new vintners continue to flock
to Orange and Albemarle counties in the Monticello region
and to Loudoun and Madison in the Northern region. Salahi
notes that the metro Washington/Northern Virginia market
ranks first in the country in per capita consumption
of premium wine — a powerful pull for new wineries.
Jenny McCloud moved from Florida to Middleburg in 1998
to open Chrysalis Vineyards on a 209-acre estate. She
came to grow the state’s native Norton grape, which
she thinks holds the most promise. So far, she has sunk
more than $6 million into her winery, planting 62 acres
of grapes. Chrysalis has done well in a short time with
its signature white Viognier, which won 2002 Best of
Show White Wine in the prestigious San Diego National
Wine Competition, one of the country’s largest.
The
success of newcomers wouldn’t be possible without
the work of Virginia’s early winemakers at places
like Barboursville Vineyards. Here in the rolling hills
of Orange County, winemaker and General Manager Luca
Paschina has toiled for 13 years, trying different grapes
in different soils and producing award-winning Cabernet
Franc, Sauvignon Blanc and dessert wines. The Tuscan-style
winery, which serves about 20 different wines from a
long bar in its tasting room, attracts 55,000 visitors
a year. They come to sample the pairing of foods and
wines at the on-site Italian Palladio restaurant, which
overlooks the pastoral vineyards.
While
Paschina says Virginia’s wine industry has come
a long way, more needs to be done if it’s to make
the jump from a promising to a prominent player. “We
need more producers to continue making good wine. To
get recognition, we need to sell our products nationwide.”
Currently, Virginia wines are sold in retail outlets,
restaurants, through festivals and at the wineries,
with distribution concentrated primarily in the eastern
U.S.
In
Virginia, only one in four bottles of wine purchased
here is produced here, so there’s plenty of room
for winemakers to make inroads even within state boundaries.
When it comes to marketing, Virginia vintners can take
a lesson from Chateau Morrisette in Southwest Virginia.
Its semi-sweet Our Dog Blue Reisling is one of the state’s
biggest sellers. Sales of the wine, originally in a
brown bottle, took off after the winery repackaged it
in a blue bottle with a distinctive label of a dog jumping
over the moon. Today, sales of this $10-a-bottle wine
are so strong that it accounts for 25 percent of Chateau
Morrisette’s total sales, says Bob Burgin, vice
president of wine production. Dog labels on other wines,
based on Black Labradors owned by Burgin and Morrisette
family members, have also done well and convinced the
winery to put a dog label on its more expensive premium
wines. “We wanted labels that were fun. We wanted
to make wine accessible,” explains Burgin.
The
decision to take the pretentiousness out of wine and
make it more accessible to consumers worked, because
what was a small family winery is today one of the state’s
largest, producing more than 50,000 cases a year. Chateau
Morrisette, off the Blue Ridge Parkway, is also one
of rural Floyd County’s largest employers, with
85 people during the peak harvest season and a payroll
of more than $1 million.
Perhaps the lesson that can be learned from Our Dog
Blue is that Virginia must pinpoint its niche among
the world’s wines. Just as California is known
for its Chardonnay and Oregon for its Pinot Noir, vintners
should come to some agreement on what Virginia can do
best. Once that’s settled, it needs more acres
under wine and greater market penetration. “The
amount produced here isn’t sufficient to have the
distribution to get our name out there,” says William
J. Moses, co-chairman of the governor’s wine study
group and CEO of Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard. Until
Virginia gets to that point, Cindy Schornberg has an
interim ploy. “Maybe they could change the state
motto to “Virginia is for wine lovers.”
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