This winter's N.C. Winegrower's Association conference sounded a familiar, albeit muted, theme: Winemaker, heal thyself.
"We all want to be winners. But we have to do it together," association president Steve Shepard said, reminding colleagues that flawed North Carolina wines were still being sold, sullying the reputation of an artisan industry poised for more growth.
Shepard, one of the state's longest tenured winemakers at RayLen Vineyards, encouraged wineries to take advantage of the quality assurance and lab analysis services offered at N.C. State, ASU and Surry Community College.
Wine consumption in North Carolina is staggering, Shepard noted, but only two-tenths of a percent of consumed wine in North Carolina is made in North Carolina. "Imagine if we moved from 0.2 to 0.3. We wouldn't have enough grapes, we'd all sell out. But we're not going to get there without better wines."
Last year, nervous laughter filled the conference when Childress Vineyards winemaker Mark Friszolowski addressed the NCWGA audience: "Nobody tells Mom, 'Boy that's an ugly baby, ' What do we do? Someone says, 'Here, taste my Cabernet,' and you smell it and go 'Eeww.' And what do we say? 'Hmm, good fruit. And I like that it's kind of hazy.' "
It's time for honesty, he added.
And at last year's conference, Dr. Trevor Phister, then a food science professor at NCSU, reminded winemakers how NCSU offered free lab analysis of wines to detect volatile acidity, oxidation, too much or too little sulfur dioxide, microbial and bacterial contamination. The program had been in place for more than a year - and yet only two wineries had availed themselves of that service.
Hanover Park Vineyards winemaker Michael Helton, among the second-generation N.C. wine pioneers, last year implored his colleagues to take a pragmatic approach: "Let's look at another term: Knowledge. It's education, it's a focus on learning more about what your are trying to do."
And a year ago, Shelton Vineyards winemaker Murphy Moore begged the question: What's the next step in launching a quality assurance program?
A year later, there is still no formal quality assurance program in North Carolina. Recently, when the NCWGA called for volunteers to help chart a course for such a program, only four people stepped forward to help.
"We need two to four more people to help us look at the best way to move forward," said Ken Gulaian, a NCWGA Director and owner of Round Peak Vineyards. "Every bad bottle has a tremendous impact on us."
A number of wine-producing states have implemented quality assurance panels, including Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Models vary: Some states focus on ferreting out flaws to improve consumer perception. Others pair "defect" panels with "hedonistic" panels that look at how close a wine comes to the fundamental stylistic characteristics of the varietal.
And in some places, wines not up to snuff in those states are not allowed access to festivals and do not receive a "quality assurance" seal or stamp on bottles - which sends a not-so-subtle message to consumers.
NCSU Extension Viticulture Specialist Sara Spayd criss-crosses the state, examining vineyards, evaluating plant health and advising grape growers. She thinks the N.C. wine industry's resistance to a quality assurance program is a deeply rooted one:
* While wines are evaluated blind and the feedback is confidential in lab analyses, she says, wineries fret gossip, that word of wonky wine will leak;
* Farmers are traditionally suspicious of regulatory oversight and grading a product. That, she says, seems particularly pronounced in the South;
* Finally, wineries fret the end-game: A "stamp of approval" they may or may not get, raising consumer's eyebrow.
This year, Shepard again tried again to make some strong medicine go down without gagging: "This idea of a quality stamp - it would be voluntary."
In his recent book The Modern American Wine Industry: Market Formation and Growth in North Carolina, Wake Forest Sociology professor Ian Taplin offers an exhaustive study of opportunities and challenges facing the industry. Taplin gave this pointed assessment: "Because some incumbents still lack requisite knowledge yet continue to think that they have the necessary skill sets, while others are bereft of the knowledge … the industry continues to be beset with considerable variation in quality. This can damage the overall reputation of the sector if consumers come to think that most producers lack consistency in their finished product."
Since 2005, the number of wineries in North Carolina (now 108) doubled, exhibiting phenomenal growth and catapulting North Carolina into the national Top Ten.
Taplin asserts that "the continued novelty factor associated with local producers selling direct from the winery" has insulated North Carolina wine's weakest links from the marketplace's natural punishing consumer behavior.
Further, he notes, more wineries are focusing on weddings, receptions, and special events to derive additional revenue streams. Those ancillary activities "can easily cause them to be less than thorough or committed to making the best wine possible," Taplin writes in his new book. "If this happens, they run the risk of becoming quaint locations but not necessarily the purveyors of decent wine. This can eventually affect industry reputation."
That's what veteran winemakers like Shepard, Friszolowski, and Helton have preached for years, all the while watching wanna-be wineries swell the ranks with entrepreneurs seeking the good life. In many instances, Shephard, Friszolowski and Helton have mentored new entrants to the marketplace, convinced that when their offspring flew the nest, the newcomers were committed to learning to learn.
But is that really happening?
Reaching a clustered critical mass that allows a destination/hospitality industry to leverage its travel/tourism presence is a good thing. Newcomers entering with naivete, an under-capitalized business plan, and a short profit horizon only encourages short-cuts and an indifference to knowing what it does not yet know.
RayLen's Steve Shepard reminded his colleagues of the resources at hand - free of charge: "Some of us don’t use them. Some of us need to use them. Let these guys help you."