Viva! The Revolution of Local Wines

There are only two shopping days left until the start of Drink Local Wine Week. This is the second annual homage to domestic wines that are not from California, Oregon or Washington State….Not that there is anything wrong with wines from these enological behemoths, but with all due respect wine is being made in all 50 states.

Nobody is describing the Georgia winemaking industry as a behemoth quite yet, but it continues to grow and with greater emphasis on quality. There are now 43 wineries and vineyards in Georgia with four others in the works. Once a rarity, Georgia wines can be found on the shelves of wine shops and increasingly on the wine list of your local bistro. Wines from Blackstock Vineyards and Winery (the well-regarded Dahlonega outfit run by renowned grape-grower and viognier savant David Harris), for example, are now available at a number of area Publix grocery stores. And most wineries now ship their wines to your doorstep.

The remarkable growth in Georgia winemaking is not an isolated pocket. Regional wines throughout the country are gaining ground and respect. Texas, which recently hosted the first DrinkLocalWine.com conference in August, now has 177 wineries. Virginia boasts 147 wineries with 15 distinct sub-regions stretching from Virginia Beach in the east to the town of Norton in the Heart of Appalachia Wine Region in the west.

Fast-growing North Carolina is home to 80 wineries (more than triple the number in 2001) and has three sub-regions, including the newly minted Haw River Valley in the state’s Piedmont region. Growth in the number of sub-regions, known as American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), is a sure sign that a state’s wine industry is looking to a future full of distinct wines from special places.

Need an example of this? California had four AVAs and 576 wineries in 1981. Today, there are 93 AVAs and 2,843 wineries. If California were a country (and last time I checked, it is not), it would be the fourth largest wine producing country in the world. California makes a lot of wine—good, bad and middling—and these days its wine industry needs no calling card. But places like Georgia need help getting the word out that in the hills and hollows, where moonshine once reigned, some serious winery owners are committed physically and financially to make wine that makes you go “Wow!”

Unfortunately, when you tell someone that you’ve started a winery in the North Georgia Mountains, people are apt to say “Wow! You must be crazy.” Just ask Bob and Jane Miller, owners of Yonah Mountain Vineyards and recent additions to the growing ranks of quality Georgia winemakers.

“Anyone who gets into the wine[making] business is crazy,” laughs Bob Miller, a former financial services executive. “It takes so long to make your first bottle of wine, that it just doesn’t make financial sense.”

And the nonsense of making wine and money in the wine industry is stark. The Miller’s goal is to eventually plant 25 acres on their family farm north of Cleveland. They planted two acres two years ago; three acres this past year; and hope to finish in 2011 or 2012. Bob estimates it costs $20,000 per acres to plant. That doesn’t include a raft of other costs, not the least of which is building and outfitting a commercial winery. Oh, and all those vines? They won’t produce a drop of wine for at least three years—and really nothing high quality for five. Bill estimates that the first bottle of Yonah Mountain wine to roll off the bottling line will have cost him $2 million.

“It’s easy to make wine, but not so easy to make great wine,” Bob said. And this may be the craziest part of the Miller’s winemaking aspirations. They don’t want to make the best wine in Georgia, or the Southeast for that matter. The Millers intend to make wine that rightly sits next to the best in the world. He uses Kistler Chardonnay and Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, legendary California wines, as benchmarks.

Until his vines come on line, the Millers buy grapes from local growers to make Genesis, a cabernet sauvignon-based blend. The Millers know the returns on their investment will not come soon, perhaps not for many years. But their belief is strong that lovers of first-class wines will eventually beat a path to their door. “We are trying everything possible to make the best wine possible. The end product will speak for itself,” Bob said.

Stories like those of the Millers were enough reason to get 23 wine writers, including those from the Chicago Tribune, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Washington (D.C.) Examiner and The Washington Post, to write about great wine coming from unexpected places in 2008. This year 45 wine writers are expected to write, blog and twitter their fingers off on the subject of local wines across America and Canada from Oct. 11-17.

So fellow Georgians, if you’re thinking of celebrating Drink Local Wine Week (www.drinklocalwine.com) appropriately, most wine shops in the state ought to lead you to a solid Georgia wine. Plainly, there are enough good to great wines in this state to stock a few selections. For a wine retailer to do less is to be either blind to the improvements in the wine region in their backyard or stubborn in its belief that quality domestic wine can only come from the West Coast. And for all those wine consumers who gripe and moan about the growing international style that has syrah/shiraz, chardonnay and merlot tasting just about the same regardless of price or place, this is your chance to experience unique wines that taste like they are from a specific region.

Better yet, why not take a ride this weekend on the Georgia Wine Highway (www.georgiawine.com) to commemorate Drink Local Wine Week. This scenic route meanders from Jasper to Clayton, but is centered around Dahlonega and Helen. If you ever thought that the Georgia Wine Industry was the punch line to a joke, go see for yourself that these operations and the wines they produce are indeed serious. I could not think of a better gift to yourself or for the hard-working winemaking pioneers of this state than to take a first-hand look at your state’s burgeoning wine industry.