A vineyard in Long Island us east coast

EASTERN promise

The small wineries of USA’s eastern seaboard seem able to find success while bypassing the world of ratings, national publicity and even distribution networks. Roger Morris finds out how they do it

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Feature findings

4The east coast of USA is home to hundreds of small wineries, which ALTHOUGH HIS small estate winery they hand-make is mostly sold directly sell their primarily at the is only 12 years old, Anthony Vietri, to consumers. cellar door or locally. owner and winemaker at Pennsylvania’s • Despite the likes of Robert Parker living 4Business models are based around Va La Vineyards , has been producing in Maryland, smack bang in the middle small scale production, and the only wines of such quality that his best bottles of the east coast, but wines here get less state which has more than a whole command up to US$50 (HK$388). Yet his coverage of vintages and ratings one percentage point share in wines have never been reviewed and compared to other major wine regions. national production is New York. rated by a national publication. • The wines of the east coast are 4Until the 1960s, it was generally Jim Law, considered one of the most decidedly Old World in structure, believed that vines accomplished winegrowers in the US, though not always by preference or could not be grown on the east has had similar quality and commercial design of the winegrowers. coast. Changes in laws and tastes in successes at his Linden Vineyards in • Wineries that produce excellent, this part of the country means that over the past 25 years. Likewise, world -class wines often exist next door it has been a growing niche for only he receives little national or to those whose wines are – charitably – 25 to 30 years. international attention. rustic in nature. 4Many east coast winemakers are What’s more, it’s unlikely you’ll find • But both the regal and the rustic are self-taught, adding to the area’s either of their wines on most restaurant most likely profitable. In fact, fewer quirky nature, but others see a real wine lists in nearby towns or in local wine east -coast wineries went out of business need for wine education in the area stores. If you want to taste the wines, or changed hands because of economic to develop. your best bet is having someone in the difficulties during the recent recession area send you a bottle or drive up to the than on the more-glamorous west coast. cellar doors. • The region is possibly the only one in The middle Atlantic coast of the United the world that can be economically • Finally, if you don’t live on the east States – which stretches south from New viable without having large networks of coast but know firsthand of a half- York to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, distributors, either inside or outside the dozen wineries in the region, then Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and, finally, area, or any major wine cooperatives. you must be a true devotee or writing North Carolina – is the most densely • In spite of, or perhaps because of, a book on the area. populated and affluent part of the their almost-instant success over the country. It is also a hotbed of hundreds past 25 years, many winegrowers in the BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME of small vineyards and wineries that region are still not certain that they So what is the secret to survival for these collectively defy easy categorisation. have planted the right in the wineries – and in some cases, prosperity? But like a twilight zone with a confused right places. Eliminating dependence on the profit- magnetic field, business plans that would • If the east coast were magically sapping, many-layered American wine bankrupt winegrowers anywhere else in relocated to Eastern Europe or South distribution system. To adapt the famous the world work here, and what makes America, small American wine line from the movie, Field of Dreams : economic sense for wineries in Europe, importers would most likely be fighting “Open a small, quality winery, and they California and the southern hemisphere each other for rental cars at will come.” doesn’t here. To survive, eastern wineries local airports to explore the area. “The best business plan for limited have had to devise business models capacity,” says Virginia different to that of any major New or Old winegrower David Pollak, “is to World wine region. sell at least 80% of production at the winery, and use distributors COASTWATCH The best business plan for to target restaurants and retail As a result, the east coast invites some exposure for prospective intriguing observations: limited capacity is to sell customers who would likely visit • Although there are more than 900 at least 80% of production wineries along the east coast, very few of them have distribution deals locally at the winery or regionally, and almost none nationally. Most could be labelled “artisan wineries” because the wine 4

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the winery in the future. If I sell my wine coast. Often cited were the crushingly at the winery,” he continues, “I get 90% of unsuccessful but well-publicised attempts the list price. If I sell the same bottle to a of founding father and Francophile distributor, I get about 50% of list price.” Thomas Jefferson to grow French and “I can understand why national Italian grapes during the 18th century at magazines don’t publish our ratings, Monticello, his Virginia plantation. eventually hybrid grapes were banned and I don’t really blame them,” says Eastern winters were too harsh, and its from French vineyards (except in Law, who has a similar business humid summers too disease-infested in where some Baco Blanc is philosophy, “Most of their readers can’t an era that did not have modern chemical still grown for distillation). buy our wines.” pesticides. And there was understandably Grapes such as , Marechal It may help go back in time and examine little demand for wine made from native, Foch, , and were how things got this way. Until the 1960s, overly vinous grapes, although many soon planted up and down the east coast it was generally believed you couldn’t acres of them were grown to provide and in the country’s interior. They were grow vitis vinifera grapes on the east juice for school children. prolific, generally winter-hardy and if , America’s gift to they didn’t taste exactly like vinifera, European vineyards, actually they were close. produced an early ray of hope to But Prohibition (1920-1933) and the region’s dismal winemaking restrictive state production and Long Island is great for prospects. Two attempted distribution laws (the 50 states have their , but it is flat, and solutions to the vine plague were own regulations) kept the number of east grafting vinifera shoots on I need mountains for American or, minerality alternately, creating disease- resistant French-American hybrids. The first solution proved the better one, and

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coast wineries at just a handful until the to New York and a late bloomer on the 1970s, when the US discovered its love of wine scene, because “it is hot enough to wine. The passage of farm winery laws, get ripeness without excessive heat. In which allowed direct sales to consumers states farther south, such as North in eastern states, which California already Carolina, I see excessive alcohol enjoyed, started what is still a growing peeping through.” begun to show progress with sparkling wine boom. He loves Pennsylvania for white wine wine production. But if the number of eastern wineries has production, especially . Still, the weather is a major factor that mushroomed, total production is still quite “The wines produced have great balance greatly influences growing conditions, small, a miniscule part of US wine between alcohol and acidity with mature vintage variation and certainly production. California accounts for around flavours,” he says. He is also optimistic production volume. Black Ankle Vineyard 90% of American table wine production by about the more mountainous regions of in Maryland, just north of Washington volume, and the other two west coast western Maryland for reds. “Reds could DC, has been applauded by the wine states – Washington and Oregon – be great here,” he says, “but like community for the quality of its produce combined, make up 4%. Of east coast California – and unlike Virginia – you in the few short years of its existence and states, only New York at 3.7% can claim need to add acidity.” in its attempts to grow organic grapes. more than a fraction of a percentage point. This positive view of eastern wine However co -owner Sarah O’Herron says: quality is not only a local “We couldn’t find an organic solution observation. Lorenzo Zonin, to Japanese beetles, and black rot is estate director of Podero San pervasive. There is not a good solution to We are a decent-sized Cristoforo in Italy’s Maremma that either. So we are not completely region, worked for a few years organic, but we’ve gone as far as we can Virginia winery at 6,000 cases. early in his career at down that road.” A typical California premium Barboursville Winery in Virginia, which the Zonin family WINERY AS DESTINATION brand would probably be pioneered in 1976. He quickly David Pollak, an Ohio businessman, 30,000 cases became convinced of the quality was the first manager of Napa Valley’s potential of wines from the US Bouchaine Vineyards in the early 80s. east coast. In 2003 he established Pollak Vineyards “Virginia wines have shown to in Virgignia with his wife Margo. be as good as [those in] other “Land in California is more expensive, areas in the world,” Zonin says. “They but farming costs in the east are Yet, they are a warren of vineyards and show elegance and a surprising longevity, significantly higher,” he says. “Our small wineries. Virginia, for example, has being so different from some other chemical spend is higher because of around 200 wineries, Pennsylvania 150. warmer – and apparently more ‘suitable’ constant mould and pathogen pressure. – areas in the New World.” Many think In Virginia especially, the vine vigour is EAST COAST TERROIR that Eastern wines can present a leaner, higher, which requires much more labour As with elsewhere in the world, the lower-alcohol, more European alternative for leaf-pulling, shoot-thinning, and various terroirs of the east coast have to west coast blockbusters. hedging,” he continues. “There are also their pluses and minuses. John The East Coast is also developing economies of scale. Because of frost, we Levenberg, who has made highly rated pockets of specialties. The Finger Lakes can only plant knolls on tops of rises. wines in California working for Paul area of western New York is noted for its So on our property, I have six distinct Hobbs Winery, now consults many , while the hilly coastal area of vineyard parcels covering 27 acres. Eastern wineries on how to grow grapes Pennsylvania just west of Philadelphia, At Bouchaine, we had one field covering and make wine. where Vietri’s Va La winery is located, “Long Island [in New York state] has has shown great early success with very well-drained soils, which are great, northern Italian varieties, especially particularly for Merlot,” he says, “but it . Because of cooler growing is flat and has no topography. I need seasons and good natural acidity, mountains to get minerality.” Pennsylvania and New York – and He is optimistic about New Jersey, next even chilly Massachusetts – have 4

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either for vanity or love of wine, have been slow in coming, and most of that has been in Virginia. The Zonins did it as financial investment in the New World. Former millionaire Patricia Kluge established a huge estate and auxiliary businesses around her Kluge Estate winery before she went bankrupt in the recent market collapse. Kluge was bailed out by fellow millionaire, politician and showman Donald Trump – but he took over operations and renamed it . Both Kluge and John Kent Cooke – at his northern Virginia winery, Boxwood – recognised the paucity of local experience in winemaking and brought in noted French consultants, in Kluge’s case Michel Rolland and Stéphane Derenoncourt at A vineyard in Long Island Boxwood. The majority of east coast winemakers are self-taught, and many wineries cannot afford trained enologists. 30 acres. We are a decent-sized Virginia John Levenberg sees this as a winery at 6,000 cases. A typical California hurdle that needs to be premium brand would probably be The majority of east coast overcome. “There are not enough 30,000 cases.” good winemakers here,” he says, Hence the need for business plans that winemakers are self-taught, “and you need consultants could keep overhead in line. before you plant the vineyards “In my opinion, US wineries shouldn't and many wineries cannot and build the winery, not [attempt to] compete with lower prices afford trained enologists afterward.” He sees hope that and volumes, but rather with a better New York’s Cornell University, experience for consumers,” counsels noted for its agricultural Italy’s Zonin. “Wine experience is not only curriculum, may eventually about wine, it’s about food, landscapes, become the equivalent of friends and many other things. That’s why California’s UC Davis for wine I think it is important to create a network “Would I rather have a 93 [score] from education in the region. between producers, restaurants, hotels, Parker? Probably, but all this helps get us Yet Vietri, whose small vineyard and museums, travel guides and all the on wine lists and gives us exposure to our winery produce only about 750 cases possible points of interest.” primary target audience – prospects that annually, is not too keen on changing And that is what most Eastern wineries are likely to make a trip to Charlottesville.” a successful model. “The strange do – tirelessly invent reasons for repeat But while these wineries want to be uniqueness of the region is the huge customers to come back to the winery, identified as producing only quality, dry number of small wineries, which I think such as festivals, music, food and table wines, others emphasise a two-tier actually bodes well for potential quality special events. system. For example, New Jersey’s and distinctiveness,” he says, “making for Furthermore, Pollak and many other Heritage Winery received high marks this a successful business without the benefit wineries are now relying on national wine summer in a blind tasting of its red wines of distribution. These are the kinds of competitions, not ratings, for recognition, versus those from Bordeaux – yet another elements that I hope that people begin to a system California used in pre-Robert recreation of Stephen Spurrier’s famous become more aware of – about the DIY, Parker, pre- Wine Spectator days. “I can 1976 Paris tasting. Yet most of Heritage’s guerilla nature of this region. spend an hour talking about what we are production is “stickies.” Owner Bill “We are so not ‘big wine,’” he continues, doing to produce a premium Cabernet Heritage says: “Sales of those sweet wines “In my head, that’s the next step, to get Sauvignon,” Pollak says, “or I can simply pay for the French oak barrels for the folks to see this as a movement and say that our 2009 reserve won a gold dry wines.” become excited by it.” db medal in San Francisco in the heart of Unlike with California, however, major California Cabernet country. financial investments in winery estates,

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