Potential, hurdles noted in Arkansas wine industry

story and photos by Connie Las Schneider

Grape and wine production has been a steady growth industry for U.S. agricultural products and agri-tourism in the past decade.

The 2007 Census of Agriculture listed grapes as the 6th largest crop harvested in the U.S. with more than 25,000 farmers dedicated to grape growing. Additionally, U.S. grape and wine production increased more than 40% in the past 10 years.

Wineries in the natural state are on the increase and Arkansas has grown to 15 registered wineries in the past six years. The federally designated appellation known as Arkansas Wine Country, centered in Altus, is a major tourist attraction in Franklin County. Every year, several thousand agri-tourists from all over the country come here to for wine-tasting tours, to visit local sites and spend money.

In areas where wineries flourish, restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, inns, retail boutiques, farm and other craft businesses also succeed, said the Oklahoma Wines website. A typical new family winery will also provide regular employment for five to 10 people, and have annual sales of $200,000 to $1.5 million.

VITICULTURE/ENOLOGY PROGRAM
To maintain this growth and provide trained personnel for this emerging market, Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus began a viticulture (grape growing) and enology (wine making) program last year. The program is chaired by David Straley, a former California chef who changed careers to go into viticulture/enology. Straley attended Napa Valley College and Fresno State University before starting a viticulture consulting business in east Texas, which has a growing environment like Arkansas.

The viticulture and enology program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville has downsized, providing an opportunity for ATU-Ozark to fill the niche. The close proximity to local vineyards and wineries made the Ozark campus an ideal spot to open ATU’s new training program, explained Ken Warden, chief business and community outreach officer at ATU-Ozark. The accredited college certificate program offered at ATU-Ozark is the only one of its kind in Arkansas.

To supplement the ATU-Ozark program, Dr. Gary Main, former viticulture and enology researcher at the UA Institute of Food Science and Engineering, gave a presentation at the Ozark campus on April 20 to more than 25 local vineyard managers and wine producers. His presentation focused on using 30 years of Arkansas grape and wine research to support and grow the industry.

WINE IMPACT, COMMITMENT
Small wineries are important to rural communities, Main said. They create jobs, bring economic development, increase tourism and give farmers a non-traditional crop opportunity. Main did not say growing a vineyard was easy.

“Growing grapes is a 15-year commitment and requires 5 years to get grapes into production. It’s is like getting married with no prenuptial agreement and no chance of divorce. It is a lifestyle. If you want to make a good return with less commitment, raise lambs,” he explained.

Despite the commitment, vineyards and wineries are “booming in adjoining states,” said Main. The initial investment can be steep, up to $15,000 per acre excluding property with the major cost being labor, plants, trellis systems, irrigation and machinery. Grapes produce total revenue between $3,000 and $7,000 per acre yearly in Arkansas depending on variety grown and market demand. This revenue is approximately tenfold when the grapes are made into wine and sold at a restaurant.

“If you desire this lifestyle and select a proper vineyard site, this is a good specialty crop with return on investment,” Main said.

HURDLES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Like all agricultural ventures, there are several hurdles for the Arkansas grape and wine industries but also several positives, said Main.

Hurdles are legal problems including a predominance of dry counties in Arkansas, a limited local market because of the state’s lack of large population, its alcohol-beverage distribution system and instability of grape supply and price support.

Because of humidity and indigenous insects that can plague vineyards, Arkansas grape growers must also spray up to 16 times per years for pests while California grape growers only need to spray 2 to 3 times per year, Main explained. This greatly increases the cost to grow grapes in Arkansas compared to less humid states.

Fortunately, Main listed more positives than negatives. Positives included the new program for enology and viticulture  at ATU-Ozark, strong regional grape support, the ability to successfully market Arkansas products, having the technology to successfully grow grapes with minimum interruption by mother nature, and more Arkansas counties “voting wet” which increases the wine market.

Main also talked about the use of locally grown Muscadine grapes for juice, wine, and jellies and their byproducts for Nutraceuticals, a term combining the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical.” A Nutraceutical is a food or food product that provides health and medical benefits, like grape seed extract.

“Your presence here at this meeting indicates a willingness to make a commitment to vineyards and wineries,” Main told the audience during his discussion of Muscadine and Cynthiana grape production, vineyard management, mechanization systems and starting a winery.

LOCAL PRODUCERS
Many of Arkansas vineyard and wine producers are already enrolled in the ATU-Ozark program including Vintner Dennis Weiderhker, who is taking his third class, and Dr. Michael Post, who came back to his family’s Mount Bethel Winery after a career as a dentist.

Attendee Thomas Post manages the Post Familie vineyards and taught a Viticulture class for ATU-Ozark. He said the program provides a great foundation in enology and viticulture and thought having Main give the evening presentation “a great bonus.”

Post, who has a patent pending on new grape variety, the Prophesy grape, emphasized the importance of locally grown grapes in wine production because of its “terrior” French for “local environment.” Some wine enthusiasts want “a taste of earth in the wine,” he said.

Straley further explained that wine lovers with a well developed palette can taste the difference between wines made from the same variety of grape grown in different soils. Post also cited the importance of checking the label on the bottle when wine tasting. Only wines made from grapes grown in Altus will say “bottled in Altus” on the label. Wines labeled “bottled in Arkansas” are wines produced from grapes grown elsewhere, he said.

Attendees Anitra and Ed Fay, who started Fay Vineyards in 2007, are active in the newly forming Arkansas Association of Grape Growers.

“We began our venture with the hope that the industry is expanding in Arkansas. I think Arkansas is uniquely positioned to expand its grape industry in many directions — not just winemaking, but juice, nutritional supplements, jams, and other fruit products. In part, this is because within Arkansas, we can produce grapes and Muscadines, a southern grape that is highly desirable and nutritional. Also, we already have strong tourism in Arkansas, and an expanding grape industry could assist even more in the tourism sphere,” Fay said.

Ed Fay is also enrolled as a student in the ATU-Ozark program.

“It is my understanding that ATU-Ozark now has the only qualified viticulture/enology academic program in Arkansas,” said Fay. “If we are to have a viable industry, we have to have expert training available to address issues facing beginners/technical workers all the way to experienced growers and producers.”