Grapes of Wealth, Potentially
Southern Maryland Farmers Are Starting Vineyards and Wineries in Hope Of Finding a New Cash Crop and Image for Lands Tobacco Once Ruled
A region once known for its leafy tobacco fields is trying for a new image: a mini-Napa in the heart of Southern Maryland.
As vineyards sprout on erstwhile tobacco fields, farmers are finding that the soil, equipment and perseverance that served them well with one cash crop could work for a new one. And wineries attract highly sought-after tourists, who rarely turned out to watch tobacco drying.
With help from a regional cooperative and buy-in from county government, some growers envision creating a vintner's enclave near the District. Others would much rather crack open a cold beer and enjoy the extra income grapes could provide.
But they agree on this: Growing grapes for a fine wine, or even just a decent one, is a challenge.
Starting a vineyard is expensive and tedious. Often it is years before farmers have a crop of marketable grapes, and even then, acres of vines can be destroyed in hours by bad weather, hungry deer, powdery mildew or Japanese beetles. Unlike the tobacco farmers who once dominated the region, budding vintners can't just lean over the fence to ask for advice.
"We consider our objective to scare most people away," said Joe Fiola, a University of Maryland Cooperative Extension viticulture specialist who teaches introductory grape-growing courses across the state. "It's fairly easy to end up with a disaster."
Southern Maryland's climate is especially tricky for grapes. Vines thrive on warm days and cool nights, the typical weather in the Napa Valley, and are extremely sensitive to temperature fluctuations, such as those during Maryland summers, Fiola said.
Still, the allure of vineyards packed with tourists, wine bottles featuring the word "Maryland" and hefty payouts for quality grape crops has led an increasing number of people to invest in start-up vineyards and wineries.
It's not just former tobacco farmers. There's an aerospace engineer who produces bottles of Chambourcin and Vidal in the basement of his Lusby home. Grown siblings trying to keep their parents' farm operating. And a Mechanicsville farm family that wants to diversify its agriculture portfolio.
The Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland started a grant program in 2005 that splits the cost of new vines with growers, which was the financial push many needed. This year, the St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners invested almost half a million dollars in a cooperative winery on the Leonardtown Wharf.
The Port of Leonardtown Winery, which will be set in a renovated State Highway Administration garage, plans to crush its first batch of grapes in August and uncork its first bottle of wine in 2010. That summer, it expects to open the winery to the public for tours and tastings.
The cooperative aspect of the winery makes it the first of its kind in the state and one of only a few in the country, said Richard Fuller, president of the Southern Maryland Wine Growers Co-op. Cooperative members have invested their money in the winery and could wait years to make a large profit. They include the growers who to sell their grapes to the winery, then receive profits from sale of the wine, a pay-off growers usually don't receive.
The cooperative has 17 members, growing 23 varieties of grapes, and a wine consultant. Cooperative leaders wish the winery had started before the farmers randomly picked their grape selections from a list compiled by the state extension office.
With small quantities of so many varieties, the cooperative plans to make a few distinct wines from one type of grape -- such as Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay, Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc. All of the other grapes will be mixed together to create basic, less-expensive white and red table wines.
One of the strengths of the cooperative, members say, is the variety of personalities, backgrounds and talents. The lifelong farmers know how best to grow crops in Southern Maryland's sandy soil. Wine snobs recommend varieties and talk up the start-up to their tasting clubs. Others help with the business plan, marketing strategy, logo design and accounting.
Assisting them in tying those threads together is consultant Tom Payette, who has helped open wineries up and down the East Coast. "There's a lot of romance around the wine industry," said Payette, who is from Virginia. "It's easy to get these rosy glasses on and not see all the work that goes into it."
Many in Maryland hold up Virginia as the golden example, said Patrick Isles, a co-op member and the engineer who produces wine in his basement. "We look at them for the potential of what our wine can be," Isles said.
Although Virginia has produced wine since the 17th century, wineries in the Shenandoah region and Eastern Shore have become major tourist attractions in the past two decades, pumping millions of dollars into the state's economy. In 1979, Maryland and Virginia had the same number of wineries. By 2005, Virginia had 94 wineries, compared with 15 in Maryland. Today, Maryland has almost 30.
But Maryland growers have a few legislative obstacles in their way. To be labeled a Maryland wine, 75 percent of the grapes used to make it must be grown in state. And Maryland wineries can't ship wine out of state, meaning wineries cannot take orders from across the country by phone or the Internet, as they can in most other states.
Still, dozens of Southern Marylanders are trying their luck with the delicate crop, including Charles County farmer Todd Connick, who switched from tobacco to grapes, oats and wheat during the state tobacco buyout. The buyout used money from a settlement with major tobacco companies to pay tobacco farmers to switch to a different and more sustainable crop.
Connick planted his first vines three years ago and has about 1,000 vines on his 130-acre farm. This year, he sold his first 2,000 pounds of grapes to Friday's Creek Winery in Calvert County.
"We've been pleasantly surprised by how many good vines we've had," he said, "but it took constant pruning and spraying."