The slow art of vinegar

MOUNT AIRY -- Sue Lewis and Claudia Nami have a lot of patience. Each bottle of vinegar they produce on their Dragonfly Farms takes two years of concentrating on every step from vine to bottle.
"It's a challenge, but it's very rewarding," Lewis said.

Rather than turning out a lot of product quickly, they take their time in turning out a quality product.

Lewis and Nami grow several varieties of grapes, including merlot, cabernet, syrah, chardonnay and gewurztraminer, from which they make wine. The wines, which are all dedicated to making their gourmet line of vinegars, are aged in oak barrels for one year. Each grape variety comes out in the vinegars they produce.

They also grow black currants, which are added to the wine to make vinegar.

The currant eats the alcohol from the wine and turns it into acid, Lewis said. This process requires more slow fermenting but does not require any added preservatives, chemicals or water.

Slow fermenting the vinegar is the old-fashioned way, and the only way to make "real" vinegar, Nami said.

All the bottling and packaging is done on site as well at Maryland's only commercial vinegary.

Lewis and Nami are looking into making tomato and honey vinegars.

"You can make vinegar with just about anything," Lewis said.

Taste-testing is a large part of Dragonfly's marketing toolbox. Thousands have been conducted since the vinegars were first introduced about a year ago, Nami said.

Lewis and Nami take their products to food shows and wine festivals and sell at farmers' markets in Virginia, and Howard and Montgomery counties. The products can be purchased through the farm's website and at whole foods stores in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

They do demonstrations at regional whole foods stores to provide customers with ideas for using the vinegars and post recipes of their own and from customers on the website.

The business plan

When Nami and Lewis researched options for their land, they first settled on growing grapes to sell to other Maryland wineries. The process would have been time consuming because wineries do not purchase young grapes.

Making their own wine for sale would mean bringing customers onto the farm.

While the vinegar-making process is even more regulated than wine, vinegar seemed to fit well.

"Claudia is into cooking. Neither of us are big wine drinkers," Lewis said.

Vinegar provides other benefits, such as decreasing the need to use salt to flavor food and helping with acid reflux. Lewis made vinegar part of a weight-loss program.

The business partners learned about vinegar making from books and the Internet and by using a consultant to answer questions.

During the time it took for the first batches of vinegar to come to fruition, they filled in by growing flowers and vegetables.

Community supported agriculture

Flowers and vegetables, in addition to offering community supported agriculture shares, allow Lewis and Nami to get the most from their land, which has 10 acres in production.

"We use every bit of space we can find," Lewis said, planting tomatoes and squash in between rows of currants.

They are in the third year of growing vegetables and plan to increase production next year to accommodate the CSA.

"We want to make it interesting," Nami said. They will work with other local producers to expand the packages they offer their customers.

They are exploring items to offer, including artisanal bread and cheese, locally roasted coffee, certified organic eggs, mushrooms and meat.

"One of our mottos is 'Feed your soul,'" Nami said, which they hope to do for their customers by offering a more enriching variety.

Working with other farmers also reduces their risk. If their cucumbers suffer from blight, then they can get them from another producer who was spared.

Their CSA package saves customers money and time by getting their products through a one-stop shop.

People want to get the most, the best, for less and right away, Nami said. "Everything that we pick up for our members we scrutinize. We are members of our own CSA. We have standards that keep people coming back."

Their vinegars will be included in the packages, and the business partners hope to include black currant jelly they make from the currants used to produce vinegar.

"To make other value-added products like jelly would be very interesting," Nami said.