Think wine lists track the same trends as the food menus at most restaurants? Think again.
What wine would you choose to pair with a meal of Georgia trout, collard greens and sweet potato soufflé? Of course a good match enhances the flavors of both the food and the wine, and so considerations include flavor intensity and sweetness. Beyond that, perhaps you prefer white instead of red, maybe domestic over imported. But when pairing wines with Southern food, do you often consider Southern wines? If not, you’re not alone.
Glance at a restaurant’s wine list here in the southern United States and it’s unlikely you’ll find many, if any, wines produced in these parts. What’s surprising about that oversight is the fact that if there’s one overall trend in restaurants today, it’s an increasing focus on local, regional, seasonal ingredients. Local items are served at 87 percent of fine dining restaurants and 75 percent of family and casual dining restaurants, according to a study by the National Restaurant Association. And the majority of chefs included in the survey expect sales of locally sourced items to increase.
Of course, loyalty has its limits. No one wants to pair delicious cuisine with a beverage that tastes like saddle cleaner, even if the ingredients all come from the same town. Is the issue that quality wine grapes can’t grow in the hot, humid South? “It depends on what kind of wine grape,” says Jim Lapsley, adjunct associate professor in the viticulture and enology department at the University of California, Davis. “There are all sorts of species of grapes around the world.” Vitus vinifera, the traditional quality standard, grows well in areas with dry summers and slightly wet winters. “The problem with growing vinifera outside California has to do with climate,” says Lapsley. “These grapes don’t grow particularly well in areas with high humidity like in the South or with harsh winters like in the Midwest or the Northeast.” Other grape species can grow in those regions, such as vitus aestivalis, which includes Norton or Cynthiana, vitus labrusca, which includes Concord, and hybrids, which are made of crossed species. “These grapes don’t taste exactly like vinifera,” says Lapsley, “but they taste close and are more cold-hardy and mildew-resistant.”
Such grapes may grow best, but palatability is another issue. “People tend to find wines made of Muscadine overpowering, so their perception of wines from this part of the country is misunderstood,” says John Seago, president and winemaker of Pontchartrain Vineyards in Bush, Louisiana. But a farmer must work with the climate. “I’m in the epicenter of Pierce’s disease with no option of using vinifera or most hybrids,” says Seago. “The only known way to deal with Pierce’s disease is to grow resistant varieties. Californians went through phylloxera in the ‘70s and had to rip out vines and start over, which is terribly expensive.” Seago grows Norton and Blanc du Bois, a European-American cross that was created by the University of Florida. “I am able to produce a high quality wine,” he says, “but things evolve fairly slowly in the wine world. It takes time to get growing up to its potential—which is the case anywhere in the world. Then it’s not necessarily what you’re doing in the vineyard but what you’re doing in the winery that impacts quality. When you’re working with new varietals it takes winemaking time to evolve.” Why even try to grow grapes in regions like Louisiana, where challenges are so high? For Seago it’s a matter of local pride: The New Orleans native planted his vineyard 54 miles north of the French Quarter in 1991 and now produces 2,500 cases each year. “Louisiana has a strong history of contributing to the food scene,” he says, “and did have winegrowers in the late 19th Century before Prohibition. It’s time to re-grow local wines to compliment this region’s distinctive cuisine. I’ve seen a quantum leap in quality and enthusiasm about in growing wine in the South. Some folks in North Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia are growing absolutely spectacular wines, but you’ve got to search them out.”
Producers want it to be easy for consumers to find their wines, of course. Marketing their wines to regional restaurateurs who serve local produce is a strategy many southern vintners pursue. “I really appreciate chefs who serve local food,” says Mary Ann Hardman, who co-owns Persimmon Creek Vineyards in Rabun County, Georgia with her husband Sonny. “And I hope those foods they serve also include wine that is local, sustainable, yet quality. It is holistic symbiosis to have a locally raised grain-fed beef or Georgia wild shrimp served with a local wine. Why serve it with a wine from France, Italy or Australia if there is one grown locally that is quality and matches in the pairing? My wine marketing philosophy is, ‘What grows together goes together.’ Georgia wild shrimp with our Seyval Blanc or Georgia peach sorbet with our Late Harvest Riesling make excellent pairings.” Hardman has had success selling Persimmon Creek Wines to some high-end restaurants including Bacchanalia, Canoe and Nikolai’s Roof in Atlanta, Elizabeth’s on 37th in Savannah, Five and Ten in Athens, The Cloister on Sea Island and all three The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Georgia. But for every restaurant that does carry a local wine, dozens don’t.
Just because a restaurant stocks a local wine doesn’t mean its list is bursting with them. “We carry one wine from Georgia,” says Heath Porter, sommelier of The Cloister on Sea Island. “I don’t feel the others [I’ve tasted] are where we need them to be. Some are just really beginning. I’ve actually been looking for some stuff from Virginia because I’ve heard some great wines are coming out of that state.” But his current wine list features only the 2005 Seyval Blanc from Persimmon Creek Vineyards. Does he need to nudge customers into ordering that Georgia wine? “The attitude seems to be ‘all for one or not at all,’” he says. “We’re in Georgia, so some people’s reaction is ‘this is exactly the opportunity to try it’ while others say ‘you’ve got to be kidding.’ There is a little push there [to sell the Georgia wine to some diners], but it makes sense to me that we’re using fresh, local ingredients and it’s only appropriate to serve regional wines with it.”
The issue may be a lack of familiarity with regional wines. “I’m probably not as well versed as I should be nor have I inquired as much as I should,” says Chris Hastings, executive chef and co-owner of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama and 2007 James Beard Award “Best Chef in the South” nominee. “If there are great Southern wines out there—and I think they exist; I keep hearing about Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and other places—I haven’t done that research to the extent I should. Quite frankly there’s an ocean of great wine out there. I’ve not tried those wines or been exposed to them. I just need to do it. It’s not that I ignore them or want to ignore them, it’s just that I don’t know.”
Though the South is dotted with “dry” counties where it’s impossible to buy wine or even order wine with your meal at a restaurant, “in 2006, 300 million bottles of wine were consumed in the U.S.,” says Michael Venezia, corporate director of education for United Distributors, Inc. “Georgia is the nation’s ninth largest wine market. In Atlanta alone more than 5 million wine bottles were sold.” Regional winemakers are eager to tap into the market. And with over 530 wineries and vineyards, the South is poised to become a winemaking region that will be increasingly difficult to ignore.
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