THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605010132
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY CHRIS KIDDER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: KNOTTS ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 205 lines
THE THICK trunks of vitis vinifera, European grapes - the beginnings of a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Chardonnay - rise from sandy hillocks, rippling across the landscape to the nearby shore.
In a hot spring sun the vines show only the barest start of leaf, but by July they will be full. In September, the grapes will be ready to pick.
This could be Bordeaux, France, or the Valencia region of Spain. It could be the Napa Valley in California.
But it's Knotts Island, a 10-square-mile piece of North Carolina that geography and common sense would place in Virginia.
This vineyard, one of North Carolina's newest wine producers, is also an anomaly: It is one of a growing number of vineyards across the country out to prove that good, drinkable wines can be made wherever soil and sun cooperate.
Knotts Island isn't an island, although at some time in history it may have been. It's a peninsula, surrounded by open water on three sides - the North Landing River to the west, the Currituck Sound to the south and the Knotts Island Channel to the east.
The ``island'' today is connected to the underbelly of Virginia by a land bridge crossing a vast marsh. N.C. Route 615, the island's only land link to anywhere, connects Knotts Island not to the rest of North Carolina - but to Virginia Beach.
The only direct route to the North Carolina mainland is by boat. The state operates a free ferry between Currituck village and Knotts Island.
When Bill Martin bought his 88-acre farm on Knotts Island in 1977, building a winery never crossed his mind. He was looking for a place to re-establish the family's U-Pick-It strawberry farm, which was being choked out of existence by urban development in Virginia Beach.
In addition to strawberries, the Martins planted apple and peach trees and Scuppernong grape vines to expand their marketing season. Their customers were happy to make the 40-minute drive from the city to the country, Martin says.
While apples and peaches were enough to keep customers coming back, they weren't enough for Martin's son, David. All of Martin's children worked on the family farm, Martin says. But it was David who was ``always in love with those plants.''
David was always on the lookout for something exotic, anything that would challenge his green thumb. So it seemed natural when he began experimenting with wine grapes and making European-style wines nearly 10 years ago.
Although the Martins had made Scuppernong wine for years, Bill Martin, an affable wrestling coach, says he didn't immediately take to the idea of a winery.
He wasn't sure he wanted to sell alcohol, and he wasn't sure there was a market for ``fine wine'' grown in Currituck County, North Carolina.
But David kept planting grapes and making wine. ``I couldn't stop him,'' Martin says, laughing. David shrugs as he explains, ``I just wanted to try it.''
It wasn't until David knew that good quality grapes could be grown on his land that he got serious about it. After experimenting with the grapes for three years, he began bottling the wine in 1990.
Eventually, the family's U-Pick-It customers heard about David's experiments and expressed interest in his wines. The spirits fared well at several wine tastings.
And, with encouragement and advice from wine experts, the experiments evolved into a business plan.
The Martins currently devote 11 acres of their farm to wine grapes. Because it takes about three years for a vine to produce wine-quality grapes, not all the acres are productive yet.
The family has less than 6,000 bottles of wine from their 1994 and 1995 crops, a small inventory for a commercial vintner.
David began growing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in 1987. Then he planted Merlot and Chardonnay. Now he's adding a new Bordeaux red, Cabernet Franc and what he predicts will be ``the new Chardonnay'': Viognier.
They will all be bottled under the ``Martin Vineyard'' appellation.
The farm also makes sweet wines: Scuppernong grape wine called by its proper name, Muscadine, and apple and peach wines.
``We have a wine for every palate,'' David says.
The entire wine-making process at the Martin Farm is a one-man operation, except at harvest time. Then, David brings in a crew of a dozen or more to help pick the grapes by hand.
Vines are double picked to catch fruit at its peak of flavor. The grapes are culled on the spot to reduce the amount of sulphur that will have to be added to the wine to counteract rot.
``We're going to do anything we can by hand to improve the quality of the wine right at the outset,'' David says.
He personally tends the vines, starting a few from cuttings but ordering most from California and Oregon. The imports are grafted vines, he points out, believed to be hardier and more disease-resistant.
Because there's no evidence of disease locally, he's also experimenting with his own root stock.
This spring, one of the farm's greenhouses is full of enough young vines bearing teeny clusters of grapes to plant three or more acres. These are more experiments, David says. Most won't make it to the field.
In the field, each vine is trained into an unnatural split, its two branches hugging low wires that stretch across the field like miniature clothes lines. The positioning and thinning of the vine increases air circulation to reduce molds and mildew and gives grape clusters maximum exposure to the sun.
Careful pruning controls growth to maximize the quality of the grapes. David aims for three to five tons of grapes per acre. Left on their own, the vines might produce five times the fruit, but the grapes wouldn't be flavorful enough to make a good wine.
There's no real secret to growing wine grapes - except, possibly, having the money to invest in good stock and good plant management.
``A lot of people who get into wine making are not farmers,'' David says to explain why many think grape growing is difficult. ``But the grapes grow just like any other crop.''
The Knotts Island soil is really good, David says. It's well-aerated, and it sits on a high water table. That's favorable, although the vines still need supplemental irrigation. David says the maritime climate on Knotts Island is good for the vineyard. The salt-laden breezes reduce fungus, a particular problem for wine producers in the humid South. And tempertures are moderate.
``There are no freezes on Knotts Island,'' David says. ``Hard as that may be to believe after this past winter.''
The Martins' biggest worry is disease and pest control. California's vineyards are fighting an outbreak of phylloxera, a tiny louse that just about wiped out European vineyards in the 1800s by feasting on the roots of vines.
``We spray the vines,'' David says. ``You can't go organic here.''
Birds have been especially troublesome. Once the grapes color, they should spend another month on the vine. But the color also attracts birds.
``Some years, we've had to net entire rows of grapes to keep the robins off them,'' David says. ``It's a lot of trouble, but it's the only way you can sleep at night.''
To turn his grapes into wine, David - self-taught on the farm and in the winery - turned to professionals from Monticello and California for advice. He's learned enough about tannin, oak aging, racking and the other processes to produce a highly drinkable product.
His next hurdle is marketing. He's picked his niche: Wines under $10, ``for affordable, everyday drinking.''
Because the volume is too small to wholesale, the Martins expect their U-Pick-It customers and tourists interested in sampling a local vintage to buy their wines.
With an ABC license in hand, they've added a wine tasting room to their winery overlooking the Currituck Sound. They hope to be open for business by Memorial Day.
The U-Pick-It customers will come to Knotts Island because they always have. With Virginia Beach so close, many Virginia tourists in search of backroad adventure have already found their way out to the farm.
Now the Martins are counting on North Carolina's promotion of its ferry system to bring even more daytrippers - happy to spend a sunny afternoon wandering around the farm, tasting wines, picnicking on the Currituck waterfront.
David Martin thinks wine may be the direction the family farm needs to take. He likes the challenge.
``The wine is made in the vineyard,'' he insists. ``If you don't have good grapes, you're not going to make good wine.''
Bill Martin is confident that the winery will be a success. From the time David was a young child, Bill says, ``Whenever he touches plants, there's magic.'' MEMO: ABOUT THE VINEYARD
Martin Vineyards
P.O. Box 186
Knotts Island, N.C. 27950
Tasting Hours
Beginning Memorial Day weekend: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Hours may vary. Call to verify hours or for more information: (919)
429-3542.
Getting There
From North Carolina: Take the Currituck-Knotts Island ferry. Follow
N.C. Route 615 to the United Methodist Church, where the road forks to
the left. Go straight and then turn right onto Martin Farm Lane
immediately past the school. The farm is about 2.7 miles from the ferry
dock.
From Virginia: Take Princess Anne Road to N.C. Route 615 and follow
to the United Methodist Church, where the highway forks to the right.
Turn left, and then turn right onto Martin Farm Lane, immediately past
the school.
Currituck Sound
Ferry Schedule Free; 18 cars; 40 minutes. Year-round schedule.
Mainland Knotts Island
6:00 a.m.7:00 a.m.
9:00 a.m.10:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.Noon
1:00 p.m.2:00 p.m.
3:30 p.m.4:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.6:30 p.m. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
David Martin...
Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
David Martin sprays the peach trees at the orchard on his Knotts
Island Farm. The fruit is also used to produce a peach wine.
David Martin describes how he trains the vines to grow to allow air
to pass through and get more sun on the grapes.
Bill Martin, left, and his son, David Martin, tend to the sprigs of
young wine grape vines bearing teeny clusters of grapes that will be
planted on the 11-acre vineyard on their Knotts Island farm. These
are experiments, David Martin says. Most won't make it to the field.
The younger Martin started the vineyard that now has Cabernet
Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Scuppernong, Merlot and Muscadine. He's also
adding a Bordeaux red, Cabernet Franc and what he predicts will be
``the new Chardonnay'': Viognier.
David Martin is tending to the 1995 crop of wines in the family
winery. With only 11 acres of their farm to devoted to wine grapes,
the ``Martin Vineyard'' label produced fewer than 6,000 bottles of
wine from their 1994 and 1995 crops - a small inventory for a
commercial vintner.
by CNB