For a third time in as many years, Bryan MBA students have completed consulting projects for North Carolina’s burgeoning wine industry.

Whether the Yadkin Valley ever takes a place alongside Napa and Sonoma remains to be seen, but the Bryan MBA will have a chapter in the history of North Carolina viticulture. And with tobacco fields across the state being converted into vineyards, it is a story of a state economy that is reinventing itself.

While North Carolina’s grape and wine production is still only a fraction of what is produced by states on the West Coast, the number of wineries in North Carolina has tripled since 2001 and North Carolina already ranks 10th in the nation in wine production according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce which estimates the annual economic impact of the state’s wine industry at $813 million.

Thus far, fifteen Bryan MBA students have been involved in consulting work with the local wine industry and with at least two more projects scheduled for the 2009-10 academic year, the number of opportunities for students will continue to grow.

“I think the commonality that I have seen in the students over the past three years is that they all have an entrepreneurial instinct that attracts them to these projects and this industry,” says Dr. Sheldon Balbirer who directs the consulting course. “And they all consider themselves to be wine connoisseurs,” he adds with a chuckle. 

Dr. Balbirer also points out that his students are tackling big issues. Biltmore Estate Winery may attract more visitors per year than any winery in the country, but it is an anomaly in North Carolina where most of the wineries are young, mom-and-pop, startups on tight budgets that can benefit from the business expertise provided by the Bryan MBA students.

The first consulting project was completed in 2007 when a team of five students advised Iron Gate Winery and Vineyards on expanding their wine offerings and production to meet their long-term goals.

This past spring semester, a second consulting team conducted a similar project for Zimmerman Vineyards and a third team worked with Surry Community College which is breaking ground on the North Carolina Center for Viticulture and Enology. Once completed, it will become only the second such center operating on the East Coast.

The Center reports that it has already seen results from the consulting recommendations it has implemented and the relationship with Zimmerman Vineyards is scheduled to continue into 2010 when a new team of Bryan MBA students will work on a business plan and assist Zimmerman with obtaining the necessary capital to expand grape-growing capacity from five to twenty acres and to build a 10,000 case winery.

“I found the research skills, teamwork and presentation of the Bryan MBA students to be excellent and I don’t think we could have afforded to purchase a report of this quality,” says Anne Hennis, Vice President of Planning, Research, and Assessment for Surry Community College.

With over a third of the state’s wineries and vineyards in the Yadkin Valley situated to the west of Winston-Salem, the Bryan School expects to continue in its role as the top business school providing consulting services to the local wine industry.

-June 2009