Helping root North Carolina’s wine industry

North Carolina’s burgeoning wine industry is ripe for economic impact. And strengthening the industry’s business roots will allow it to flourish even more. That’s where researchers from UNCG and N.C. A&T have stepped in.

Grape expectations

Enjoy a glass of red wine guilt-free. It’s good for you. Really.

Helping root North Carolina’s wine industry

North Carolina’s burgeoning wine industry is ripe for economic impact. And strengthening the industry’s business roots will allow it to flourish even more.

That’s where researchers from UNCG and N.C. A&T have stepped in.

Faculty from Greensboro’s two public research universities have teamed up to examine the growth of North Carolina’s nascent grape and wine industry and ways the business side of vintage production can be strengthened. Their results, published earlier this year, identified an industry that’s already making an impact on North Carolina’s economy and has the potential to be a key crop as the trade develops and matures.

The wine industry has a history of being a job creator, producing economic waves that ripple through other business areas, including transportation, retailing and hospitality and tourism.

“A bottle of wine sold is a lot more than just one bottle,” said Dr. Joyendu “Joy” Bhadury, the associate dean for graduate programs and research in the Bryan School of Business and Economics. “You have to buy the bottle; a label needs to be made. There are wholesalers who’ll sell to retailers, hotels, bed and breakfasts, art museums. There are huge multipliers.”

The number of wineries in the state has grown from 35 to 85 since 2004; experts expect the number to top 100 by the end of the decade. A 2006 study showed the industry had created 5,700 related jobs and had a total economic impact of $813 million. And grapes have been identified as the cash crop that may offset the declining economic role of tobacco in the state.

But struggles on the business side can hinder wineries and the growth of the industry. “If you look at it from the standpoint of a business, they are mini-conglomerates,” said Samuel Troy, the Bryan School’s executive-in-residence. Winery owners are in charge of growing the raw materials, making and selling the wine, self-distributing and cross-marketing their products, he said.

Key findings from the UNCG-N.C. A&T wine industry report show winery owners:

• are held back by a lack of time and capital
• feel burdened by the state’s alcohol regulations
• would benefit from using wine distributors instead of self-distributing their products
• would profit from the proposed business development center dedicated to their industry at Surry Community College.

The report also identified an overall need for better education and marketing to promote North Carolina’s locally produced, hand-crafted vintage, as well as areas of opportunity, such as the state’s need for more grapes than are currently being produced.

The team of researchers is already compiling information to address one of the findings, conducting a benchmark study on the state’s alcohol regulations and how they compare to other states’.

“Part of the concept that they’ve brought forth is to assist smaller wineries and vineyards with understanding basic business practices, providing some resources from the business school in order to help them generate or improve their business plan and educating the industry in supply chain partnerships,” said Margo Knight Metzger, executive director of the N.C. Wine & Grape Council.

“It can be overwhelming as a small winery understanding the complexities of doing business through a wholesaler and the benefits as compared to selling everything yourself. That’s their goal, to educate our industry about supply chain, which is helpful.”

To read the full report, visit
http://www.uncg.edu/bae/or/WIBDC_Results_Final_Report.pdf.

Grape expectations

Enjoy a glass of red wine guilt-free. It’s good for you. Really.

Chia-Chi Chuang, a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition, has been researching the use of grapes to prevent chronic inflammation and diabetes associated with obesity.

Resveratrol, a grape component, has been proven to increase lifespan and reduce disease in mice that have been fed a high fat diet. Still more studies have shown components in grapes or red wine decrease factors that lead to chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes.

Chia-Chi’s research has resulted in another exciting discovery involving grape powder extract. She’s found that grape powder prevents inflammatory gene expression caused by the saturated fatty acid palmitate in human fat cells. In lay terms that means there may indeed be validity behind the “French Paradox” — the observation that the French have a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats.

A Westernized diet rich in saturated fats most likely contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity. Obesity has been linked to a chronic condition of inflammation in the body. Essentially, by consuming grapes or grape products, like grape juice, wine or raisins, people may be able to decrease inflammation associated with obesity because grapes and their by-products have powerful anti-oxidant properties.