If you are part of the media working on a wine related story, I can provide interviews or quotes.

Over the last few years, I have been fortunate to have been featured in several newspapers, magazines and TV and radio shows.   Here are a few examples.

                     

 

Charlotte Weekly

Enjoy North Carolina’s first Micro Winery!

By: Anna Dykema

April 24, 2009

Amber Crest Winery owner Mark Adams hasn’t always been a wine aficionado.   For nearly a decade, he tinkered with wine making at home, learning the ins and outs of his hobby.   Thankfully, practice makes perfect.   In 2007, Adams’ appreciation for the vine-to bottle process spurred him to launch Amber Crest, a one-stop shop in Matthews for those who want to taste, buy, make and bottle unique local wines and learn about wine in general.  Today, Adams may know more about wine than anyone else in the Queen City.  Yet his zest for the knowledge of all things grape didn’t come quickly.   Like a fine wine, Adams’ skills matured over time, and as is appreciation for the beverage grew, he not only began to understand its myriad complexities, but the underpinnings of the entire wine experience, from juice to palate.

Although Amber Crest has a devout following of regulars who count on Adams’ 20 plus custom-made blends- ranging from Mojo Red to Skyline White- to stock their home bars, many remain unaware that tucked inside the Windsor Square Shopping Center off Independence Blvd. is one of the areas’ best kept secrets.  An urban anomaly, Amber Crest is the only custom winery in the Carolinas at which the patrons can make, bottle and buy wine.  Since it’s debut, Amber Crest also has welcomed novices and experts alike to tastings, classes, workshops, private parties and special events, offering each guest a unique, full-bodied experience.

Adams’ concept isn’t new, however. Custom wineries, he explained, first became popular in Canada and slowly crept over the border. Now Michigan, Florida, and Texas also boast one-step wineries similar to Amber Crest, which Adams coined “a Build-A-Bear for adults, ” referring to the do-it-yourself toy shop.  ” All the wine you see here we make on the spot,”   Adams said, motioning toward the shop’s selection, which includes reds, whites and nearly every shade in between perched on shelves and carefully arranged in wooden barrels.

Scanning the wineries’ eclectic interior complete with tasting tables, an expansive bar, labeling and bottling equipment, and a storehouse containing giant tanks of fermenting wine, it’s evident that Adams is equipped to meet the needs of his wine-thirsty patrons.

What Adams doesn’t do is grow grapes. “A winery is a poor business model,”  he explained with a chuckle. ” The old joke is, ‘How do you make a million bucks in the wine business?  You start out with $3 million.”  Instead, Adams buys grapes from farmer’s world wide willing to sell the fruits of their labors. “I am no limited to a plot of land behind my building.” He said, “I can bring grapes in from around anywhere and pick and choose the best available. ” At wineries, you have all this money involved in inventory and land.  It’s go, go, go like crazy in the fall, but it’s hit or miss the rest of the year.  It’s produce all they can and hope people will buy all they have,” he continued, adding that in the future, he expects to see more micro-wineries, limiting the grow-sell model and boosting wine businesses that resemble micro-breweries.

Modern technologies and expedited shipping services have made the centuries old wine-making process more efficient, prompting people such as Adams to view farming and wine making as two separate efforts.  Shipping and technology being what they are has enabled us to bring products from all over the world where before we couldn’t.  Because of that, we can do everything but grow the grapes,” he said, noting that the fruit is most often sent in the form of juice. “We got it from all over the world Napa (Calif.), Italy, France, Spain.  So here we truly are the middleman.”

Since opening, Amber Crest has been fruitful, Adams said, noting that the business experienced double digit growth” within it’s first six months.  And despite the recession, sales over the last five months have jumped 20 percent compared to the same time last year.  “We are still growing,” he added.  And we are not where we want to be just yet, but we are a lot better off then a lot of people in this economy.  ” What steers people to Amber Crest is the desire to learn about what’s often considered an intimidating topic, Adams explained.   Whether they want to learn more about wine or try their hands at winemaking, the overall experience keeps them coming back.   “You can go to restaurants and golf tournaments, and they’re all a fun.   But here, when you make your own wine, there is a sense of pride, like, ‘Look what I did. I made this,” he said.   “People really enjoy the experience of making something and then getting to enjoy the result of that experience.” And custom wine making is affordable, Adams said. Although prices vary depending on the wine, customers who want to make their own batch-the equivalent of 30 bottles- can expect to spend $9 to $11 per bottle.   The cost includes wine, bottle, corks, caps, and custom labels.   Discounts are available for multiple batches he added.

To avoid a surplus of wine that customers aren’t happy with, novice wine makers come in for tasting to decide which wine appeals to them. Adams says he focuses on helping them find “their wine,” identifying there likes and dislikes, and narrowing down their preferences.   As a starting point, he often throws chicken wings into the conversation.   If they like bold, spicy chicken wings, there are certain wines that fit that flavor profile. If they like mild wings, there are mild wines to fit their taste…. Then, using his original varieties, which he describes as “smoother, easier styles,” he helps customers choose their favorites, whether they’re lighter wines, such as Tar Heel Blue and Green Apple Rieslings, or bolder flavors, such as the Guitar Red cabernet.

“The Fun and the joy for me is watching people progress, or watching someone who comes in and says,’ I don’t know much about wine,’ get comfortable and find something they like to drink.”

After customers have selected a wine, they follow a recipe, Adams explained. “If you like chardonnay, for instance, we use the same ingredients to make our wines (other labels) use to make theirs. Bring out the juice; pour it in a container, stir and mix. So there are no surprises.   You know what it will taste like when it comes out, which is a good thing. “After you put the yeast in, then we take it in the back and manage the rest of the process,” he continued, explaining that the wine ferments for roughly two weeks, then transitions to the clarification stage, during which yeast sediments are siphoned out.   “You come back in about six weeks, and there you have your six gallons-or about 30 bottles- of your own hand made wine.”   Then, customers fill, cork and cap their bottles and if they want, add custom labels.

When not scheduling winemaking events, Adams spends a lot of time teaching interactive wine classes.  “I literally tell thousands of people about wine.   And I make my best attempt to make each person feel comfortable about wine,” he said.   A lot of times people are scared or intimidated by it.  They will be at a party and think that everyone else is the room knows something about it except them.  Once you develop your own taste, wine is very easy. It’s really just a simple pleasure you can enjoy the rest of you life.”

And these aren’t your grandfather’s wine classes, Adams said, as he carefully arranged glasses, napkins and a variety of chocolates along the bar for that evening’s event- a girls night out party, that, headed, gets rowdy at times. “Once everyone is relaxed, everything else falls into place.” Whether a girl’s night on the town or a couple’s tasting party, Adams said the most important ingredient is a dose of fun-and time for guests to relax and savor the experience.   “There is this expectation in wine that you can’t be a fun and light hearted,”  Adams said.   “But you can certainly have fun with it. I’ve always said that I have a beer mentality in the wine business…. “Wine is an entertainment business, ” he added. “People enjoy it and are intrigued by it. They always want to know more. “If he’s right, then Amber Crest Custom Winery may be the area’s gateway to an even more flavorful wine future. “Cheers to that!” Adams said.

 

Charlotte Observer

Your wine. Your label. His business.

By Kerry Hall

Posted: Sunday, Sep. 21, 2008

“We’re entertainment camouflaged as a winery,” he says.

At the winery, which will celebrate its first anniversary next month, customers taste different wines and pick their favorite. They mix various grape juices and add yeast. Customers return six weeks later to pour their fermented beverage into bottles, which they cork and adorn with custom-designed labels.One of the most popular: a white wine flavored with mango and citrus.

Amber Crest also hosts special events like winemaking parties and wine classes.  They cater to groups, clubs and corporations looking to do something different and unique.

As Adams sees it, operating any business, whether it’s selling T-shirts, consulting franchisees or marketing wine, requires a similar trait: personal resolve.

The Observer spoke with Adams about the challenges of starting a business in a slow economy and what he’s learned from his experiences.

Questions and comments were edited for brevity and clarity:

Q: What have you learned with your other businesses that helps you with the winery?

When you’re in the people business, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling. Most successful people are the ones who can put a system in place that people can follow. They hire people with the right strengths for the right position.

As a business owner, you understand your strengths and weaknesses and you hire to your opposite.  I know I’m good at the beginning part. I’ve only had one business longer than two years. Once things start running smoothly, I start climbing up the walls.  A business is an asset where most of the money can be made when you sell.

Q. What’s the biggest difference between running your winery and your other businesses?

Traditional advertising didn’t work for us because we’re a new concept. People needed to see how unique we are.  We’ve now gotten lots of word of mouth and referrals.

Q: You opened last October. How’s the slowing economy affecting business and how are you coping?

If you’re a small business, the negative reports about the economy have zero impact. It’s your attitude, your approach, what you do every day that affects the outcome. The economy’s too good here in Charlotte.  It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity. But as a business owner, it’s your responsibility to drive your business forward.

Q. Much of the grape juice is shipped in from other parts of the country and overseas. How are you handling higher fuel costs?

Our cost of goods has gone up 30 percent because of increased shipping and currency rates. Insurance has increased as well.  You always expect things to come at you; you don’t know which direction they’ll come.  When you are growing, revenues are more important than your micro-managing your costs. Once you get to a mature level, then controlling costs becomes an issue. I would rather work to double sales volume than obsess about an inevitable rise in the cost of goods. 

NC State Alumni News

College Alumnus and Wine Connoisseur Uncorks

Make-Your-Own-Blend Winery

by Anna Rzewnicki

“I try to bring a modern approach to an old tradition,” said Adams, who opened Amber Crest Winery in October 2007. “Modern chemistry, shipping and technology have revolutionized the wine making process. We don’t have a vineyard. Instead, we import juice or grapes from around the world and do the fermenting and bottling here.”

Adams revels in the role of winemaking pioneer. He’s been doing things his own way since he realized wasn’t meant to pursue a degree in engineering during his first semester at NC State and switched majors to business. Then, when he was 25, he quit a promising job with Procter & Gamble to begin his entrepreneurial career with a custom T-shirt business, which he operated for 10 years. He has also run a franchise-consulting firm.  “I start businesses, then sell them,” he said. “Maybe that’s due to a lack of patience.”

But when it comes to wine, Adams seems to have plenty of patience. He’d been making Cabernet and other varietals as a hobby for 10 years when he decided to apply the microbrewery model that works so well for beer to wine. Coming up with the idea was the easy part-Adams then had to contend with layers of state and federal bureaucracy, including a 50-page application that is required by all of the state’s approximately 70 wineries.

The end result has been worth it, Adams said. Both wine lovers and novices have been flocking to Amber Crest to make custom bottles for their own cellars or for gifts for weddings, college graduations, birthdays, promotions and retirements. If folks don’t have the patience to wait six weeks for their own blends to age, they can also affix a label to a pre-mixed blend and take it home that day.

Adams and his four-person staff have taken to marketing like grilled chicken to a nice Beaujolais. The company’s tagline-”where you can be a winemaker for a day”-is featured prominently on its multimedia Web site. To help draw in the crowds, Amber Crest holds events like the Grape Crushing Festival & I Love Lucy Grape Crushing Contest on September 20, where contestants can release their inner ‘Lucys and Ethels’ in a nod to an episode from the famous sitcom.

As a way of giving back to his alma mater, Adams is co-hosting a wine tasting at the home of Hans and Elizabeth Warren in Charlotte on Wednesday, September 24. He hopes to reconnect with fellow College of Management grads and meet new friends, including freshly minted alums with their whole careers ahead of them.

“Looking back,” said Adams, “I wish that I would have listened to business people when they gave me advice. But the real key to success in life is to find a niche you love.”

Adams just might have found his own niche. The custom winery business “is like Build-a-Bear for grownups,” he said. “The beauty of it is that I get to deal with happy people all day.”

Creative Loafing Magazine

Be a Winemaker for a Day!

By:  Maria Fisichello

11-28-2007

Charlotte native Mark Adams has recently opened Amber Crest Winery in Matthews. As a lifelong wine enthusiast, Adams is excited to open the first custom winery in the Carolinas. He hopes to add a memorable, personal touch to his wines by providing them in small, house-made batches.

“We drink more wine than beer,” Adams says. “Why not see if we can create a personal experience that brings the vineyard into town?”

At Amber Crest you can become a “winemaker for a day” by blending your own unique creations to bottle, cork and design your very own custom label.

Adams imports juices from all over the world to create “the most unlimited, and best-tasting experience.” Amber Crest sells wine by the glass along with providing the opportunity for group “bottling parties.”

“At Amber Crest there is something for everyone,” says Adams. “I’ve tried to create an approachable, nonpretentious atmosphere for people to learn about a sometimes intimidating subject. No one needs to be intimidated here; we can very literally start from the ground up.”

Adams’ offers wine introduction and blending classes, along with private tastings and the chance to be a part of the whole winemaking process without all the work. “It gives people the chance to really be creative while having fun and learning something new.”

Charlotte Observer

Ferment-it-yourself

posted on Mon, Nov. 12, 2007

By:  VANESSA WILLIS

When Mark Adams called, I thought he must’ve hit the bottle too hard.

“I’ve just opened Mecklenburg County’s first winery,” he said. “I’m either a visionary or an idiot.”  Then he explained that he imports the grape juice that customers then turn into wine. And it’s all done in his winery in Matthews.

In person I learned Adams, 44, is a tall guy with a firm handshake and a contagious laugh. He says he’s not a wine snob and doesn’t tolerate them easily.

“I’m on the opposite end of snootiness,” he says. “Somewhere, someone decided that this drink that folks have been making for a couple thousand years had to be complicated and inaccessible.

I say that’s a bunch of hooey.”

His AMBER CREST Custom Wine offers 25 varieties. You can buy it ready made by the bottle, or in make-it-yourself batches of 30 bottles. Samples of each wine are available anytime at the store.

So far, Adams says, he’s had office workers come in to make wine as a team-building exercise and hosted girls’ night out parties. And brides are starting to come in to make wines to give as wedding favors. (He offers label customization.)

Adams grew up near Salisbury and moved to Matthews 18 years ago with his wife, Jeannie. He recently sold the T-shirt and graphics business he owned for more than 10 years. For a while, he’d been running a franchise brokering business. When he heard about the wine-making concept, he spent months traveling to wine seminars and meeting with juice brokers. Amber Crest opened in October.

He’s hoping wine enthusiasts will jump at the chance to make their own vino. And that other folks will feel less intimidated when they have the chance to make it.  “We want folks to pop the cork and sit out on their deck with their feet up,” he says. “Wine doesn’t have to be pretentious.”

How it works:

The Amber Crest process is surprisingly basic. Customers pick from a menu of 25 wines –chardonnay, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and zinfandel; and also fruit dessert wines. The juices come from California and Washington, France, Spain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.  Customers pour huge bags of grape juice into a sterilized bucket, and Adams and his staff walk them through adding the additional ingredients that start the fermentation process. An air valve allows gases to escape as the wines ferment in a back room.

Customers return 6-8 weeks later to transfer the finished wine into bottles, cork them and put on the labels by hand.

Amber Crest labeled wines cost between $13 and $15 by the bottle, and between $9 and $11 per bottle in DIY batches.

The wines all have playful names, such as Stumptown Red (a New Zealand pino noir) after Matthews’ historic nickname. It has a steam engine on the label. Adams drew the portrait of uptown Charlotte for the label on the Skyline Red (a Napa Valley merlot).

If you go in, ask him about the zinger on the Tar Heel Blue label.

“Above all, we just want people to have fun,”

Adams says. “We’re like Build-A-Bear for adults.”

Aponnaire Food and Wine Magazine

So you want to be a winemaker?

Make your own wine at Amber Crest in Matthews

November 2007

By Dave Meisel

Everyone wants to be a winemaker or a chef these days – or so it seems. They’re the glamour professions of the 2000s. Not Apollonaire though. Both vocations look like a lot of hard work. We’d rather enjoy the fruits of others’ labors – relaxing in a wing chair by a crackling fire, listening to Mahler, and enjoying a glass of Brunello or Russian River Pinot with perhaps a fruit and cheese plate or an Italian antipasto. That’s gracious living

For those who can’t resist the siren call of making their own wine, we suggest a trip to Amber Crest Custom Winery at Windsor Square off of Independence Boulevard in Matthews. The brain child of businessman and entrepreneur Mark Adams, Amber Crest provides the grapes, the yeast, all of the other fixings, and the know-how needed to make wonderful wine. You just put it all together and wait until it’s ready to drink.

According to Adams, “I loved wine, and I had made several trips to Napa and the Wine Country, but it was too far to go on a regular basis, and I wanted something closer. Then it hit me. Why not create a custom winery in the Charlotte area and enable people to make their own wine? You can be a winemaker for a day.”

Amateur winemakers can choose from about 25 vinifera and non-vinifera grapes, including Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir that Amber Crest has purchased from some of the best winegrowing regions of the world. Local sweet wines like Scuppernong or Muscadine may be made, and White Zinfandel is about to be added to the mix.

Add the yeast, tinker a little, let it ferment, and voilà – you have your wine in about six weeks. Simply bottle it, pop in a cork, and add a charming label. The customer may even design a label with his or own photo or that of a child or pet (whatever you want.) There are a host of clever pre-designed labels to choose from, including Skyline Red, Carolina Girl, Stumptown Red, Tar Heel Blue, or Polar Bear Blue.

You’ll enjoy a tasty micro wine that can be served at home after a little bottle aging, or you can give it as a unique holiday or business gift. Personalized wines make wonderful commemoratives that can be saved for future events like birthdays, wedding anniversaries, graduations, and other special events. Hand-made Amber Crest wines are priced at $8-12 a bottle with a 30 bottle minimum – the amount in a barrel. The 30 bottles can be split though, with different labels for each individual involved. For those who are in a hurry who want something to go with dinner, ready-made wines are available for about $10-14, or a bottle with a custom label is available for about $20. Need help? They’ll help with all of the arrangements.

There are beginning and advanced wine classes, including Wine 101 and Food Pairing. Amber Crest makes a great place for a wine-tasting party or other event, and will help with all the arrangements. The custom winery also has a wine club that provides numerous benefits including discounts on wine and accessories. Other activities such as wine dinners and wine trips are planned. Who knows where our ramblings will take us?