Many Southerners love muscadine grapes. But the grapes are
available only a few weeks out of the year. They were, at least,
until a southwest Georgia farm family turned economic defeat
into
something tasty.

“Muscadine grapes are our crop,” said Charles Cowart, who runs
Still Pond Vineyards
with his wife Susan. On 160 acres of vines
last year, the Cowarts produced tons of grapes.

For 20 years the second-generation grape growers grew muscadine
grapes for the fresh market. But slowly the market began to
decline, and last year something big happened.

Disaster in a Truck

“We had about 2,000 cases of grapes sitting on this truck in
South Carolina,” Cowart said. “Oh, gracious, we had close to
$28,000 sitting in that truck.”

And suddenly, they had no market for the grapes. Their year’s
profit was sitting on a truck with nobody to buy them. And
within
a few days, the grapes would rot.

“We had to do something,” he said. “We get paid once a year, so
we had to make sure we were going to get a paycheck.”

A Sweet Idea

With 20 tons of fruit on a truck to nowhere and a year’s hard
work at risk, Susan Cowart had an idea. She remembered tasting
bottled muscadine juice at a trade show and thought the idea
would bail them out.

“We need to do this,” she said. “I think it will work.”

But even as the couple decided to try bottling and selling their
own nonalcoholic muscadine grape juice, Charles wasn’t sure
about
the venture. “He’s always needed a little prodding when it comes
to spending money,” Susan laughed.

‘Fantastic’ Sales

He doesn’t need prodding now. And both Cowarts are laughing,
selling case after case of their juice. “Sales have been
fantastic,” Charles said. “I was shocked at the response we’ve
gotten. I had no idea so many people enjoy the taste of
muscadine
grapes.”

Gerard Krewer, a horticulturist with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, sees a
bright
potential.

“There are about 65 million people who live in the South,”
Krewer
said. “Not all of them like muscadines, but quite a few of them
do. So it should be a fairly large market.”

Year-round Potential

In the fresh-grape market, he said, muscadines are available
only
about 10 weeks in the late summer and early fall. “But this
bottled muscadine-juice product will be available year-round,”
he
said. “And I think it will be a popular item for muscadine
lovers.”

The Cowarts apparently have hit on something new in south
Georgia. “To my knowledge,” Krewer said, “this is the first time
a farmer actually has taken this on as a value-added
project.”

Future Hopes

“We’re hoping this will turn into something we can rely on in
the
future,” Charles Cowart said.

The Cowarts have always had to pick their grapes within a
four-week window and sell within 10 days, he said. With the
bottled juice, though, they can sell the fruits of their labors
12 months out of the year.

Perhaps the best part is that they bottle the juice themselves.
“Why sell our product to other people and let them benefit from
it?” Susan Cowart said. “We need to benefit from it
ourselves.”