The end of August through September is harvest time. Alabama's wine makers only get the chance to make wine once a year, when the fruit comes in.
That's why it's a busy time at Morgan Creek Winery in Harpersville. The fruit here is not traditional bunch grapes, but muscadines. Charles Brammer Jr. says it's a native grape that gives their wines a unique flavor which reminds southerners of homemade wine.
Brammer and his father started Morgan Creek Wines in 2001. His father had retired from the insurance business and was going to make wine as a hobby. Brammer had just graduated in accounting at Birmingham Southern, and suggested that making wine sounded better that filling out tax returns.
Now this family business produces over 15,000 bottles of wine per year, sold in over 400 stores in Alabama.
The Brammer family success reflects the growth in our state's wine industry. When Morgan Creek started seven years ago there were only three wineries, now there are eight, and that number could double in a few years.
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