ROSE HILL, N.C. — Duplin Winery is the largest winery on the East Coast and the oldest in the state of North Carolina, but it's taken years of hard work, loss and perseverance to get to where it is today.
Dave Fussell, the president of the winery, remembers when his father and grandfather first planted the vines that would eventually become an internationally renowned winery. As a kid stomping grapes and licking labels, he could have never imagined the facility that would press over 6,000 tons of grapes each season and make 9,000 bottles an hour.
“The wine business isn't what you see on TV,” Fussell said. “They lay out and hand pick all the grapes, and they lay it down and they drink with their little pinky out. Well, they're not getting very far if they're doing that. You got to get dirty and you've got to work.”
The winery fell on hard times in the 1990's when tax breaks were removed from the industry and Duplin Winery was forced to let nearly all of their employees go. When Fussell took over as president for his parents, who had returned to teaching school to make ends meet, it was a money pit and failing business.
“We lost everything,” Fussell said. “I had to start paying my own way through college. We lost our home. Twenty-seven great people who were working here lost their jobs . . . I hit the road. I went back to a lot of folks that I had met as a little boy and hopefully they felt sorry for me.”
Determination to succeed carried him a portion of the way, but a news segment in 1995 was the kickstart the winery needed.
“When I started back here full time, we were selling about 4,000 cases of wine a year,” Fussell said.
“But in 1995, '60 Minutes' aired a segment that said, 'drink a glass of red wine, it's good for you.' All of a sudden, Southerners started drinking more wine . . . then we sold 11,000 cases, then 19,000 cases, then 30,000 cases, then 60,000, 90,000, 120,000.”
Even with the growth over the years, they've maintained that same small-town feel to the business with things that money can't buy: a firm handshake and genuine conversations.
“A good handshake, a nice hug sometimes means the world,” Fussell said. “So, we're still in this person-to-person relationship building deal because I guess that's all I know how to do.”
Duplin Winery is three generations strong and ready for the fourth at this point as Fussell is slowly realizing those 5 a.m. mornings at the wine presses are a young man's game.
“That's why we keep hiring younger people to come on in. Somebody's got to take my place,” Fussell said. “I don't know how to even explain how all this could come together, but it did and now we just got to be grateful and do our part and carry this on to the next generation.”