College Alumnus and Wine Connoisseur Uncorks Make-Your-Own-Blend Winery

An alumnus of the North Carolina State University College of Management (’84), Adams owns the state’s only custom winery. That means his customers create their own blends that ferment in six weeks, design their own labels, and host tasting parties and corporate events.

“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.”