When Mark Friszolowski came to North Carolina in 2003 to help establish Childress Vineyards, there were about 20 wineries in the state. Today, there are more than 200 wineries and about 525 individually owned grape vineyards across the state.
The annual economic impact of the wine and grape industry is nearly $2 billion with more than 10,000 jobs supported, according to the most recent study by the N.C. Wine and Grape Council. The state is ranked 11th in the U.S. in wine production.
While Friszolowski doesn’t claim credit for such statistics, the winemaker at Childress Vineyards, owned by NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, says he is proud to be part of the industry’s growth in Davidson County and across North Carolina.
When people talk about Napa or Bordeaux, they aren’t referring to individual wineries but the region, he says.
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“When I first met Richard, I told him we need to be leaders in the industry and build a brand — and we need to think of North Carolina as the brand,” he says, noting each label of Childress wine proclaims that.
Since 2003, Friszolowski has twice served as president of the N.C. Winegrower’s Association, as well as treasurer of the nonprofit organization that primarily serves to educate members as well as advocate for the industry in Raleigh. He has also served on the N.C. Wine and Grape Council, a marketing organization within the N.C. Department of Agriculture, for 17 years and is currently on the board of the N.C. Muscadine Grape Association.
As the winemaker at Childress Vineyards, Friszolowski works with close to 50 “custom crush” customers across the state. These customers are primarily small boutique wineries that contract with the large winery to make and bottle their product. The small wineries source grapes and work with Friszolowski to formulate their products, but don’t have to invest in the expensive equipment a winery like Childress already has on premises and Childress can reduce some overhead costs.
Friszolowski says he enjoys working with entrepreneurs and helping them formulate their wines infused with their own tastes and personalities.
“It’s fun to see people get excited about it and have their own stories to tell in the tasting room,” he says, noting he especially likes to see grape growers evolve into wine producers.
“There are a lot of little gems out there that need assistance,” he says. “And it’s a selfish thing, too, because it helps the brand and it helps us.”
Michael Zimmerman, owner of Junius Lindsay Vineyards in the Welcome area, is one of the oldest custom crush customers of Childress Vineyards. Since 2004, Zimmerman has grown all of his own grapes on 12 acres for his French-style wines.
“They’ve been extremely helpful to me over the years,” he says, noting growers and winemakers need a good partnership to produce the best wines. “We’ve produced what I think are some of the best wines in North Carolina. I think he’s probably the best winemaker on the East Coast, maybe the country.”
David Stone, one of the owners of Old Homeplace Vineyard in northeastern Davidson County, is another custom crush client. He says Friszolowski was critical to the launch of their winery in January 2017.
“I was afraid they would feel like we were competitors,” he says. “But Mark is all about promoting North Carolina wine and tourism in the county and state.
“He also introduced me to a lot of the vineyards in the state,” Stone says, noting he sources only North Carolina grapes for his wines.
Growing up in Long Island vineyards
Friszolowski grew up in a South Jamesport, which he calls a tiny beach town on the far east tip of Long Island, 80 miles out of New York City. It’s a largely rural area settled by Polish and Irish settlers, Friszolowski worked after school grading potatoes before he landed a job at the age of 14 working in a vineyard.
“I thought that was the coolest thing in the world,” he recalls, noting a producer for ABC owned the vineyard. “We were just fascinated by these outsiders. I was just a local boy who took an interest in it. And my dad a knew a little about wine.”
His father was a veteran of World War II who became one of the first motorcycle police officers in New York City. (He notes his dad’s badge was No. 3, the same number as the car the late Dale Earnhardt drove for Childress’ NASCAR team).
But Friszolowski left his hometown to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. His first assignment was at Fort Ord near wineries in Monterey, including Dry Creek Vineyards.
“I would go out on weekends and help them bottle,” he says. “I really learned a lot about the lab end of it and logistics.”
The winemaker ended up spending a total of 27 years as an active and Army Reserve officer, retiring as a colonel. He did tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and helped set up the first temporary morgue unit in New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attack.
While in the Reserves, he was recruited by the former owner of Dry Creek Vineyards to come back to Long Island to work at Pindar Vineyards, the largest premium winery on Long Island, where he won more than 350 awards for his wines, including twice named to the 50 Best Wines of the World. During Friszolowski’s 17-year-career there, the vineyard grew from a little more than 30 acres to 1,200. He began as the cellar master and left as the CEO.
During this same time, he was doing consulting work for Maker’s Mark, a small-batch bourbon whiskey producer in Kentucky; Constellation Brands, a large producer and marketer of beer, wine and spirits; and Hennessey, best known for making cognac. He traveled to South Africa, Argentina and Portugal for those consulting jobs.
He and his wife, Patti, and their three sons lived on a 42-acre farm in Long Island, but he didn’t see the farm or them much. He was then 40 years old.
“I left before dark and got back after dark,” he notes, adding an old military buddy got him to thinking about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. “I was so focused on my career, but it was like my whole life was passing me by in a way.
“And that’s about the time Richard Childress contacted me,” he recalls, noting he didn’t have a clue who he was.
Friszolowski had seen an advertisement in a trade publication for a job as a winemaker with a “VIP” winery owner and laughed about it. He says he didn’t want anything to do with making wine for a celebrity who simply slapped their name on the label. But Childress offered to come to Long Island to meet with him to talk about a winery near his home in Davidson County.
“At first, I thought my job is to talk this guy out of doing this and build in Napa,” he says.
“But we just hit it off immediately — there was chemistry,” he says. “We had a lot of the same goals and he had a lot of knowledge of the industry and a real passion for wine.”
Childress Vineyards continues to grow
Friszolowski says when he arrived in Lexington in 2003 “there were trees and a hole in the ground” where the 35,000-square foot Tuscan-style winery was built on a 60-acre tract at the intersection of Highways 64 West and 52. But the winemaker shared Childress’ vision of a world-class winery that could help put Davidson County and North Carolina on the nation’s wine country map.
When the winery opened in 2004, there were 13,000 cases of wine produced, which has grown to 70,000 annually today. The winery has won more than 750 medals for excellence, including N.C. Governor’s Cup awards. Childress Vineyards has a total of 85 acres of grapes planted around the winery and around Childress’ home on Hampton Road in northwestern Davidson County.
Friszolowski and his wife, who is the administrative coordinator for the N.C. Winegrower’s Association, live in northern Davidson County off Hickory Tree Road. Their oldest son, an N.C. State University graduate, works at the winery and the two younger sons, both students in the architecture school at NCSU, also work there when not in school.
In addition to being a winemaker and soldier, Friszolowski is a scholar and voracious reader. He has a history degree from Hofstra University, degrees in biology and international relations from Columbia University and a degree in Romantic literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
“Literature is one of my great passions,” he says, adding his degree in the subject is probably the most useful in life even though courses in plant pathology and crop propagation prepared him for the more technical aspects of his work.
A collector of first-edition books as well as antique furnishings, military firearms and toys, he says he attends auctions and estate sales when he can.
“I have to do something to keep out of the winery, otherwise I’d work 24/7,” he notes.
Friszolowski says he looks forward to trying to grow new grape varieties, designing new proprietary blends, resuming paired wine dinners and wine trips for Fast Track Wine Club members as well as winery expansion projects such as an addition to the terrace.
“Part of the success of this is Richard’s interest — he gets excited about new projects,” he says. “He’s not an absentee owner. He still has a passion for it.
“And I’m comfortable helping him build this legacy. I think it’s important to him to be known as someone who is a leader in the wine industry as much as the racing industry.”
Vikki Broughton Hodges, a former senior editor and reporter for The Dispatch, is a freelance writer in Lexington.
The Link LonkAugust 03, 2020 at 07:45PM
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Building a brand: Mark Friszolowski continues to help the wine industry’s grow in Davidson County - Lexington Dispatch
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