When Audrey House was 21, she moved to Altus, bought 20 acres from Al Wiederkehr and set about starting her own vineyard and winery operation, which she called Chateau Aux Arc.
Nineteen years later, Chateau Aux Arc is still operating and House has become a relentless lobbying voice for the state’s wine industry. House’s efforts helped convince the Arkansas Legislature to name Cynthiana the state grape and to expand its wine-shipping laws. Chateau Aux Arc produces up to 4,000 cases of 100 percent Arkansas wine annually.
House was an Arkansas Business 40 Under 40 honoree in 2010.
Buying land to start a winery at age 21 seems bold. What made you think you could do it?
Luck is when preparation meets circumstance. People say I was lucky to get into a business that if you were not born into it, you could not be successful. I was told I wouldn’t last five years making dry wines in Arkansas in an industry that was 95 percent male dominated. I realized early in my life that something great happens when you test your comfort zone.
What have you learned about the political process during your advocacy for the wine industry?
Wine is liquid patience. I have learned it’s a lot easier to make a bottle of wine than to pass a bill through our state legislature. The problem is most people do not understand the many variables and hardships that one undertakes when you grow the vine into wine, much less how to pass a simple bill like wine shipping in the Land of Opportunity. This struggle over the past 19 years has taught me how to be a steward of the land, and at the same time a stateswoman for our industry.
How important is it to wineries such as yours that the face-to-face requirement for shipping wine orders is removed?
All of the surrounding states have increased their production up to 3,000 percent. Why does everyone know where Napa Valley is? It’s because they’ve had direct-consumer marketing for over two decades. The ability to service our loyal customers just within our great state of Arkansas has, until just last week, been but a dream!
What are the biggest opportunities and most daunting challenges for Arkansas wineries?
The biggest opportunity for future Arkansas winegrowers is that we have ideal soil, growing conditions and varietals that do very well for our state. There are great diversity, possibilities and culture across our state as well, when it comes to our valleys and mountains. Daunting is the fact that grape growers who own and live in dry counties cannot open a winery. I have proposed an on-premise dry county winery permit since 2009.
What does the state need to do to help its wine industry flourish?
We need more grape growers. But when you go to the county extension agency in your area you can find information on growing tomatoes, pumpkins, rice and soybeans, but there is nothing to recognize the grape varieties that can be grown here. We have a great asset with the University of Arkansas breeding program. Dr. John Clark has released many varieties over the past decades that thrive here.
Labor is a huge issue for us as this is a highly intensive hands-on industry. Creating a trained workforce has been one of my endeavors, working with Arkansas Tech in Ozark to offer an enology and viticulture program. Without community support, it’s a hard path to pave.
Why is it important to you that a Chateau Aux Arc wine is a completely Arkansas product?
I am a winegrower. It’s easy to just tanker in already made wine and slap your company’s name on it. The true reward is planting the vine, making it into a wine that defines our terroir and gives the world something that represents what we have to offer.