The Nonconformist Potential of North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley AVA

In North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley AVA, the successful protocol is no protocol.

North Carolina’s state motto, Esse Quam Videri, “to be rather than to seem,” is spot on. The Yadkin Valley, like much of the state, is a place to be real and easygoing—or just real easygoing.

For example, is the Yadkin Valley the easiest place in the state to grow grapes? Not really. But with over 50 wineries, it is wildly prolific, like much of North Carolina, with numerous grape varieties planted. A few of them become defining, and plenty of others are powerful regional representatives, offering consistency, depth and refinement.

Viticulture in central North Carolina is a familiar post-Prohibition story— reawakening, due to a new generation of grape growers and winemakers who’ve invested in the region with vision and optimism. Jay Raffaldini, co-owner of Raffaldini Vineyards, in Swan Creek AVA, in the Brushy Mountain foothills and south-central in the Yadkin Valley AVA, explains, “We are planting a flag to show it’s possible to do this in North Carolina.”

The AVA, the state’s first and largest, is shaped like a miniature version of the state of Florida, albeit with a fluffy panhandle. Pilot Mountain to the north is an auspicious monadnock, a lone monolith of metamorphic quartzite eroded to a knoblike formation. The Yadkin River cuts through the center, flowing from Blowing Rock, North Carolina to South Carolina (where it becomes the Pee Dee River) to the Atlantic Ocean.

The profound agrarian promise that defined 19th-century wine and spirits in North Carolina is being realized through listening and learning, not compromising and also, quite frankly, not being too pretentious. Fermentation science programs at Surry Community College (within the AVA), Appalachian State University, North Carolina State University and Fayetteville Technical Community College are infusing the wine industry with skilled oenologists.

The North Carolina Winegrower’s Association hosts an international wine symposium in May. “You can’t grow a wine region without camaraderie,” says Mark Friszolowski, winemaker at Childress Vineyards.

Yadkin Valley soils are relentlessly fertile. There’s abundant sunshine and rain—sometimes too much of both. Ripening isn’t a challenge, but rain, frosts, Pierce’s Disease and mildew are.

JW Ray is the owner and winemaker for JOLO Winery & Vineyards in Pilot Mountain, where the namesake mount reminds weekend revelers of the breadth of geologic time that shaped North Carolina’s Appalachian region and diverse clay, schist and mica soils. Ray planted grapes in pursuit of versatility and consistency.

For example, early harvest Chambourcin takes the lead in JOLO’s rosé blend, but it can be vinified as a single-varietal red, within blends, sparkling and dessert wines. Finding balance, stability and interplay with hybrids while experimenting with vinifera like Merlot and Cabernet Franc has proven an effective strategy for growing a successful wine program.

Ray also describes “planting a flag” in a state without preconceived notions of what one should or could grow. Unpretentiousness and nonconformity have freed up many to dig deep to build upon their successes.

Raffaldini Vineyards exemplifies the latter, committing to a painstaking appassimento process for all wines, an Italian viticultural practice where drying grapes on mats or racks reduces their volume and concentrates sugars, acids and flavor. Friszolowski explains that wineries are inclined to invest experimentation. “The state is growing—and good, consistent wine year after year will ensure our reputation.”

At Round Peak Vineyards in Mount Airy, in the AVA’s northern corridor, winemaker Eric Steinbicker, a graduate of Surry Community College’s viticulture and enology program, takes pride in a new skin-contact Vidal Blanc that “drinks like a Georgian amber wine and has tremendous character,” adding, “These are the wines that will catch the eyes of younger wine consumers. Our adaptation to hybrids has been promising for quality. If we grow what works, our region will only flourish, and overly ripe, overly oaked, and overly planted varieties will be history.”

Yadkin Valley at a Glance

• Date AVA Established: December 9, 2002
• Total Size: 1,400,000 acres
• Planted Acreage: 829 acres
• Most widely planted grapes: Vinifera: Petit Manseng, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Montepulciano; native grape: Muscadine; hybrids: Traminette, Vidal Blanc, Chambourcin, Cynthiana
• Climate: Warm continental, with interim periods of humidity
• Fun fact: More than 50 llamas roam the pastoral grounds of Divine Llama Vineyards in East Bend, North Carolina, about a half-hour west of downtown Winston-Salem, some of which are “show llamas,” as majestic as thoroughbreds.

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