A Late Spring Trip to the Yadkin River Valley

Greensboro, NC -- I had the distinct pleasure of taking a day trip to the Yadkin River Valley, which is an area in the northwestern part of North Carolina.  The area rests about 25 miles northwest of Winston-Salem.  The climate boasts superb conditions for the growing of wine grapes, complete with red clay mud (soil), sufficient sunlight year-round, and cool breezes from the Blue Ridge Mountains nearby.  While we didn't get to try all of the vineyards on our agenda, we made two pit stops; Shelton Vineyards and Stony Knoll Vineyards.

Shelton Vineyards is a well-known vineyard in NC where you can find a good selection of their wines in your local super markets.  Their red wines are very flavorful; even their Merlot didn't have that typical dry-out taste.  We had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Ed Shelton personally during our last leg of the wine tastings; the "sweet" wines.  As Mr. Shelton told us, the land in Dobson, NC used to be a large dairy farm, and in the early 1990's, he and his brother got the idea to grow grapes.  While the rest remains history, Shelton Vineyards has exploded into one of the top 5 (I believe) wine producing vineyards in our state.  The area of land was magnificently maintained -- a crown jewel in this rural area of the state!

Stony Knolls Vineyard was a much smaller producer located on the banks of the Yadkin River.  Again, we had the opportunity to chat with owner Mr. Van Coe over his prized possessions.  In this area of the state, you make the land work for you.  It's your source of income since there are no office buildings or other edifices to produce revenue.  Mr. Coe was very proud of his investment, and rightfully so.  He had a 6 year old tasting room that captured the environment of the rest of the property.  I was impressed with the vineyard's output considering its size and staff.  Mr. Coe explained to me that he's working on getting his wines to commercial mainstream since you can only consume them at select hotels at this time.

If you haven't had the chance to venture to the Yadkin River Valley, I highly recommend a day trip to the area.  The muddy waters of the river slice through the best land to grow grapes and produce eloquent wines.  As Mr. Shelton said, "Let's start a wine party!  People would never fight or disagree, unlike tea parties, coffee parties, or 'beer' parties."  Well put.