Many people will find it surprising that North Carolina actually has twenty wineries and even more vineyards. Additionaly surprising is the fact that North Carolina has the most visited winery in the United States, the Biltmore Estate Winery located in Asheville, NC.

North Carolina has a wide variety of grape varietals growing in vineyards spread across the state. On the east coast there is not only the Vitus vinefra (French varietal) but the native Scuppernong and Muscadine grapes. The idea of growing French varietal grapes has slowly reached NC in the past thirty years. A handful of revolutionary wineries started to grow grapes but only a few survived the "cold snap" in 1984. Biltmore was one of the few wineries that was able to survive and be able to expand in their popularity.

North Carolina Wineries have increased drastically in numbers in the past fifteen years. The industry has grown from less than a handful of wineries and vineyards in 1980 to twenty wineries in the year 2001. Five wineries have sprouted into the industry since the year 2000. The overall "value of the state's grape harvest has swelled to more than one and a half million dollars" since 1985 from a mere five hundred thousand dollars. The price per yield is predicted to reach a high price of two thousand dollars a ton from an average of about a thousand dollars per ton. (Business Journal May 14, 1999)

A big contribution to the industry in North Carolina are the Shelton brothers, Charlie and Ed Shelton. The Shelton brothers have founded a new winery, which is now considered the largest estate winery in N.C. The brothers have also contributed money to their local community college in Dobson, N.C. for the boosting of the viticulture technology program.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Contact Megan Gray at sayvcy42@aol.com

Created and maintained by Megan Gray with special thanks to my web mentor and friend, Mike Konwicki.