Yadkin Valley Wine Festival - 2002
The Tribune News Articles
The Inaugural Yadkin Valley Wine Festival was held on Saturday, May 18, 2002 at the Elkin Municipal Park in Elkin, North Carolina. The Festival, sponsored by the Elkin/Jonesville Chamber of Commerce, was attended by 4,500 people. Nine wineries and vineyards participated in the inaugural event. The following articles, published in the Elkin/Jonesville Tribune on Monday May 20, 2002, are reprinted with permission of the publisher:
"A Very 'Wine' Time"
by Carrie Sidener, Staff Reporter
The Tribune
Article ©2002 by The Tribune, reprinted with permission
The wine flowed through Elkin Municipal Park Saturday at
the inaugural Yadkin Valley Wine Festival. About 4,500 people attended the
event, which featured the wines of seven vineyards in the Yadkin Valley -
spanning Surry, Yadkin, Wilkes and small portions of Forsyth and Davie
counties. Two other vineyards, whose grapes are too new for commercial
wines to be made, also attended the festival to let people know about their
presence and plans to open wineries.
The festival was organized so that people could sample wines
produced in the Yadkin Valley, learn about the process of making wines, shop
various craft vendors and listen to jazz and big band music.
Rebel Good, the festival's chairman, said a little less than
half of those attending the festival were wine tasters. People came to the
event individually, in buses, and church vans, he said.
"I am absolutely thrilled at the success of the
event," Good said. "We have accomplished our goal of fixing
Elkin as the center of the Yadkin Valley wine region."
Mayor Tom Gwyn said the occasion was "wonderful."
"We are so indebted to Adelphia and Sprint," Gwyn
said. "This came together to be a wonderful event. It is a very
festive crowd. I hope this is an auspicious start to an annual
festival."
Teresa Osborne, executive director of the Elkin Jonesville
Chamber of Commerce, the festival's organizers, said the festival exceeded all
her expectations.
"I am very happy the weather held off," Osborne
said. "Everyone seems to be having fun. We have had no negative
comments ... Next year it will double. This will be a big tourism
draw. Brooke (Hamlin) has done an excellent job putting this
together. Rebel (Good) and the committee have been wonderful to take this
on."
Hamlin, travel and tourism director for the chamber, said she
was very pleased with the turnout and enthusiasm for the festival.
"This is a positive thing for the whole region,"
Hamlin said. "This tells us that the public is very interested in
what we are doing and what we have to offer ... We had about all we could handle
(in festivalgoers). Having only five months to plan and implement this, it
is going to get big. The committee put forth such an effort to put this
together. The only way this could have happened is by a total commitment
by the chamber, the city, and the surrounding communities. If not, we
could not have done it."
Good said the committee has started planning for next year's
festival, to be held on Saturday, May 17, 2003.
"It was so wonderful to see people both from our
community and from across the state enjoying and learning about this new
industry, which holds such great promise for the area's economic future,"
Good said. "The committee is enthusiastic and have already started
planning for next year."
Allen Hincher, co-owner of Windy Gap Vineyards in
Ronda, said sales were good at the festival.
"We have never been to a festival before," Hincher
said. "We didn't know what to expect. I am surprised at the
number of people standing in line for the tastings. People are having a
lot of fun."
Surry Community College also had representatives who
discussed its viticulture and enology program, and the Old North State Wine
Co-operative provided information to people interested in getting into the
business.
Twenty vendors were at the festival, selling items ranging
from cheese to leatherworks to tractors. Melva Houston & the Bob
Sanger Trio and the Vintage Years Orchestra played music for the festival goers.
John Harwell, of North Wilkesboro, said he was pleased with
the festival.
"There are a lot more people and wineries here than I
expected," Harwell said. "I think it is great that all the
wineries are in one place. We might never et out and see all of them
otherwise."
Paul Henkins, co-owner of Chatham Hill Vineyards, said
there is a lot of excitement about the festival.
"I think there is a lot of excitement about the North
Carolina wines," Henkins said. "This has been a big
success. I am really surprised because it was overcast and cool, but a lot
of people showed up."
Patricia McRitchie, of Shelton Vineyards in Dobson,
said she thinks the wineries need to support each other in the Yadkin Valley.
"Being a winery in the Yadkin Valley, we have to support
regional events," McRitchie said. "I think it will be good
exposure for people who haven't had the opportunity to taste different kinds of
wines. I think they did a really good gob. I am pleased that people
are interested enough to come."
Festivalgoer Wendy Wooten, of Statesville, said she was very
excited to be attending the festival.
"We will definitely be back," Wooten said.
"I think it can only get bigger. I hope it can accommmodate a bigger
crowd. It is a great event ... I am shocked at the number of vineyards in
the Yadkin Valley ... The Yadkin Valley may be the next Napa Valley."
Festivalgoer Dawn Marion, of Raleigh, said that she was
impressed with the event.
"I had no idea that there were this many vineyards in
North Carolina," Marion said. "I thought there were maybe
four."
David Morrison, the winemaker at West Bend Vineyards,
said the turnout for the festival was great.
"It looked doubtful there at the beginning, but [the
weather] cleared up and it looks great," Morrison said. "I
sold at least 30 cases. I didn't know what to expect since this is the
first one of these festivals. I heard a lot of people that were pleased
with it."
Gary Maxey, who dressed up as the Greek god of wine Bacchus,
said the festival turned out wonderful.
"I don't think it could have turned out better,"
Maxey said. "I have not seen one person that has been
disappointed. Everyone here is having a ball. I have seen a lot of
former Elkin residents that came back for this and they are proud that their
hometown pulled this off."
Wooten said she is interested in starting her own vineyard
and was interested in the classes at Surry Community College and the Old North
State Wine Co-op.
"We are having a blast," Wooten said.
"Since it was an inaugural event, we were kind of skeptical. I can't
see this going anywhere but up. I am impressed."
Town Manager Eddie Smith said he was amazed at the turnout.
"The turnout has been tremendous," Smith
said. "I have heard nothing but good comments from everyone here ...
Everyone here has seemed to have a great time."
Michael Helton, co-owner of Hanover Park Vineyard in
Courtney, said he has enjoyed the festival.
"It has just been booming," Helton said.
"It seems to be very popular."
Lenna Hobson, co-owner of RagApple Lassie Vineyards in
Boonville, said she is looking forward to coming to the festival again when she
has her own wines to sell.
"This is wonderful, absolutely wonderful," Hobson
said. "Rebel Good is due accolades. I am so grateful to Rebel
and his team for taking responsibility of this and taking it to the area.
If he hadn't done it, someone would have taken it from this area. It is so
well organized; the leadership has done such a beautiful job that I am elated
but not surprised. If he hadn't done this it would be lost to the
town."
Hincher said he would be at next year's festivals. he
sold half a dozen cases of wine at the festival.
"I don't think we can really not go," Hincher
said. "I have met so many customers that may not have gone to our
tasting room ... This festival is just getting started. Based on the crowd
today, this is really going to take off.
Festivalgoer John Davidson, of Statesville, said he has had a
great time at the festival.
"We want someone to come [to] Statesville and show us
how to do this," Davidson said. "The jazz and the big band music
is perfect."
Amy Helton, co-owner of Hanover Park Vineyard, said
everyone seems to have enjoyed the festival.
"It is a good way to start the season," Amy Helton
said.
Steve Shepard, general manager and winemaker for RayLen
Vineyards said the festival got off to a slow start but it has been a
"huge success."
"Everyone is extremely interested in what is happening
in the Yadkin Valley," Shepard said. "I think it is a wonderful
thing that we can grow grapes and make good wines like those in Europe and
California."
Henkins said he hoped to sell out all of his stock because he
would rather not have to carry any of this stock back to the vineyard.
"Definitely, without question, we will come back next
year," Henkins said.
Andrew Elsner, general manager of Black Wolf Vineyards
in Dobson, said the vineyard took a chance on the festival by closing its
restaurant and tasting room for the day.
"It has been a real profitable day for us," Elsner
said. "We have met people here from Maryland, Illinois and Michigan
... What we have gained from this experience more than paid for the closing of
the restaurant and entrance fees."
Lynn Crouse, the winemaker for Stony Knoll Vineyards
in Rockford, said the festival has generated a lot of interest.
"It has generated (more interest) than I had
anticipated," Crouse said. "We hope to have wines available in
2004. We have vines in the ground and are grading for the
winery." Crouse had over 100 people sign up to be notified when the
winery will open.
Maxey said he has heard a lot of positive responses from the
festival goers.
"I think this is great exposure for the wineries,"
Maxey said. "The committee did an excellent job. I just can see
this getting bigger and better from now on."
"Yadkin Vineyards Make Their Mark at
Wine Festival"
by Andy Matthews, News Editor
The Tribune
Article ©2002 by The Tribune, reprinted with permission
Frank Hobson peered over the crowd Saturday afternoon,
paying special attention to the lines of people waiting to sample another wine
from an area vineyard.
"This is making those payments look a little
better," he said. Hobson, along with his wife Lenna, were part of a
handful of vineyard owners from Yadkin County who took part in the inaugural
Yadkin Valley Wine Festival at Elkin Municipal Park.
One of six counties of a proposed Yadkin Valley Appellation,
some of Yadkin's tobacco farmers like the Hobsons are beginning to make the
transition to vineyards.
Jack Loudermilk, country extension director for the N.C.
Cooperative Extension, said that Yadkin has 10 vineyards with 65 acres under
cultivation.
Hobson, who plans to open a winery in September at RagApple
Lassie Vineyard in Boonville, even went as far north as Lake Erie to fine a
winemaker, Linda King who will process 15 varieties of wine from the Hobsons'
farm.
"We were lucky to get her," Hobson said.
Michael and Amy Helton, owners of Hanover Park Vineyard in
Courtney, were already pouring samples Saturday produced on their 23-acre farm.
"We're having too much fun, aren't we?" Helton
joked with another customer who stood in line to taste some of Hanover Park's
wines.
Helton was impressed with the size of Saturday's crowd.
It was another chance for Helton to promote his vineyard, patiently giving
directions to customers who had traveled to the festival from Asheville,
Charlotte and Raleigh.
Between filling glasses and offering some tasting tips,
Helton paused briefly. The festival, which he hopes becomes an annual
event, could eventually be a big selling point for the Yadkin Valley Area, he
said.
"The first time people are out to sample. The
second or third time they've come to do some serious buying," Helton
said. "That's what makes this concept so intriguing. Customers
can sample something and decide whether or not to buy it right on the
spot. You don't have the option in traditional retail environments."
Tim Doub, the owner of Flint Hill Farms, has about five acres
under cultivation on his family's farm south of East Bend. It will be
three to four years before Doub is ready to market some of his wine.
But Doub, like Hobson and Helton, was clearly impressed with
Saturday's turnout --- a large crowd with eclectic tastes who could soon be
sampling some wine from Flint Hill Farms.
"It's a time-consuming process," Doub said, adding
that he divides his time between the vineyard and his welding business in
Yadkinville. "When I'm not in the shop, I'm in the fields. But
look at this crowd. What does this tell you?"
"One Under Our Belts -- Wine Festival
Makes Successful Debut"
Viewpoints by Rebel Good, Editor
The Tribune
Article ©2002 by The Tribune, reprinted with permission
About 4:30 Saturday morning I was beginning to thing this
whole wine festival thing was a bad idea. And unfortunately, it was my
idea. As the torrents of rain beat down upon the metal roof of my home,
the din making sleep impossible, I could only imagine the quagmire that would
await the three or four people who might still brave the elements in hopes that
some wine would still be poured. And then our luck changed, and the
inaugural Yadkin Valley Wine Festival at Elkin's Municipal Park turned into an
unqualified success.
The rain dwindled, then quit, as the finishing touches were
being put on the site. The park drained beautifully and there was little
mud or puddles -- and those were dispatched quickly by a town crew -- and then
the people started showing up. And boy did they show up.
The festival committee had no real clue going into this thing
what to expect. We did know that a similar festival last year at
Tanglewood Park -- in a major metropolitan area -- had drawn a little over 5,000
people. Would anyone come here? Or would 20,000 show up and
overwhelm us?
A steady stream started arriving before we officially opened
at 11 a.m., and they kept coming, but never in such volume that they could not
be accommodated. Our best guess is that perhaps 4,500 attended
overall. It was a happy crowd. Surprisingly, it was a family crowd,
with attendees ranging from infants to senior-senior citizens. Iin
retrospect, the decision to make the festival free of admission, charging
separately for the wine tasting, contributed to this family atmosphere.
The lines at the seven pouring wineries and vineyards were
often lengthy, but never impatient. The folks took the time to discuss the
various merits of the wines they had just tasted or were about to try.
That's one of the great things about these wines being produced in the Yadkin
Valley -- there's something for virtually every palate -- from somewhat sweet to
quite dry, red, white or rose'.
The wineries were pleased with the turnout. The event
gave them not only the public relations opportunity to showcase their products,
but also the chance to make bottle and case sales. And they did well at
that by all observations.
Our goal for this first festival was two-fold -- to promote
this developing economic boom in our area, and to promote Elkin as the economic
center of the Yadkin Valley wine region. We're off to a great start.
Planning has already started on next year's festival. Mark your calendars
for Saturday, May 17, 2003
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