Meet The Winemaker:  Steve Shepard of RayLen Vineyards & Winery
By Daniel Hoey

Steve Shepard has a long history in winemaking.  He started his winemaking career in Pennsylvania in 1980 and moved to North Carolina in 1989 to take a position at Westbend Vineyards, the first winery established in what ultimately became the Yadkin Valley AVA.  At the time, he explains, “I wanted to be part of a pioneering effort – I had seen the Pennsylvania wine industry grow from nothing and knew we could do something special in the Yadkin Valley with effort and patience.”

By Daniel Hoey

Michael and Amy Helton were art teachers, and Michael brings an artistic sensibility to his second career as winemaker at Hanover Park Vineyards in the Yadkin Valley AVA in North Carolina. During a month-long honeymoon in the south of France in 1996, the Heltons fell in love with old world wines and vineyards, and soon after they returned they invested in 23 acres of land and an abandoned farmhouse on the property dating from 1897.

Michael's education in Viticulture and Enology has been independent and self-directed. As a former educator and researcher, he understood how to learn from universities, seminars, interviews, and websites involved with wine and grapes.

Shadow Springs Vineyard

By Daniel Hoey

Chuck and Jamey Johnson moved to North Carolina after Chuck’s successful business career to plant a vineyard and start a winery.  Jamey refers to this decision as Chuck’s “mid-life crisis” – but they are clearly both passionate about what has become Shadow Springs Vineyard.

Shadow Springs was founded in January 2005 with the purchase of 47 acres of land in the Swan Creek section of the Yadkin Valley AVA; Swan Creek was established as its own AVA in May, 2008.

Shelton Vineyards

By Daniel Hoey

Charlie and Ed Shelton purchased the property that became Shelton Vineyards In 1994, which is located just a few miles from where the they grew up.  Both lovers of wine, they began to seriously consider establishing a winery.  As successful business leaders devoted to their home region, they were also motivated to be prime movers in a new industry that held the promise of revitalizing the area.

By Daniel Hoey

RayLen Vineyards was established in 1999 when Joe and Joyce Neely, inspired by a trip to Italy, acquired a 100 acre property in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina.  It had been a working dairy farm for nearly a century, and at the time they acquired the property only four other wineries existed in the Yadkin Valley.

The Neelys recruited Steve Shepard, the winemaker with the longest experience in the Valley, who had been working as the winemaker at Westbend Vineyards for the previous decade.  They planted 35,000 European varietal vines over 40 acres of vines.  In its first three vintages, RayLen won over 200 medals at statewide, regional and international competitions, and has been recognized by Wine Spectator magazine as one of the premier wineries in the Southeast.

By: Daniel Hoey

Sean McRitchie was born to be a winemaker.

His father was a winemaker in California and Oregon and Sean literally grew up in the wine industry.  Remember your first “summer job”?  Sean’s was getting knee deep in grapes, cleaning barrels – all of the behind-the-scenes grunt work it takes to make wine.  “I remember a Saturday and it was pouring down rain,” Bob McRitchie said. “We were digging a ditch for the wastewater to go underneath the road and into a holding tank. This was Sean’s first job in the wine business.”

Sean’s early wine career took him all over the world – starting in Willamette Valley, Oregon and moving on to many premier regions including Alsace Lorraine, Napa Valley and Australia.  In 1998 he decided to become a part of the Yadkin Valley’s embryonic wine industry and became the first winemaker at Shelton Vineyards; having grown up watching the Willamette Valley develop a world-renowned wine industry from scratch the challenge of being a pioneer in a new, aspiring wine region appealed to him.  

Tasting Wine with Winemaker Linda King of RagApple Lassie

By Daniel Hoey

Linda King is the winemaker for RagApple Lassie Vineyards in the Yadkin Valley AVA in North Carolina. 

Over 35 years ago she began to make wine, first as an amateur (for which efforts she ultimately won awards), and then as the winemaker for three different wineries, all in different states.

She came to North Carolina from the largest estate winery in Ohio to help establish RagApple Lassie Vineyards during a time when the Yadkin Valley was in the midst of a surge in growth in both number of wineries and the quality of wine produced, a surge that continues through today.

Benny and Kim Myers, the owners of Laurel Gray Vineyards in the Yadkin Valley,have a strong connection to their land.  Benny’s ancestors came to the Swan Creek Region of the Yadkin Valley in 1773, and for ten generations the Myers have lived and worked in this beautiful, fertile area.

Benny began his career working for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco while farming on the side; Kim pursued a career in advertising and graphic art.  As the tobacco industry waned in the 1990s the Myers began to think about the 11th generation – their children, Ashley Laurel and Taylor Gray – and whether the land would be viable for them should they choose to stay.

By Daniel Hoey

Chardonel is a hybrid grape which was originally developed in New York State in the 1950s and is a cross of Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc.  It is a sturdy, late ripening grape which produces large clusters, and can thrive in more challenging wine-growing climates.  It is typically barrel fermented and results in a full-bodied dry wine.

Tom Hughes and Michael West met at Virginia Tech, where both were studying to be architects.  Their friendship continued and resulted in a partnership in architecture in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Michael developed an interest in llamas and Tom had long dreamed of opening a winery; in 2006 they, along with their wives Julia and Patricia purchased 77 scenic acres in the Yadkin Valley AVA.  Their tasting room opened in spring 2009.