Yadkin Valley wine region

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The Yadkin Valley wine region, formally known as the Yadkin Valley American Viticultural Area, is a relatively new wine-growing region in northwestern North Carolina. The area is about 1.4 million acres (5,700 km²) in the Yadkin River valley and includes all of Wilkes, Surry, and Yadkin counties, and parts of Davie, Davidson, Forsyth and Stokes counties.

In 2003, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms approved a new appellation for the region -- the Yadkin Valley appellation -- allowing winemakers to bottle wines with a label indicating that the wine came from the Yadkin Valley. In 2005, there were 14 wineries and 400 acres (1.6 km²) of vineyards in the region. Within two years the number of wine producers had increased to 23.

For decades, the area was a key tobacco-growing region. However, as tobacco farming and cigarette manufacturing in the area decline, some entrepreneurs, including tobacco farmers, are turning to winemaking.

The native grapes of this region of the southeastern United States are the muscadine and the scuppernong. Early attempts to grow the European wine grape, Vitis vinifera, in the southeastern United States, including 18th century efforts by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, had mixed success. But in the past two to three decades, viticultural research has helped adapt these grapes to the climate, soil, and pests of the region. Additionally, Surry Community College, located in Dobson, North Carolina, has served as a valuable community resource for this growing industry by offering certificate and degree programs in viticulture and enology. In 2005, Davidson County Community College formed a partnership with Surry Community College for the delivery if the viticulture and enology program/certifications in Davidson and Davie counties. The Yadkin River forms the natural county line between Davidson and Davie and county residents were looking for opportunities to diversify from traditional tobacco farming. The Yadkin Valley area is in the piedmont and foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and some have compared the grape-growing conditions of the area to France's Burgundy.

A number of varieties of wines are made in the region, including merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and chardonnay.

The Yadkin Valley Wine festival is held the third Saturday in May at Elkin Municipal Park, typically drawing about 10,000 people. The Yadkin Valley Grape Festival is held the third Saturday in October in Yadkinville.

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