Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 10/13/21

In the first quarter of the 21st century, North Carolina’s traditional agriculture industries have grown through their challenges with technology and innovation.

In the Yadkin Valley in the northwestern quadrant of the state, however, there has also been a migration from the fast-growing cash crops that made this lush area famous for centuries in favor of a return to the state’s first cultivated crop: grapes.

Because of it, this sector of North Carolina’s winemaking industry is a thriving hive of vines and fermentation.

It’s a maturing statewide industry that provides nearly $2 billion in economic impact around the state and some 10,000 jobs, not to mention the two million annual visitors who bring tourist dollars to some of the state’s most rural regions.

North Carolina’s diverse landscape makes it possible to grow all varieties of classic European grapes, with wineries around the state specializing in French-, Italian- and German-styled vintages, along with dozens that produce wine made from North Carolina’s two native grapes, muscadine and scuppernong.

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