Mountain Viticulture: Vitis Vinifera (European grape cultivars) are currently grown in large vineyard plantings in the coastal and piedmont areas of NC. The weather is warm, humid, and low altitude with high disease pressure. Most Vinifera that are available for planting in the USA are not cold-hardy and thus are not suitable for growing in the mountains of WNC. Further, vinifera are not resistant to any of the pests, molds, fungi, and other diseases indigenous to North America, thus requiring stringent chemical spraying regimens to keep them alive and producing acceptable crops. All of the Vinifera must be grafted to wild American grape root-stock to prevent the indigenous root louse, phyloxera, from killing the vines. Most of the soils in the mountain counties of NC are residual soils from 600 million years of weathering granite. These soils tend to be low pH, high in Aluminum ions, and be either hard-pan red clays or extremely rocky residual soils. “Rich soils,” those dark soils with lots of humus, tend to occur in “bottom land” and are not particularly good for grapes because the low lands are also where cold air accumulates and causes frost damage to vines. The best farm sites for grapes are on the south or southeast facing slopes – not on the bottom of the valleys or on the top of the mountains. The best grapes to grow are certain Euro-American Hybrid grapes or native American grapes.

Sustainable Viticulture: When a process is sustainable, it can be maintained indefinitely. Sustainable food production can be maintained indefinitely because sustainable farmers do not take more resources to produce food than they give back. A reliance on renewable resources - as well as on symbiotic relationships with nature and the surrounding community - means that these farms do not damage the environment, are humane for workers and animals, provide a fair wage to the farmer, and support and enhance rural life. Because sustainable farmers see nature as an ally rather than an obstacle, they are able to produce more wholesome food while using less fossil fuels (thus lessening the impact on global warming), and without using any synthetic pesticides, artificial hormones, or antibiotics. Growing grapes in a sustainable environment is beneficial to the farm, the community and the ultimate consumer.

Grapes can be used for making pies, preserves, jams, jellies, juice, providing fresh table fruit, raisins, flavored vinegars, grapeseed oils, and wine. Other value added products derived from grapes include pigments, paper, biomass fuel pellets, and neutraceuticals.

As of January 1, 2011 there were over 560 vineyards in 16 wine-producing countries using biodynamic viticulture, and thousands more using organic or natural growing methods. It is a recognized fact that the overwhelming majority of vineyards in North America are using traditional chemical spray methods of growing wine and table grapes, resulting in wines being sold containing residual pesticides. More and more farms worldwide are making the transition to sustainable viticulture growing methods. We recognize the difficulty in dealing with such entrenched chemical methods but each month that passes brings more and more data to the forefront that confirm the viability of sustainable viticulture. Lessened impact on the earth, improved health of vines, more intense colors, and better flavors have led to superior tasting wines. (http://www.boissetfamilyestates.com/press/FortuneBiodynamics.pdf)

The mountains of Western North Carolina represent an ideal location for propagation of vineyards and wineries. The job creation possibility is large and the potential for agri-tourism income and tax revenue for the state is significant.