Winemaking on the Watauga River
With the iconic mountain on the horizon, Grandfather Winery and Vineyard is located on the banks of the Watauga River.
Featuring 5 acres of grapevines on a terraced hillside, Grandfather Winery has a tasting room and sheltered pavilion. Each weekend, the winery hosts a music series with the food truck from Eleven 80 Eatery.
Visitors sip wine on the riverbank and listen to the music.
“The Watauga River – that’s the go to place. [Customers] sit by the river and have a glass of wine,” said Steve Tatum, owner of Grandfather Winery.
“We have umbrellas and tables set up and that’s where they go to first.”
On a related note, Tatum said that the winery features a “Watauga River White.”
“That does very well every year,” Tatum said.
Two Generations of Tatums
The vineyard and winery is a family affair run by two generations of Tatums.
Steve and Sally Tatum are the owners of the winery.
Meanwhile their son, Dylan, and his wife, Nicole, are the general manager and tasting room manager for Grandfather Winery and Vineyard. The younger Tatums met at the winery and later married on the riverbank in 2017.
The Tatum name might be familiar in the High Country because the elder couple also own Tatum Galleries along N.C. 105, not far from where the Watauga River begins, in fact. With Sally’s interior decorating skills and Steve’s furniture building skills, Tatum Galleries has been in business since 1985.
While Sally still runs the gallery with a team of designers, Steve focuses primarily on the vineyard and winery. In 2003 and 2004, Steve planted more than 2,000 grapevines on the property.
The idea for a vineyard and later, a winery, began because, as Steve told me a few years back, “My wife and I have always enjoyed a glass of wine or two.”
Soon thereafter, the couple’s son, Dylan, took up the art of winemaking and earned degrees in viticulture and oenology from Surry Community College – in addition to his business degree from Appalachian State.
Viticulture is the study of grapes, while oenology is the study of winemaking.
Dylan’s knowledge in winemaking helped to alleviate any trepidation his father may have had at jumping into an expensive industry on a whim.
Grandfather Winery Business Continues to Grow
The growth of Grandfather Winery is evident.
Today, the vineyard has about 3,000 grapevines, and bottled cases grew more than 10-fold, from 400 that first year to more than 5,000 in 2020.
In 2011, the tasting room opened. In 2013, the sheltered pavilion was built, allowing for live concerts and outdoor seating, no matter the weather during the warmer months.
During the busy weekends or in conjunction with weddings or larger gatherings, a 40-by-40-foot tent is also set up for guests to enjoy the wine on the property.
Some of the grapes grown at the local vineyard include Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, St. Croix, Lando Noir, Chambourcin and Vidal Blanc.
At the base of Grandfather Mountain and along the banks of the Watauga River, Grandfather Vineyards and Winery is a great place to enjoy a bottle of wine, sit by the river with friends or family and listen to some live music.
For the most up-to-date information, click to Grandfather Vineyard and Winery’s website or call 828-963-2400.
For live schedule of Music at the Vineyard, click here.
AVA Encompasses Watauga River Region
Appalachian High Country American Viticulture Area (AVA) features three wineries and two vineyards along the waters of the Watauga River and Watauga Lake.
Those wineries and vineyards are the Grandfather Vineyard and Winery, Watauga Lake Winery and Villa Nove Vineyards Farm Winery.
An AVA is essentially a “stamp of approval,” as one vineyard owner told me, on a region’s ability to grow wine grapes. It’s a federal designation – one the Appalachian High Country AVA received in 2016.
The Appalachian High Country AVA is a 2,400-mile region in 8 counties in eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. One of the distinctions of this AVA is all of the vineyards must be above 2,000 feet in elevation.
The High Country AVA encompasses the entire Watauga River.
It features 21 vineyards amidst 71 acres of planted grapes and 10 wineries in the region at the time of the approval. That doesn’t count 37 acres for 8 more planned vineyards.
Due to the colder season in the High Country, local vineyard owners tend to plant cold-hardy hybrid varietals like:
- Marquette
- traminette
- seyval blanc
- cabernet franc
- vidal blanc
- Frontnenac
The High Country Wine Trail website is the official site about the local AVA. Click here to read an extensive magazine article I wrote about the establishment of the AVA in 2016.
Click the following links to see more Watauga River adventures and things to do along the Watauga River.
Wineries on the Watauga
The waters of the Watauga feature more award-winning wineries:
- Watauga Lake Winery overlooking Watauga Lake in Butler, Tenn.
- Villa Nove Vineyards Farm Winery overlooking Watauga Lake in Butler, Tenn.