Yadkin Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) expanding across seven counties of northwestern North Carolina encompassing approximately in the Yadkin River Valley. The appellation includes all of Wilkes, Surry, and Yadkin counties, and portions of Davie, Davidson, Forsyth, and Stokes counties. It was established as the nation's 147th and the state's initial appellation on December 9, 2002 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury after reviewing the petition submitted by Patricia McRitchie of McRitchie Associates, LLC, on behalf of Shelton Vineyards, Inc., Dobson, North Carolina, to establish the initial viticultural area within the State of North Carolina, to be known as "Yadkin Valley." At the time, there were over 30 growers cultivating approximately and three bonded wineries with at least two others under construction.

In 2008, Swan Creek was established as the state's second AVA, encompassing with 60 percent of its northern region within the Yadkin Valley viticultural area and the remaining 40 percent extending beyond its southern boundary. The sub-AVA shared its name with the unincorporated community of Swan Creek in Yadkin County.

History

There is rich historical and anthropological evidence of settlement and cultivation in the Yadkin Valley. Native American settlements date back to approximately 500 B.C. The viticultural area has been known as the Yadkin Valley since pre-colonial times. What is now Yadkin County was home to the Tutelo and Cheraw Indian tribes. The first known written use of the name Yadkin was in 1674 in the writing of an early trader, Abraham Wood, whose English scouts passed through the area in 1673. It was used in reference to the indigenous tribes found living along the river known as the Yadkin. The meaning of the word "Yadkin," derived from Yattken, or Yattkin, ( ), a Siouan Indian word, is unknown. In Siouan terminology it may mean "big tree" or "place of big trees." Subsequently, the name Yadkin was applied to many natural features and man-made structures in the area. In fact, the only references to Yadkin as a place name are to places located in North Carolina: the Yadkin Valley, the Yadkin River, Yadkin County, and the towns of Yadkinville and Yadkin College. It is also used to name businesses, schools, and organizations located in the State's northwestern Piedmont region.

The first non-Native settlers, the Moravians, arrived in the Yadkin Valley in the 1740s. They originally scouted land in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Boone, North Carolina, but did not find a satisfactory site for settlement. The Moravians followed the Yadkin River east, finally reaching the three forks of Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Yadkin River. It was here that they made the first settlements in what are now Forsyth and Stokes Counties. The settlements were Bethabara, established in 1753, and Bethania, established in 1759. Bethabara was a fortified settlement built to protect early settlers from attacks by Indians who swept down into the Yadkin Valley from the Blue Ridge Mountains during the French and Indian War. Smaller settlements throughout Wilkes, Yadkin and Iredell Counties were made during this period. These early settlers were meticulous recordkeepers and references to the Yadkin Valley can be found in their colonial writings as well as in later sources. References to the Yadkin Valley can also be found in histories of the region during the American Revolution and the Civil War periods. An influx of settlers who farmed the Valley's rich soil characterized the period immediately after the Civil War.

In the mid-19th Century, there were some 25 wineries in North Carolina, with extensive independent vineyards, to such an extent that North Carolina dominated the national market for American wines at the time. The Civil War ended that market dominance, through damage to the industry by loss of manpower and scarce capital, as well as through revocation of wine-making licenses due to regulatory retribution following the war. In the latter part of the 19th century, cotton and tobacco became the Valley's main crops. Wine production recovered in the decades after the war through the early 20th Century. However, North Carolina voted to become a dry state in 1908, and coupled with the onset of Prohibition, ended wine-making in North Carolina. Repeal in 1933, followed by the passage of laws by the North Carolina legislature in 1935 permitted wine-making, but it was several decades after World War II before North Carolina's wine industry would show significant growth.

After Prohibition, tobacco became the Valley's cash crop throughout the 20th Century. However, the predominance of tobacco growing in the northwest piedmont of North Carolina waned by the '90s. In its place was an increased interest in grape growing, which was rooted in pre-colonial North Carolina's history. The first cultivated wine grape in the United States was grown in North Carolina where the first recorded account of the Scuppernong grape is found in the logbook of explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano. He wrote in 1524, "Many vines growing naturally there [in North Carolina] that would no doubt yield excellent wines." North Carolina's wine industry thrived in the 19th and 20th centuries until Prohibition. At that time, the industry, centered in the eastern part of the State, was based on Muscadine wine.

One of the first modern major plantings of vinifera grapes in North Carolina occurred in 1972, when Jack Kroustalis established Westbend Vineyards, located in the Yadkin Valley. According to "Carolina Wine Country," "[t]he vines flourished in the rich soil of the Yadkin River Valley." In 1988, Kroustalis built the first bonded winery in the Yadkin Valley. Other growers in Yadkin Valley took note of Westbend Vineyard's success with vinifera grapes and followed suit. By the end of 2000, over of grapes were planted in the Yadkin Valley. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture has recognized this area as a "unique and valuable winegrowing region." In 1999, Shelton Vineyards began planting of vinifera grapes on land considered perfectly suited to vinifera grape growing. The following year, Shelton opened a state-of-the-art 30,000 case winery. There are currently two additional wineries under construction in the viticultural area, and the Yadkin Valley Wine Grower's Cooperative was recently incorporated. In 1999, Surry Community College began offering continuing education viticulture courses. Spurred on by the tremendous interest in grape growing, the college initiated a two-year viticulture program, which began in the fall of 2000. The program will educate future grape growers to take advantage of the favorable growing environment provided by the Yadkin Valley. In December 2000, the Golden LEAF Foundation awarded the college over $130,000 to support the establishment of a demonstration vineyard and winery for use by students in the program. The reference materials used to prepare this petition consistently included all of Wilkes, Surry, and Yadkin counties in the Yadkin Valley, as well as portions of Stokes and Forsyth counties. Davie and Iredell counties were also commonly included.

Terroir The Yadkin Valley area is in the piedmont and foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. One of the most recognizable landmarks in the AVA is Pilot Mountain. The USDA plant hardiness zones range from 6b to 8a. The AVA is mostly 7b and surrounding areas are in 6b and 7b well suited for growing grapes while the adjacent zones are not as favorable for growing vinifera grapes. For example, the Columbia Valley viticultural area in Washington State is also located in Zone 7a. The Yadkin Valley is located in the warm temperate latitude between 36′00″ and 36′30″ N. This is an area well suited to growing vinifera grapes while latitudes below 35′00″ are not suited to vinifera grape growing, according to Gordon S. Howell and Timothy K. Mansfield's article, Microclimate and the Grapevine: Site Selection for Vineyards (A Review), in Vinifera Wine Growers Journal, Fall 1977, 373.

Geology