24043 Endy Rd, Albemarle, NC 28001
The seed was planted when founder Pritchard Dennis and his wife Lynda took a trip to Spain in the 1970's and discovered their passion and deep appreciation for wine. Upon their return, Pritchard began to research. Books upon books, notepads and calculators – it looked like the office of a crazy person! The idea cultivated and matured until finally in the late 1980's he decided to take the plunge into making his first batch as a hobby winemaker. Success! He had officially been bitten by the ever-contagious and notoriously addictive wine-making bug. This bug was quickly passed on to his son Sandon who began preparing his own batches while Pritchard worked diligently on perfecting his. It was the ultimate father-son challenge. With two people now producing wine (and without a license to sell it) there was plenty of wine to be given away as gifts, thank you’s and simply as a “hey try this!”. Even with all the giving, there was still more, so they started donating it to their church for Communion wine. People came to church, sang their songs & participated in Communion all like usual, with the exception of this new wine being served. Then the crazy thing happened… people were showing up at their doorstep asking for more of “THAT Communion wine”.The Muscadine is a family of grapes that is native to North Carolina. The Mother Vine is located in the Outer Banks and was discovered in 1584 by explorers sent to the New World by Sir Walter Raleigh. All known varieties of Muscadine have stemmed from this one native vine called the Scuppernong. Muscadine grapes grow in various sizes, ranging from a marble to a ping pong ball, and their colors vary from green to gold to black/purple. Their flavor is unmistakable and cannot be compared to that of any other grape variety. Their health benefits are known worldwide as they contain the highest natural quantities of Resveratrol, a known cancer-fighting antioxidant. Taste the wines made from this amazing grape and see why they are so unique and special. As in the case of many winemakers, the increase in demand for our wines brought us to a crossroads: sacrifice quality for quantity, or maintain the standard our customers have come to expect. For Pritchard and Sandon, who were no strangers to long hours, the decision was easy. Maintain the quality and the quantity will come! Refusing to include additives such as food coloring and artificial flavors, meeting demand at times definitely didn't come easy. Fast forward 20 years later to a multi-award winning brand and a loyal customer base that most winemakers could only dream of!
