Home of the famous cold-hardy, native

Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard
specializes in propagating and growing Eco-friendly native, cold-hardy Katuah Muscadine™ grapes (see our registered Katuah Muscadine voucher 2014 here) and cold-hardy Scuppernong grapes bred here in our vineyard (see our registered Katuah Scuppernong voucher 2019 here using natural & biodynamic methods. These special grapes make a great steep slope, cold-hardy crop that can be grown naturally, organically, or biodynamically from which important phytochemicals can be derived for the neutraceutical industry as well as other traditional grapeproducts. Our small vineyard is slowly expanding as a teaching vineyard and offers visitors to our mountains a heritage experience with grapes. Here is the story of how we came to grow these special grapes (note that it will take several minutes for the videos to load):

A TED Talk in 2011: The Story of the Cold-hardy Katuah Muscadine

And another TED Talk:
A TED Talk in 2014: Using Viticulture as an Engine for Economic Growth in the Mountains

Chuck's interview about the vineyard:
Video made in 2015 by Samuel Shumate about the Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard


Farm/Vineyard Tours

Our farm tours are available from May 15 until October 15 each year. Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard is a small steep-slope teaching vineyard planted with native, cold-hardy Katuah Muscadine™ and Katuah Scuppernong grapevines. We have heritage apples, plum, cherry, fig, and peach trees on our farm. We also have Aronia Berry, cold-hardy Kiwis and Buffalo Berry bushes growing here. The views from our 2100' mountain-top vineyard are among the best in the county. On your tour you will get to see our 10' x 40' walapini where the cold-hardy Katuah Muscadine and Katuah Scuppernong grapevines are propagated and wintered over for planting in the Spring. You will see our 100 year old barn, our Scottish Highland cows and calves, our donkies, and our chickens (kids can collect eggs if you are early enough in the day). During season you can also taste our grapes and real muscadine juice, buy some of our Scottish Highland beef, Jeannie's Muscadine Grape-hull Preserves, or our farm-made tobacco stick art items.

Click the "Buy Now" button below to pay for your 1-hour farm/vineyard tour - $20 per adult, kids under 12 free. Then call us 828-606-3130 to coordinate your visit time that is mutually acceptable.

Number of adults in group

1 adult $20.00 USD 2 adults $35.00 USD 3 adults $50.00 USD 4 adults $65.00 USD

Your Telephone Number

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Buy Chuck's book
"Entertaining with Wine - Your Defense against Wine Snobbery"

Book has 228 pages including many useful Appendices on terminology, etiquette, how to interpret foreigh wine labels, and other useful tips. The price of the book is $22 including shipping.

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Sustainable Viticulture for our Mountains
Growing our cold-hardy Katuah Muscadine and Scuppernong grapes with a minimum impact on the land is a high  priority for us. We have 30 years experience in  growing  grapes naturally/organically/biodynamically. The result is grapes that taste better and make  better wine. And you can get top dollar from neutraceutical companies who want chemical-free grapes for their phytochemical content used for illness prevention and treatment. Experience has shown that the initial cost to grow grapes naturally/organically/biodynamically may be slightly higher than growing grapes traditionally but you can get a premium price for good grapes grown sustainably. As we move into 2018 we continue our transition to biodynamic viticulture. Our chickens and donkies are now joined by our Scottish Highland cows who will contribute the main ingredient for making horn manure - a key preparation for biodynamic farming. Go to this page if you want to learn more about viticulture n hte mountains and biodynamic viticulture: BiodynamicViticulture
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Katuah Muscadine grapevine starts for sale
We now have the native, cold-hardy Katuah Muscadine grapevine starts for sale (see the cold-hardy temperature profile here). Minimum order is 10 plants. No deliveries. Customers must pickup at our greenhouse during season. Availability is dependent upon order backlog and rate of propagation. Please click on the buttons below to order your red Katuah Muscadine grapevine starts. Next available plants will be in May 2019.

Number of Katuah Muscadine vines you need

10 grapevine starts - small backyard vineyard $170.00 USD 25 grapevine starts - large backyard vineyard $375.00 USD 50 grapevine starts - 1/4 acre $650.00 USD 100 grapevine starts - 1/2 acre $1,200.00 USD 200 grapevine starts - 1 acre $2,200.00 USD 400 grapevine starts - 2 acres $4,000.00 USD

Your Telephone Number

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Podcasts of the Mountain Grapevine radio show on 95.5 FM and 24/7 wART radio at www.wARTfm.org.
Chuck wass the radio show host where he interviewed winemakers and grapegrowers around the state of North Carolina, and other places too. Here is the link to view list of podcasts of the radio show:
wART "Mountain Grapevine" Radio Program Archive


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Appalachian Tobacco Stick Items for the Kitchen

Chuck has created Appalachian Napkin Rings, Appalachian Cutting Boards, Appalachian Rolling Pins and the Appalachian Butter Knife, all crafted from from old tobacco sticks found in many of Madison County's old Burley tobacco barns. Here you can purchase useful tobacco stick items - Useful art with history!
Ordering details