Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Districts, Networks and Knowledge Brokering
- 2 From the Beginnings to Prohibition
- 3 Post-Prohibition to the 1990s
- 4 Emergence of a Wine Cluster
- 5 Market Growth, Differentiation and Legitimacy
- 6 Cluster Consolidation: Networks, Quality and Wine Tourism
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Interview Questions for North Carolina Winery Owners/Winemakers
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Introduction
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Districts, Networks and Knowledge Brokering
- 2 From the Beginnings to Prohibition
- 3 Post-Prohibition to the 1990s
- 4 Emergence of a Wine Cluster
- 5 Market Growth, Differentiation and Legitimacy
- 6 Cluster Consolidation: Networks, Quality and Wine Tourism
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Interview Questions for North Carolina Winery Owners/Winemakers
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
On a crisp late autumn day in 2000 my wife and I were driving on country roads west of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Located in the north-west Piedmont, with the foothills of the Appalachian mountains visible in the late afternoon sun, this is an area of rolling hills, small towns and rural settlements. The countryside displays a rich and mixed agricultural heritage, just far enough from the expanding suburban sprawl of nearby cities to avoid excessive property speculation. There are dairy farms, soya and corn fields, the occasional tobacco patch and the usual collection of decaying abandoned properties indicative of old ways of rural life that are perhaps no longer sustainable. The traffic is light, the roads narrow and the countryside evokes feelings of nostalgia for an Arcadian past, notwithstanding the occasional rusted pick-up truck and gas station/country store advertising videos and lottery tickets.
Imagine our surprise after cresting a hill when in front of us lay acres of well-tended vines on these rolling hills and several beautiful, expansive and meticulously landscaped homes. Rounding a sharp bend in the road we came across the large sign to Westbend Vineyards. Founded in 1972 by the Kroustalis family, and named after the western bend of the nearby Yadkin River, it covers 60 acres planted with prime vinifera grapes. A photograph of the area could easily mislead someone into thinking they were in Sonoma County, California.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Modern American Wine IndustryMarket Formation and Growth in North Carolina, pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014