Steve Tatum, owner of Grandfather Vineyard and Winery, first envisioned planting Christmas Trees on the property located in Banner Elk on the banks of the Watauga River. Then, he said he had the idea of planting grapes instead.

“I did about a year of research on similar wine-growing areas before planting anything,” Steve Tatum said. “I looked at elevation, hours of sunlight, the makeup of the soil, pH levels, and all kinds of things. We first planted four or five rows of grapes in ’03 or ’04. They did really well, so we cut down some trees and planted more grapes.”

Winemaking is a family affair at Grandfather Vineyard & Winery, the first winery in Watauga County to plant grapes on the property. Steve Tatum’s son Dylan Tatum studied viticulture and oenology at Surry College and is the Winemaker and General Manager. Dylan Tatum’s wife Nicole Tatum is the Tasting Room Manager.

About 10 to 12 varieties of grapes are now grown on the Tatum’s property, and are used to produce the 25 to 30 wines that are on the menu. While many of their wines are dry, they produce five to six sweet wines as well.

Since opening their winery in 2011, Steve Tatum said that 99% of the wine is sold at the vineyard. “We are producing about 6,000 cases of wine each year,” Steve Tatum said. “We appeal to locals and tourists alike, though there are usually more tourists during busy seasons and on most weekends. Hundreds of people visit on the busy days — one time I counted 300 cars in our full overflow parking lot, and very rarely is there only one person per car.”

“We also have a wine club with 500 members,” Nicole Tatum said. “We produce exclusive Estate red, white, or rosé wines from our vineyard which we keep reserved for the wine club members who receive their wines twice per year. If we have any Estate wines left over, club members get first pick, but we always sell out.”

To keep up with demand, the Tatum family must supplement their estate grapes with shipments of grapes from other vineyards. They said that they purchase from local vineyards who are not wineries, from some vineyards in Virginia, as well as a few vineyards in CA and OR. 

“Those grapes are picked fresh and shipped to us in a refrigerated truck,” Steve Tatum said. “They are fresher than grapes you see at a grocery store, and we start production immediately once we receive them.”

Nicole Tatum said that the company is experiencing severe growing pains, and they are currently working on plans to expand and accommodate the growing demand for their wine. She said they will remodel the existing tasting room by moving the production room to its own building to create more tasting room space inside, as well as add a new on-site storage facility for their wine. 

“We are currently the largest producer in the area, and we still want to bump up our production by 4,000 cases per year,” Steve Tatum said.

Wine making is increasing in popularity around WNC as well as across the entire state, according to Steve Tatum. He said that 10 years ago there were less than 100 wineries in NC, and now there are more than 200 in total, about six of which are in the High Country with more moving in soon. He said that since he started his vineyard, others began planting grapes, and one new vineyard owner from Napa, CA is working on one that will encompass several acres.

“It’s a growing and thriving NC industry,” Steve Tatum said. “State legislators have helped with this too. There are still counties that are dry in some parts of the state, and some towns and cities have passed laws to allow different alcoholic beverages. Legislators now say that if a certain amount of grapes are grown on the property, we are allowed to ‘enhance the value’ of the grapes and sell the wine on the property. We are a farm, and without the grapes growing here, we wouldn’t be able to sell our wine.”

Steve Tatum said that they also use other NC businesses to support their own. They use Nomacorc corks, a synthetic cork company based in Zebulon. Labels for their bottles are also produced in NC. 

Nicole Tatum said that the family is close with other area vineyards and winemakers as well, and that they can lean on each other for support when they need it. 

“The more wineries that come to the area, the more of a destination this area becomes for wine,” Nicole Tatum said. “Each has its own setting and its own portfolio, and it’s not about competition. We have also talked about doing events together and reinstating the High Country Wine Trail. We have borrowed totes and bottles from each other, we have sold juice to each other, and bottled cider or sparkling wines for others. Equipment is expensive and hard to come by, so if something breaks we have to help each other out. We are a community, and we will help each other out in any way we can.”