My New Blog

Wine Country The Mountains Of North Carolina

When we think of Murphy and the surrounding area, spectacular Mountain vistas, gorgeous lakes,and outdoor sports come to mind. But few people realize that we are adjacent to, if not part of wine country.

There are 5 liensed wineries in Cherokee and Graham Counties and several more vineyards. If we look at our neighbors to the south and east, wineries and vineyards are scattered throughout the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Just an hours drive south down 129 brings you to North Georgia wine country. A dozen wineries, some comparable to thoes of California, stretch from Dahlonega to Clayton. Add in the beautiful scenery and the winding Mountains roads and an excellent day trip is just around the conner. in all there are more than 50 Wineries in Georgia.

North Carolina is no new scrnr either. Before prohibition, North Carloina was the country's leading wine and grape producer. While tobacco replaceed grapes as the crop of choice during prohibition, this changed again with the tobacco company's settlement of the various lawsuits. now once again the state is encouraging grape growing as a viable alternative to tobacco.

Today there are over 117 licensed wineries and 400 vineyards in North Carloina. Some are as small as a storage shed, while others, encompass hunderds of acres with winemaking facilities of 50,000 square feet or more.

The economic impact of this industry has grown also. Today, wine and grape production adds over 800 million dollars,to our states economy and provides nearly 6000 jobs.

It isn't just North Carolina that is benefiting from this renaissance. Our state is listed among top five destinations for wine tourism.

So we live in and around one of the countrys best wine tourism spots yet 9 out 10 people have no idea it even exists.