LEWISVILLE, N.C. — The western part of North Carolina is home to some of the best wineries in our state. The land is perfectly suited for growing grapes and has become a destination for many vintners.
One of those vineyards is Medaloni Cellars in Lewisville.
“We’ve put a lot of sweat equity into it. It has definitely been a lot of work to get to where it is now,” Joey Medaloni said.
Opened in 2012, the winery has quickly become a popular destination for wine enthusiasts and tourists from all over the state. Nestled on more than 20 acres of rolling land, the winery offers a variety of activities for young and old.
“The weekend before (Executive Order), we were slammed packed with people walking our trails, doing tastings with music, we had a food truck,” said Medaloni.
The following week, the winery, like so many other restaurants and breweries, was shut down. Medaloni has seen his sales plummet in the past six weeks as the winery is only open for wine pickup or online sales.
“It’s been a scary situation. We are to reinvent the wheel by doing Zoom tastings every Monday at 5:30 p.m.,” said Medaloni.
While Medaloni Cellars is still open Wednesday through Sunday for pickup orders, Yadkin Valley Wine Tours is not. The business has been around for more than 17 years.
“Governor Cooper - on March 17th - pretty much shut us down,” said owner John Byrd.
The tour company has lost more than 25 bookings since the Executive Order went into effect. While the wineries can have people stop by to pick up a bottle or case of wine, the tour company caters to small or large groups who want to sit in the tasting room and drink the wines while strolling the fields.
“With this order in place, we are not able to conduct business, and it doesn’t really have to be this way,” said Byrd.
The longtime tour operator has had several conversations with the ABC Board about opening wineries up to a small number of people much like farms. All the wineries have at least five acres of space to allow for social distancing.
“It’s (Executive Order) affecting my business and I’m not being given a fair shake when it comes to our business being able to function,” said Byrd.
Tours are often booked months in advance, and Byrd has already started to have people cancel tours for June. At this point, it’s also difficult to book tours when it’s still unclear when the vineyards will reopen to large groups of people.
“We have reserves set aside. However, they’re only going to last so long, and the longer this goes, the more we dig into that,” said Byrd.
While many retailers are preparing to open their doors later this week, the wineries will remain closed aside from letting people pick up bottles. That’s more than 50 wineries that are not allowed to have tastings and events on the property.
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