Andrews – FernCrest Winery celebrated N.C. Wine Month with a cheese and wine pairing over the Memorial Day weekend featuring Ashe County cheeses.
Curated by owner Jan Olson, the winery will feature the paring as part of the month-long wine celebration of all things viticulture in North Carolina. Celebrating their 10th year of operation, the Olsons are rooted and committed to the state’s wine community.
“We’re part of the N.C. Wine producers and growers and attend meetings every year. We’re also part of the Upper Hiawassee-Highlands American Viticulture Area, which promotes local wineries both in western North Carolina and north Georgia,” she said.
Olson said the process has been both challenging and rewarding over the last decade.
“We support other wineries in the area and when we came into the area and decided to open the tasting room we found that support from the larger community,” she said.
The Olsons opened FernCrest in 2014, with an initial tasting room opening in 2016, and realized that they both had their work cut out for them.
Jan said the couple divvies up duties so “we each have our focus, but we can also help each other out with what needs to be done. I primarily run the tasting room and our social media and attend various local and regional festivals, while Kurt handles stocking, the vineyard and winery, and then we each help with the bottling process.”
That process can become an extensive and intensive workout with not only their own acreage of grapes grown, but also the buying of local grapes as well from other growers and wineries.
“We buy as many local grapes as we can source. We have about seven vineyard we purchase from, from Weaversville to Dahlonega (Ga.), and we either help pick and harvest or we drop off bins, which we then pick up after the harvest,” Jan said.
That range has helped the couple produce nine award-winning wines in the past and this year Olson is particularly excited about the Chamberson.
“We had a really good year for those and they were picked at their peak ripeness with the high heat and so we’ll be doing a blend to replace our Resurrection. We’ll be entering more of our wines into competitions this year as well,” she said.
“It was a good year for whites, so we’ll still be deciding what to enter as the deadlines draw near. Everything was just right last season for those, so we’re looking forward to the results.”
Those results can take anywhere from up to two years to produce their red wines, which is also a balance in learning patience and having a good supply on hand when dealing with differences in climate and weather.
Olson added that she’s excited to have an event at the winery for the N.C. Wine month celebration, since many events are geared more toward High Country wineries of Yadkin and other counties, and further east toward Charlotte and Raleigh.
“We’re a smaller market out here in the western part of the state, but there are more growers here than most people would imagine,” Olson said.
Apart from supporting those more low-key local producers, FernCrest also helps foster community by holding a “Locals Night Out” from 3:30-6:30 p.m. Thursdays.
“Everyone brings a dish or snack and we enjoy some good food and friendship each week while catching up and sharing good times,” Jan said. “We welcome newcomers to the area along with our established crew to see what the area has to offer.”
Not only does the tasting room offer a feast of fellowship and local goods, like Garnet Gals’ jams and jellies, but Olson also curates personalized gift baskets. In addition, the room displays works for sale by local artists Tom Vogler and Melissa Haskill.
FernCrest is open seasonally from 12:30-6:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 12:30-5:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from late April to December at 1060 Main St. The month-long celebration is a program administered by the N.C. Wine & Grape Council.
Details: Visit ferncrestwinery.com/home.html and ncwine.org.