Shelton Vineyards

The Shelton brothers, Charlie and Ed, grew up in North Carolina and spent boyhood summers on their grandparents land near Mt. Airy in the northern Piedmont. Agriculturally, the region was devoted to tobacco growing. The Sheltons acquired the land in 1994.

Their interest in wine began as a hobby, a sort of adjunct to a very successful construction business. The hobby grew more serious as they recognized the area’s potential for winegrowing. As modern pioneers of the Yadkin Valley, the Sheltons broke ground on the winery in 1999 and have been in the forefront of Carolina’s young wine industry ever since. Focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Viognier and other varieties, Shelton boasts a showplace winery in Dobson. The 383-acre estate has 200 acres under vine.

Shelton’s 2004 Merlot, with seven percent Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, is medium-bodied, smooth and berryish in flavor -- an attractive quaff, lean in structure but with appealing flavor. A smaller quantity of 2004 Reserve Merlot, now sold out, was even more impressive, with greater concentration and length.

Reviewed January 9, 2007 by Barbara Ensrud.