“A bottle of Silk Hope wine is fitting for any Carolina occasion, from fine dining to an afternoon picnic, from vegetarian cuisine to a backyard pig-picking.”

I expected a vineyard straight out of a Napa Valley postcard. What my friend and I pulled up to was a metallic tube, a climate-proof, above ground cellar at the foot of rolling grape-filled hills. 

The owner/planter/vintner/sommelier/host was the only one there. Wally Butler was his name. He had a silver-streaked ponytail that said, “My office is God’s green earth. I punch in and out when the sun tells me to. Mother Nature is my boss. I make wine.”

I’m no oenophile, even if I can use the word properly in a sentence. Only recently have I begun to really taste wine, to notice the subtle variations beyond color and general category.

That said, our white sheets of tasting notes listed varieties I had never heard of. If anyone ever tells you the only grape that grows in North Carolina is the Muscadine, they haven’t been to Silk Hope.

There was Chambourcin. A French-American Hybrid. The French consider it “inferior”, but they’re missing out. It makes a red perfect for white wine drinkers or a voluptuous white with depth the color of rosewater and scotch.

Vidal Blanc. A hybrid of the Trebbiano and Rayon d’Or grapes. It’s sharp, like a clean sword going down your throat.

Traminette. My favorite. A child of Gewürztraminer (AKA Riesling) and a French something or other. It tastes like Goethe had an affair with a Southern Belle, all syrupy sweet talk and sharp wit.

We tasted and talked for three hours. About the troubles of lingering Blue Laws and a rigid mentality. About how the NC Wine industry has grown from 8 wineries to well over 40. About how Wally’s son is starting a mushroom farm.

Before we left, my friend and I split a case of wine and grabbed brochure of all the wineries in the state. Little ones. Big ones. All of ‘em, just waiting for us to arrive.

The Silk Hope Winery
2601 Silk Hope Gum Springs Rd
Pittsboro, NC 27312-6957
(919) 545-5696