Chris Denesha, pleb urban winery
Expanding and Protecting our High Country Vineyards to New Varietals
Grant Award: $6,000
Working with a network of farmers, Extension agents and academic researchers, Chris’s goal is to establish western North Carolina as a unique and promising wine producing region. Chris has planted 647 new vines, adding three new species to the current vineyard. He also installed an 8 foot perimeter fence to protect the vineyard from wildlife, which has been significantly impacting harvest yields in the past two years.
The new varieties will allow the winery in Asheville to make higher quality and more consistent wine for the region. Since 2017, the winery’s production goals have increased each year, but the projected need for the future requires more locally grown grapes. Not only will this project help to meet that demand, it will also serve as an example to educate small and large growers to alternate options for grape growing in WNC.
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