Valdese Winery carries on ancestors wine-making tradition

Hickory Daily Record
May 2nd, 2001 -- Pages 1D, 8D
by Vicki Greene

Valdese
Freddy Leger is one of four owners of the Villar Vintners of Valdese. His grandfather and father were some of the earliest settlers in Valdese who brought with them a tradition of wine making that Leger, the other owners and the many volunteers at the winery still carry on today.

Villar Vintners of Valdese is an authentic Waldensian winery that began its operation in 1989. The non-profit organization produces a variety of Waldensian Heritage wines and is open year-round from 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday for tours and wine tasting.

Much of Villar Vintner's operation is a manual process that continues year-round, from crushing grapes to fermenting, filtering, blending, bottling and labeling. The motto of the winery is "Life is too short to drink bad wine."

Last fall, the winery transported 16 tons of Concord grapes from New York to Valdese in 55 gallon barrels. The winery also uses Niagara grapes in its wines and produces about 3,000 gallons of wine per year. The grapes are first pumped into large barrels at a temperature of 35 degrees to begin the initial fermentation process.

"We add sugar to the grapes," Leger explained to a group taking a tour of the winery. "This year we added 2,300 pounds of sugar. We also add a little yeast. At this point, it is zero percent alcohol. We want to reverse that. In about 11 days, it goes to zero percent sugar and 12 percent alcohol."

The wine then begins its secondary fermentation process which takes several months to complete. It then goes into cold stabilization for several more months and then a year longer in storage before it is bottled, labeled and sold to the public.

Wines produced by the winery include Burgundy Valdese, representative of the original Waldensian wine made from bunch grapes, Blanc Royale, a traditional white wine, and Piedmont Rose Sweet, a new fruity wine with a delicate bouquet.

One of the ways Leger and the other owners keep the traditions of Waldensian wine-making alive is by using a wheat straw filter around the barrels as they ferment. Also like their ancestors, the wine makers use traditional equipment and techniques and rely on the weather a great deal to insure a good year of wine.

"One of the first things people say as they are on the tour (of the winery) is, if they have been to a larger winery, that we get down to business. They have seen the wineries that have the sensitive equipment that keeps the temperatures set and so forth. Here, if it is too hot, the grapes will ferment too fast and if it is very cold, they won't ferment at all. We are at the mercy of the weather," Leger said.

Leger said almost all of the early Waldensian homes in Valdese had a wine cellar in it. Although the Waldenses left their homeland in the Cottian Alps in Italy because they were running out of land, the land they found in Valdese was not nearly as good for growing grapes.

"You would have to spray the grapes," Leger said as he pointed to a small patch of grapes in the side yard of the winery. "These grapes are for show. We don't really use them in the wines. The soil is the problem here, and there is the possibility of a late frost. The plants also have a short life. We do let people come and pick the grapes."

Leger said operating a winery, particularly in a dry county such as Burke County, can be a challenge, in that there are many regulations the winery must follow to keep its license.

Every dime made by Villar Vintners goes back into its operation. No one at the winery is a paid employee, but rather volunteer because they want to preserve the heritage of early Waldensian wine makers.

Two volunteers, the Dalmas sisters, are both in their late-80s and help out often in bottling the wine. The current winery is located in what was built as a barn on property that belonged to their family.

About 95 percent of the wine sold by Villar Vintners is sold at the winery, although the winery has a small distribution area extending to Hickory. New signs the Department of Transportation and the winery have put up on Interstate 40 have increased visits from travelers from other states, Leger said.

Leger said that in addition to maintaining Villar Vintners, the winery supports the other historical preservation groups in Valdese. As the Trail of Faith works to complete a model of the Refour House, an exhibit of an early style of home built by the first settlers, the winery is contributing to the wine cellar portion of the home, adding a wine barrel that was original to the original Refour House.

"We hope the people here will keep it going," said Leger of the culture of the people of Valdese. "There is a lot more that could be done."
Reach Vicki Greene at (828) 322-4510, Ext. #249 or vgreene@hickoryrecord.com.

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