MAYNARDVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — It’s been a decade in the making, and Union County is finally seeing its first winery.
It’s just a small part of an even bigger plan to bring some major tourism dollars into rural East Tennessee.
Nikki Riddle owns the Winery at Seven Springs Farm.
“My aunt and uncle planted a vineyard out in Blaine. We used to make wine in the garage and it was so much fun,” said Riddle.
Now, she’s running a brand new winery with five acres of vineyards in Maynardville.
“You know, you just come out at the crack of dawn and just pick until it’s done,” she said.
Her brother James grows other crops on the farm.
“There’s four of us. My mom, dad my sister and me. My sister owns the winery, my dad does the crafting and my mom helps me with the farmer’s market.”
Together they have Seven Springs Farm. Bought by the Riddles 10 years ago they make wine, raise cattle and grow several different fruits and vegetables.
“The property came up and it was a dream come true,” said James.
Every building on the property is built from wood found on the farm.
Now, they’re opening the winery for the first time and along with it a wine trail called the Thunder Road Wine Trail.
“Since we’re on Thunder Road we thought that would be a good idea,” said Rick Riddle, founder of the trail.
Just like the Thunder Road movie, this trail is stacked around where the movie took place. It features 6 different wineries starting in Knoxville and going all the way to the North Carolina border.
“Tourism is a very important industry to Tennessee, but we see a lot of that focused on Nashville, focused on Gatlinburg and Sevierville. What we want to do is focus some of that in rural Appalachia,” said Rick.
“It’s a good ways. It’s take about three days to complete the trail,” he said.
For these winemakers, they’re out in their vineyards working every day of the year and each vintner has a unique style.
This hard work is for more than just wine. They’re hoping to change tourism in Tennessee.
“It exposes you to some of what we think is the best rural Tennessee and rural Appalachia,” said Rick.
“You do something different everyday so it’s really fun,” said Nikki.
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