Everyone knows Yadkin Valley when they think North Carolina wine. Fewer people know about the stretch of Randolph County tucked into the foothills of the Uwharrie Mountains — and honestly, that’s part of the appeal. We’re heading out this weekend to taste through two of the wineries putting this area on the map, and wanted to lay out why the region itself is worth the drive before we get into individual reviews.
Not an AVA — And That’s Worth Knowing
We’ll say this upfront because a lot of sites gloss over it: Randolph County isn’t part of any federally designated American Viticultural Area (AVA). North Carolina has six established AVAs, and the closest one, Haw River Valley, runs its boundary along the Randolph County line rather than into it. So if you see a winery here marketed under an AVA name, that’s not accurate.
What Randolph County has instead is something a little more grassroots — a handful of independent, family-run vineyards that built their own reputation without an official designation to lean on. In some ways that makes the region more interesting to explore, since every winery here is making its own case for why the land is worth planting.
What Makes the Land Work
The Uwharrie Mountains are among the oldest mountain ranges in North America, and the foothills that spill out from them give this stretch of the Piedmont some real topographic variation — rolling elevation changes, well-drained soils, and the kind of long, humid growing season that’s turned much of this part of the state from tobacco country into vineyard country over the past few decades. That transition is a recurring theme here: several of the region’s vineyards, including Native Son, sit on former tobacco and dairy land that’s been replanted since the 2000s.
The region also produces a genuinely wide range of wine styles, which is part of what makes it worth a full day of tasting rather than a single stop:
- Muscadine specialists like Native Son Vineyard, working exclusively with native Southern varieties (Noble, Carlos, Magnolia, Summit) — a style that’s distinctly regional and doesn’t show up much outside the Southeast.
- Vinifera growers like Zimmerman Vineyards, Randolph County’s first commercial vineyard, which planted European wine-grape varieties in 2001 and now grows all its fruit on-site (the wine itself is produced off-site at Childress Vineyards in Lexington).
That combination — native muscadine on one end, classic vinifera on the other, within a fifteen-minute drive of each other — isn’t something you get in a lot of single-AVA wine regions where everyone’s often working with a narrower set of varieties.
Two Wineries We’re Visiting This Weekend
Native Son Vineyard (Franklinville) — A former dairy pasture and tobacco farm replanted in muscadine vines starting in 2009, with their first commercial crush in 2011. Small, family-run, open Friday through Sunday by appointment. Learn more at https://nativesonvineyard.godaddysites.com/
Zimmerman Vineyards (Trinity) — Randolph County’s first commercial vineyard, planted in 2001 on land the Zimmerman family has held since 1987. Vinifera-focused, with views of the Uwharrie Mountains from the tasting terrace, and a wedding/event side of the business alongside the wine. Learn more at https://www.zimmermanvineyards.net/
Full individual reviews of both are coming soon — we’ll cover the tasting rooms, what we poured, and our honest take on each.
Planning a Visit
Both wineries are within about 15–20 minutes of each other, making this an easy day trip if you’re coming from Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or the Triangle. Neither is open daily — check hours before you go, and if you want a tour rather than just a tasting, call ahead, since smaller operations like these often run tours by appointment only.
We taste and review wine clubs and wineries firsthand — no paid placements, no fluff. Browse our full winery directory for more North Carolina picks.
