King Family Vineyards

About Winery and Wines

After moving from Houston, Texas, we purchased the original 327 acre farm in 1996. In late 1998, a young man named Tom Vandenberg, knocked on our door and asked if he could lease ten acres for a vineyard. Sparked by his curiosity and research, we did our homework, and soon hired a vineyard consultant. A nursery in California had a few extra vines, so six months of hard work later, our first eight acres of vines had been planted. Initially the plan was to simply sell the fruit, but in the interest of learning as much as possible, we decided to make wine with a portion of the harvest and sell the rest. 480 cases in 2000 became 1,050 cases by 2001, and it all sold! After a quick visit to California for ideas, we designed our winery on the back of a napkin and by October 1, 2002 opened our real, honest-to-goodness winery. Since then both the vineyard and the business have grown.

Sitting at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the vineyard blocks are located between 780 and 820 feet above sea level. Dyke silt loam soil nurtures the fruit and a fractured gravel subsurface provides superior drainage. This is particularly beneficial during challenging, wet seasons and aids in maintaining good concentration, ripeness, and balanced acidity. Throughout the year the vineyard is tended by hand. Leaf pulling, pruning, canopy maintenance, green harvest (limiting the crop to about four tons per acre), and harvest is done by hand. We are proud to utilize best management practices that avoid soil degradation and express the terroir in our grapes.