The Wine Guy
Bruce Heye teaches wine classes at Salem College, hosts wine tastings, and consults with restaurants on their wine lists. www.bruceheyethewineguy.com
Mark Terry and Lillian Kroustalis from our September/October 2013 article on Westbend.
The End of an Era It was a perfect summer day in late August with the temperature about 82 degrees when I attended an auction of the vineyard, buildings and equipment at the Westbend Vineyards and Brewhouse in Lewisville. This was a sad day for the people attending since Westbend was the very first vineyard in North Carolina planted with European-style grapes such as Merlot and Chardonnay. In the early 1970s Jack and Lillian Kroustalis had purchased several acres of land in western Forsyth County and planted wine grapes, against all advice from agricultural experts. This was quite a risk at the time because there were no other vineyards with European-style grape vines in the state and very few on the East Coast. As the vines matured, the Kroustalises began to sell grapes to others who would make the wine so it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that they even considered producing their own wine. By 1989, they had made the decision to hire a full-time winemaker and convinced Steve Shepard, who at the time was making wine in Pennsylvania, to move with his family and help make Westbend one of North Carolina’s finest wineries. This decision proved very fortunate as Steve turned out to be one of the most influential winemakers in the state, helping to grow the wine industry in North Carolina. The wine community is a very sharing business and grows because everyone wants to help make it stronger by producing quality wine, as Steve’s influence demonstrates. In those early years the Westbend vineyard was expanded to its present size of 41 acres, and Westbend began receiv70
Yadkin Valley Living Magazine
ing awards for its quality wines. It was in 1993 when they got their first national recognition. Robert M. Parker wrote, “One of the South’s best kept secrets is Westbend Vineyards in Louisville [sic], North Carolina.” This acknowledgment from the world’s best-known wine critic was proof Jack and Lillian had made the right decisions in planting their vineyards in Forsyth County and hiring an experienced winemaker like Steve. As the years passed, the winery continued to produce outstanding wines. But when Steve left Westbend after 10+ years to start a new winery project, Westbend had several different winemakers until Mark Terry was hired. Mark came from Long Island and had many years of wine-making experience. The year 2006 was not a good one for Westbend. After a long illness Jack Kroustalis passed away. His funeral service was held at the local Greek Orthodox Church and everyone who was anyone in the North Carolina wine business was there to pay respects to the pioneer who made it all possible. Jack’s widow carried on with the business and could be seen almost every day at the tasting room greeting visitors. With Mark Terry as the winemaker, Westbend expanded its operation by increasing the size of the tasting room and patio to accommodate the many visitors who made this one of the prime stops on any Yadkin Valley wine tour. Several years ago they even decided to respond to the craft beer craze by equipping a brewhouse and even planting hops in the vineyard for the beer production. ya d ki n va l l e y l iv i n g . co m