YADKINVILLE
When husband and wife Michael and Amy Helton opened Hanover Park Vineyard 10 years ago, theirs was the first winery in Yadkin County since the days of Prohibition.
Today, they have lots of company. Their winery is one of 14 in Yadkin County.
"We have more in this county than any county in the state," Michael said.
Bobby Todd, the executive director of the Yadkin County Chamber of Commerce, considers the Heltons pioneers. Seeing them succeed has inspired others, he said.
The Heltons were both working full time as teachers when the winery opened July 1, 2000, and, in the years since, they have used their teaching skills by offering to let people interested in learning the business see how things work at Hanover Park.
"They get a good feeling for what they are going to jump into," Michael said.
One of the first things that the Heltons tell them is how much work growing grapes and making wine is going to be.
"In the beginning, we are very serious about focusing on the problems," Michael said. "If you don't have a passion for it, there are a lot of easier ways to make more money."
"They have been trying to discourage me for months now," said Chris Bolcato who has been working with the Heltons.
The Heltons are so helpful, Bolcato said, that he sometimes hesitates to ask a question.
"He will stop what he is doing to explain," Bolcato said.
A level of work that suits them
How much work a winery can be may only fully register when people start their own. Amy remembers the day one man who had worked with them drove up, rolled down the window and jokingly said, "I hate you."
"The first thing out of my mouth was, ‘I told you,'" she said.
The Heltons -- who have retired from teaching -- do have the necessary passion, and, over time, they have found the right level for themselves. In the beginning, they were growing enough grapes on six acres to make about 500 cases of wine. At the time, Michael -- who oversees the winemaking while Amy oversees the marketing -- envisioned eventually expanding production to perhaps 3,000 cases a year.
At first, they headed in that direction. They added two more acres of grapes to the six they were already growing. They also bought grapes from other growers; and there was a year when they ended up with enough grapes to produce those 3,000 cases of wine.
They realized that was too much. They no longer buy grapes from other growers, which gives Michael, 64, more control over the wine he makes, and they produce 1,500 to 2,000 cases of wine a year.
They like operating the winery at a level that enables them -- with some help from the women who work part time in the tasting room and the men who spend time with them to learn the business -- to keep it going as a mostly two-person operation.
"We feel good about where we are," said Amy, who turned 55 the day of the winery's 10th anniversary.
Customers are now friends
When someone steps into the restored farmhouse that houses the tasting room, Amy and Pearl -- the Heltons' Cavalier King Charles Spaniel -- are there to greet them. And, if visitors have any questions that Michael would be better equipped to handle, he can come in to talk to them or they can go find him wherever he is working.
"They are going to meet the owners," Michael Helton said.
People who have stopped by to taste have become friends.
"Many of the people we first met as customers, we have been to their homes," Amy said.
Both Heltons were art teachers -- Amy taught at Forsyth Country Day School and Michael taught in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County high schools. Some of Michael's larger paintings hang on the walls of the building where he ages wine in oak barrels, and some of his pictures grace the labels of their wines.
It's been a while since he has painted any new pictures.
"I'm doing liquid art now," he said.
kunderwood@wsjournal.com
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