DOBSON
Black Wolf Vineyards in Dobson had some of the Yadkin Valley's most mature grapevines when the vineyard, winery and associated Wolf's Lair Restaurant closed last year.
Now the property is up for public auction, offering an unusual chance for someone to buy an established vineyard.
"It's not very common," said Dale Fulk, of Mount Airy's Rogers Realty & Auction Co. Inc., which is handling the Aug. 20 auction along with Iron Horse Auction Co. Inc. of Rockingham.
"It's almost like a golf course, it's kind of a specialty item," Fulk said. "It needs special marketing."
There's no reserve on the properties, meaning they'll go to the highest bidder.
The sellers have broken the property up into five tracts, all with frontage on the Fisher River. The tracts can be bought separately or together.
Wolf's Lair Restaurant is being offered along with 10 acres, while another 13-acre tract has the winery building, garden house and vineyards.
Other lots also include vineyards, and one property has a two-bedroom log home and 10.5 acres.
The auction will also include winery equipment, restaurant equipment, 57 oak barrels, and a large volume of bottled wine.
The vineyard and restaurant were named for the former owner's breeding wolves. Two of them were stuffed and mounted to keep watch from the balcony when the restaurant was open.
Surry County tax records show that Carolina Farm Credit in Statesville owns the 54.5-acre property, including the restaurant, winery and log home, with a tax value of $1.47 million.
The deed says that the bank was the high bidder at $1.5 million at an Oct. 30, 2009, auction at the Surry County Courthouse after the previous owner defaulted.
John Byrd, the owner of Yadkin Valley Wine Tours, said that the Yadkin Valley wine area and its 30 vineyards are a growth industry and that the demise of Black Wolf Vineyards was not indicative of how the region is faring.
Byrd said that the wine at Black Wolf was OK but not spectacular, and the business seemed to center on the restaurant, while the wine-tasting room was relegated to the second story.
"It seemed like the wine took a backseat to the restaurant," Byrd said.
A 2003 restaurant review in relish, the Winston-Salem Journal's entertainment section, said that the wines weren't as stellar as the food. At that time, the vineyard didn't have its own winery and the wine was made elsewhere.
It was after the previous owner made the expensive capital investment necessary to open the winery that Black Wolf Vineyards folded.
The property is largely covered in trellised grape vines, many of them planted in 1991.
"Their vines were some of the oldest ones we've had in the Yadkin Valley," Byrd said.
"If the right outfit would come in, and get ahold of that property and get the vines back in shape, they could really do something with it."
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
667-5691
For auction details, visit www.ironhorseauction.com .
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