Who We Are

Welcome to the Appalachian region’s mountain and steep slope wine resource center. We are the first university outreach program in North America whose focus is to help people grow grapes and make wines at mountain altitudes and on steep slopes – and to help them successfully market those wines as well. Based on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, the Center is an information resource for new and existing vineyards and wineries up and down the Appalachian Mountain chain.

Why We Do It

The Center supports a wine industry segment now moving along a road less travelled. But as demand for land for housing continues to put pressure on agricultural land at lower elevations, and as global warming continues to make our formerly cold climate warmer, the mountain and steep slope segment of the wine industry will take on an increasingly significant importance in the U.S wine industry.

Although the number of vineyards at mountain elevations in the U.S. is relatively small, globally it has become an increasingly attractive wine market segment. The Center is set up to be the catalyst that helps develop a vibrant mountain and steep slope wine industry here in the U.S. as well.