The Winery at Iron Gate Farm
The Harrells turned their tired tobacco farm in to a thriving vineyard. Debbie and Gene Harrell purchased an old tobacco farm in Mebane North Carolina with the hopes of having a respectable winery. They wanted The Rock House Farm to be an inspiration to the community. And most certainly that is what has happened.
Come around for Halloween and you can compete in a pumpkin hurling contest. There'll be more activities and plenty of good stories to swap. The Harrell's land is beautiful but only cause they put out some back breaking effort to clear the undergrowth and expose the lake. Now the lake is a source of entertainment and social activities. Some folks get married there and others will have family reunions.
No two ways about it, starting a vineyard is scary and very labor intensive. Debbie says in her diary that she lost count of how many times they pulled some post out of the ground cause it wouldn't square up correctly. When they planted the first vines in 2001, it dropped 20 degrees in a short time and then started snowing hard. There were many challenges in the NC clay soil and some spots just aren't fit to hold life.
Debbie and Gene spoke to the farmer who had previously rented some areas on that land in which to plant crops. He told them that he knew all the good planting areas. Their first location turned out to be the hard grey clay that won't hold nothing but water and then bake your roots in winter. It's too costly to amed on such a large level. So they went on up their land and located a spot that is just right.
They are serious about protecting their grapes from marauding animals. The charged fences are high to keep deer out and secured to the ground to keep out raccoons. It's also netted to keep the birds out. You can tell that each grape is a pride and joy. Debbie told me that her grapes had been picked and were up for the winter. She must be feeling that Autumn is going to be rainy and cold as most everyone is predicting.
I enjoyed my day nosin
