Shadow Springs Vineyard: 20 Years From Tobacco Land to Wine, Cider, and Spirits

Shadow Springs Vineyard: 20 Years From Tobacco Land to Wine and Spirits

Shadow Springs Vineyard exists because its founder, Chuck, missed one too many of his sons’ baseball games. He left his corporate job and moved the family back to North Carolina to start a vineyard, planting four acres of Merlot and Cabernet Franc on old tobacco land in the spring of 2005. The tasting room opened with the winery’s first vintage in the summer of 2008, and the vineyard has since grown to nearly eleven acres of red and white grapes.

That family-first, no-pretension founding story still shapes how the winery describes itself today. Shadow Springs makes a point of calling out that there is “no stuffy atmosphere, no pretentious founders, and no intimidating wine jargon” in its tasting room — a direct reflection of Chuck’s own reason for starting the place, which was to build something the whole family could be part of rather than a formal wine business.

In 2011, the family purchased the old Buck Shoals Vineyard & Winery from the Crater family — a property just half a mile down the road — and turned it into Windsor Run Cellars, a 15,000-square-foot winemaking facility. Today that building produces wine for Brandon Hills Vineyard, Divine Llama Vineyards, Sanders Ridge, Medaloni Cellars, Point Lookout Vineyards, and Roaring River Vineyards, in addition to Shadow Springs and Windsor Run themselves. When North Carolina passed a 2015 law allowing craft distilleries to sell directly to customers on-site, the team launched WRC Distillery, producing small-batch spirits including White Widow, Killer Bee, and Shadow Hawk. Shadow Springs recently celebrated its 20th anniversary — a milestone the family says most small wineries never reach.

The Wines of Shadow Springs Vineyard

Shadow Springs describes itself as “a traditional winery with a decidedly non-traditional attitude” — no stuffy atmosphere, no wine jargon, just wines built for classic dry drinkers and sweeter palates alike. Current releases include a Tangled Oak Blanc (Chardonnay-Chardonel blend aged in French oak and brandy barrels), a Stainless Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Seyval Blanc, dry Rosé, Cabernet Franc, and Chambourcin, generally priced in the mid-$20s to $30 range per bottle.

The Windsor Run connection matters here beyond ownership history. Because the same 15,000-square-foot facility produces wine for half a dozen labels in the immediate area, Shadow Springs’ winemaking team has an unusually deep, hands-on familiarity with this specific stretch of Yadkin Valley terroir — they are literally making the wine for several of the neighboring tasting rooms you might also visit on the same trip.

Planning Your Visit

Address: 5543 Crater Road, Hamptonville, NC 27020
Tasting Room: Wednesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm; Sunday, 1pm – 5pm (January – February, weekends only)
Reservations: Not required for groups of six or fewer

• Wine Flight — choose four wines, 2 oz pours each, served with a stemless glass, $16.
• Cellar Select Tasting — a pour of the winery’s four best wines (two reds, one white, and a Blanc de Blanc sparkling), with your choice of a red or rosé/sparkling Riedel glass, $30.
• Large Group Tastings — available for groups larger than six with at least 24 hours’ notice; reservations cannot be made past 3:30pm and are not guaranteed for groups arriving more than 30 minutes late.

A few practical notes we have learned from bringing groups here: no outside alcohol is permitted, and reservations for larger groups need to be locked in the day before rather than the morning of. The tasting room is genuinely relaxed — bring a picnic lunch and settle in. Because Shadow Springs sits on the Swan Creek Vineyards wine trail alongside several sibling wineries produced at Windsor Run, we budget at least 90 minutes here, more if your group wants to walk over to Windsor Run Cellars as well.

Where Shadow Springs Fits in Your Tour Route

Shadow Springs sits right in the middle of a cluster of Hamptonville-area wineries, with Windsor Run Cellars literally half a mile away and Dobbins Creek Vineyards and Laurel Gray Vineyards just a short drive further. This makes Hamptonville one of the easiest pockets of the Yadkin Valley to build a tight, no-backtracking route around.

Plan on roughly 1.5 hours per winery plus drive time. Shadow Springs opens at 10am most of the year, so it works well as a first stop before moving on to neighboring tasting rooms that open at 11am or noon.

Explore More from Ashe County Livery

• Yadkin Valley Wine Tours — Explore NC’s premier wine region
• High Country Wine Tours — Mountain winery service
• Wedding Transportation — Luxury transportation for your big day
• Airport Transfers — CLT, AVL, GSO & TRI
• Request a free quote — or call (336) 484-1350

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