Local amateur wine makers craft medal-worthy libations

 Don and Margie Widener, left, Jim and Teresa Newton, and Terry and Cathy Way won a combined 17 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 13 bronze medals for their homemade wines at the Tennessee Viticultural & Oenological Society Amateur Wine Competition. Ned Jilton II photo.

Jim and Teresa Newton of Kingsport took 22 bottles of their best wines to the 2009 Tennessee Viticultural & Oenological Society Amateur Wine Competition at the end of January in Nashville. They walked away with 21 winners — eight gold, nine silver and four bronze — including one best of show.

The Newtons, along with friends and fellow wine makers Terry Way, also of Kingsport, and Don and Margie Widener, of Meadowview, Va., entered a total of 49 bottles in the competition.

Their wines — sporting names like Redneck Rosé, Pappy’s Special Blend, Tremendous Trio, Fantastic Four, Stoney Point Red and Beginner’s Luck — won a combined 17 gold medals, 15 silver medals, and 13 bronze medals. Each one also had a best of show winner.

Way was the first of the group to learn the art of wine making, mentored by the late Harry Westcott in 1995. He entered the next TVOS competition.

“The first year, with Harry’s help, I won a bronze with one bottle,” he said. The wine, a Vidal Blanc, has since brought him gold.

Within a few years, Way had indoctrinated the Newtons and the Wideners. Widener didn’t have a taste for wine; he was more interested in learning to grow grapes. But wine making was a hobby that he and his wife could do together.

For all three couples, wine making is an enjoyable hobby, and they say that turning it into a business would take the fun out of it. They’re content to enjoy each other’s company, whether they’re picking grapes, traveling to competitions, or vacationing together in California’s wine country.

“It’s just for the fun, the memories and enjoying the fellowship,” Jim Newton said.

“What’s sad is we tell each other our secrets, then we compete against each other,” Way added.

While they grow some of their own grapes, they purchase what they need from growers throughout the area.

“French hybrids and Native American [grapes] are disease-resistant and you can grow them around here,” Way said.

“Once you start them, it takes about three years to produce,” Cathy Way added.

Through trial and error — and with the help of recipes — they’ve learned how to manage the amounts of sugar, acidity, tannin and pectin in the fruits and berries they work with. They’ve learned to stabilize, sweeten and bottle the wine.

Each couple have their own label — Rhea Valley Wines for the Wideners, Rocky Ridge Wines for the Newtons, and Shadyside Wines for the Ways.

Wine makers are busy from September to December, when the grapes are ready to be harvested.

“In the off season — January to September — you might not spend one day a week messing with it,” Way said.

The production of homemade wine has been legal since 1978, when it was authorized by federal law. Federal regulations allow a person living in a home by himself to make up to 100 gallons (600 bottles) of wine per year, and two or more people in the home to make up to 200 gallons per year.

Jim Newton entered his first TVOS competition in 2001, winning medals for both his blackberry and strawberry wines. Don Widener followed suit shortly after, bringing home a gold and bronze. In 2004, Widener won his first best of show.

At the 2009 competition, 32 contestants brought more than 200 entries. Judges from the American Wine Society awarded 41 gold medals, 45 silver and 59 bronze. Way was honored with the Tennessee Appellation Award, while the Newtons were awarded best of show sweet and the Wideners best of show dry.

Organized in 1973, the TVOS is devoted to the art and science of grape growing (viticulture), and wine making (oenology). There are more than 270 members mostly from Tennessee, though 10 other states are represented.

Way has served on the TVOS board of directors and is a past president. He also serves as the organization’s newsletter editor.

The wine competition coincided with the First Tennessee Horticultural Expo, which marked the initial meeting of six horticultural organizations under one roof — the Tennessee Fruit and Vegetable Association; TVOS; the Tennessee Farm Winegrowers Association; the American Wine Society Southeast Region; the Tennessee Flower Growers’ Association; and the Tennessee Farmers Market Association.

Other winners from Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia were Larry Curtis of Johnson City and Darren Curtis of Gray, 10 entries — three gold, four silver and two bronze; Jim and Peggy DeBerry of Greeneville, one entry — one silver; Michael Dunn of Kingsport, three entries — one gold, one silver; Bobby Harrell of Rogersville, 12 entries — two gold, one silver, four bronze; Greg and Carol Salyer of Kingsport, 12 entries — one gold, one silver, six bronze; Charles Vincent of Rutledge, nine entries — two gold, two silver, one bronze; and Jim and Barbara Walton of Chilhowie, Va., six entries — two gold, one silver, three bronze.