Drive about 20 minutes down Hwy 14 or 280 West and you will come to one of the two local vineyards the area has to offer. Whippoorwill Vineyards in Notasulga and Hodges Vineyards in Camp Hill are open to the public for wine tastings, purchases, events and more.

Whippoorwill Vineyards has been in business since 2009. Tim Watkins said his father acquired the 15 acres the vineyard sits on about 15 years ago. His father didn’t have any plans for the land and Watkins hoped he could convince him to not let the land go to waste. Watkins threw out the idea of putting some cows on the land, but his idea was shot down with several others.

“There were three things he wasn’t going to do,” Watkins said. “That was raise cows, chickens and cotton. He said he had enough of that growing up.”
After several more suggestions, Watkins said he was still trying to find some use for the land when he was reading an issue of “Progressive Farmer.”

“I got an issue that had an article in it and it targeted three farmers. Each farm had three crops that was normally grown: corn, tobacco and dairy,” Watkins said. “Times were rough and basically all three of them were fixing to go under. So, they diversified their farm and planted vines. It made an alternative crop that was a fast turnaround. They took that money off that fast turnaround and it helped saved the farm, basically.”

Watkins and his father had both made their own wine throughout the years. His father had several muscadine vines in his back yard and after reading the “Progressive Farmer” article, Watkins decided he would plant some of his own muscadine vines on the empty land.

“What started as a few turned into a lot,” Watkins said.

Watkins, along with his father and brother-in-law, Chad Ledbetter, worked together to plant the vines. They spent so much time in the field that often they would get caught in the rain. So, Watkins’ father built them shelter in the form of a shed. A few vines soon turned into many vines and the guys decided to try and turn it into a business.

“When we decided to build the winery we were going to do it on the main highway out there, but then I got to thinking that really a winery needs to be where the vineyard’s at,” Watkins said.

The guys decided the shed Watkins’ father built for shelter would be added on to and turned into a tasting room and Whippoorwill Vineyards was born.

Watkins did a lot of research on making wine and growing muscadines. Although he had experience in making wine, he had never done so on a large scale.

“I used to have to pour out five gallons of wine because it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be,” Watkins said. “And pouring out five gallons is a lot different than pouring out 500 gallons.”

In 2008, Whippoorwill Vineyards, named after the bird by the same name that frequents the property, had its first harvest. The vineyard started off offering five wines and throughout the years has added more. Now the vineyard offers around 10 different wines that range from Lenior and Noble to Cynthiana and Regale.

Most of the wines are muscadine wines, straight varieties and blends, with a few made from local grapes and berries. A lot of the wines are made based off of customers' requests. Bottles range from $7.99 to $16.99.

The vineyard also sells custom made baskets, jelly, wine accessories, local goat cheese, cheese balls and more.

Watkins’ sister, Amy, also works at the vineyard and makes many of the cheese balls herself.

“It started off just being hospitable and it got to the point where people were asking for them,” she said.

Whippoorwill Vineyard, located at 4282 County Road 31 in Notasulga, is open Mondays and Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tastings are free. For more, visit whippoorwillvineyards.com.

Hodges Vineyards, located at 230 Lee Road 71 in Camp Hill, has been open since April. Earl and Elke Hodges bought the land about five years ago and since their son had always wanted to make wine, they decided to turn it into a vineyard.

Vineyard Manager Rachel Meriwether said at the moment the vineyard is mostly using juice and local produce to create the wines since the vineyard is still young. Muscadines and grapes are planted and the vineyard did grow enough Syrah grapes this year to crush and make wine.

“In vineyard terms we are incredibly young still,” Meriwether said. “Five years is sort of the minimum amount of time you could expect to start from scratch and then be actually capable of providing a product to the public.”

But Meriwether and the Hodges have big plans for the vineyard, which sits on 60 acres. They are in the process of planning upcoming events and are also hoping to be a future location for weddings and more.

“Eventually they hope to have it be a venue where you would have weddings and maybe cabins where you can come and stay on game day weekends and stuff like that,” Meriwether said. “That’s sort of their long term plan.”

Meriwether, who has a masters in horticulture from Auburn, added that she has her own plans for the land.

“We have so much room here we can grow all sorts of other things,” Meriwether said. “I definitely have plans for a vegetable garden and come spring time we can hopefully start having more events.”

Other than the fruit for the fruit wines, Meriwether said Hodges plans to be self-sufficient. The fruit will also be bought locally.

Hodges Vineyards opened the tasting room in June and are open for free tastings from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Hodges offers white wines that include a Semi-Sweet Carlos and a Sweet Carlos, reds that include a Semi-dry Noble, Semi-Sweet Noble and Syrah, and fruit wines that include Blackberry, Apple and Blueberry. Prices for bottles are $10.95. The vineyard also sells wine glasses, jam, gift baskets, jewelry, gifts for the wine connoisseur and various pottery and antiques.

Meriwether said customers can come buy a bottle of wine and hang out at the vineyard as long as they would like. If interested, the wine making process can even be explained.

These two vineyards are the only two within close driving distance from Auburn. Meriwether said that the lack of vineyards in the area can most likely be explained by a disease that makes it almost impossible to grow old world grapes in the south.

Vitis vinifera, the species of grape that produces wines such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, almost always dies of a disease called Pierce’s Disease in the south.

“That grape gets this disease and muscadines don’t,” Meriwether said.

Dr. Elina Coneva, a horticulture professor at Auburn, is working with genetic breeders in California to create a resistant grape variety. It will take several years to see the outcome of these vines. In the meantime, Meriwether said anyone is invited out to tour the property at Hodges and check out the different variety of muscadines and grapes growing on the property.

For more on Hodges Vineyards, find them on Facebook.