Our vineyard's name was coined fourteen years before it was planted. It was a snowy winter night with new snow on the meadow hill- perfect for sleigh riding. A bon fire roared at the top of the sledding hill and around it stood neighborhood kids, our youth minister and his wife, the music minister. I'm not sure why we wanted to name the hill but she used her professional music training to dream up the word Medley to represent our love of music. The word Meadow created alliteration and was obvious. It was just a whim but the name stuck- Medley Meadows.
After our first planting in April 1999, Frank, the youth minister returned to bless the newly planted vineyard. He welcomed friends and family with true Southern Baptist charm, invoked the spirits of the four winds, a Native American custom, and finished with the Jewish farewell- Shalom. Songs were shared, wine flowed, and our dream of another generation to work the family farm became reality.
Music on the farm has always been around and offered Randy an opportunity as a boy to hear his uncle Joe play traditional songs on the fiddle and his aunt Bessie on the banjo. Randy joined in on the guitar; learned to sing and developed his vocal chords so much that local farmers visiting would comment, "look at the neck on that boy". Another musical influence was The Fiddle & Bow Folk Music Society in Winston-Salem. He performed for Fiddle & Bow Radio Show during its run on WFDD-FM, performed at Folk Fest at Reynolda House and during the '80's at Carolina Streetscene. However, over time, musical life slowed, then stopped. Life just happened.
The "left brained day job" took its toll. During a reprimand session of a subordinate, Randy was asked to keep his back to the door and be ready to run because the subordinate employee was violent. That was the last straw. Fortunately, nothing happened but after 15 years, we both made a drastic life-style change with the help of a life coach and family. Randy quit his day job, went back to school and started his own vineyard business. He also re-found his muse.
Now, Randy and his cousins Matt and Eli Myers, 20 years younger and from a different generation, play music together and have in the past year become an item in NC happening music venues. The blend of electric bass, digital drums and keyboards along with acoustic 6 and 12 string Guild guitars though a processor, offer a contemporary folk sound all it's own. Randy's thoughtful lyrics incorporate many timeless symbols to paint portraits of finding the eternal amid the temporal. After the grape harvest this year, Randy plans to return to the studio to record his second album.
We continue to dream like we did around that campfire so many years ago. Since music has always been an integral part of Medley Meadows, it seemed natural to host house concerts. House concerts allow professional traveling musicians to stay in your home in route to other venue destinations and allow hosts to invite friends in to hear great music in intimate settings. We are excited that on July 19, 2003, Medley Meadows Music and Vineyards will host internationally acclaimed Autoharp player, Bryan Bowers as part of the Yadkin Valley Wine Trail. http://www.yvwt.com everyone's welcome! RSVP required at 983-7051. See the web site for details.

The dream of a wine country destination in the Yadkin Valley continues October 10, 2003 with the grand opening of The Old North State Winery during the Mount Airy Autumn Leaves Festival. All grapes from Medley Meadows Vineyards are dedicated to the Old North State Winegrowers Cooperative Association, Inc. which will sell its wine under the Carolina Harvest label. The Cooperative was incorporated in November 2001 and today has fifty member vineyards with an estimated growing capacity of 200 tons of wine grapes.
According to On The Vine http://www.onthevine.net, Carolina's Wine Country newsmagazine, Ed Shelton shared a stunning statistic with the members of the North Carolina Winegrowers Association at this year's annual meeting: "Eleven million people live within a 150-mile radius of the Yadkin Valley. "This could be a billion dollar industry at some point," said Ed, "with a ten year trickle down economic impact of $540 million dollars for the Triad. I'd like to see 50 wineries in ten years. But we need hotels, restaurants, and inns to make this a viable industry. And state functions should pour North Carolina wines." States that have supported their winegrowers, like Virginia, are seeing a thriving industry and the benefits of its success. Bruce Zoecklin, the state's enologist from Virginia Tech, says, "They realized early on that grapes are an important agricultural commodity. Wine provides a rippling effect of economic impact for tourism as well as taxes."

"What's in a name?" Shakespear's Juliet asked. "That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet." Medley Meadows Music and Vineyards - Music, Vineyards, Virtual Space and Time, Romance - tarry here a while. Y'all come! Shalom!