FOOD+DRINK
WINE
A FRESH POUR Davidson’s first urban winery makes another pioneering mark: A woman of color owns it
A BISTRO with black and gold lettering on its signs occupies a spot, on Depot Street in Davidson’s historic business district, that once held an organ shop. Since August, it’s been home to a business unique to this college town, owned and operated by someone you wouldn’t expect. It’s Davidson Wine Co., the town’s first “urban winery”—owned, unusually for this field, by an African-American woman, Lindsey Williams. The 37-yearold Ohio native spent more than a decade as a corporate attorney for Wells Fargo before a trip to Europe changed her career. “I went to a wedding in Italy, where we got to tour Tuscany and visit the vineyards,” she says. “I really fell in love with the art of making wine.” She’d lived in Davidson for eight years and hoped to open the town’s first vineyard, but she knew it would be an expensive gamble. So in 2019, she decided to open an urban winery, or “microwinery,” which makes wine but doesn’t grow grapes. Williams operates under a affiliate agreement with a Californiabased company that imports grapes from around the world. Then she has the wine made off-site, about three miles away
DAVIDSON WINE CO.
121 Depot St., Davidson 704-997-5332 davidsonwineco.com
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in Cornelius. Williams says she sees her winery as a kind of answer to people who assume North Carolina cities are just hotbeds for new craft breweries. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many wine drinkers there are here, and that they have been looking for something like my winery in this area,” she says. “North Carolina kind of gets a bad rap, because it’s difficult to grow good grapes here because of the weather.” It’s an unusual place to find black women, too. As of 2019, the global market data firm Statista reported more than 10,000 wineries in the United States— but less than one percent were owned by black women, according to Travel Noire, a digital media company that offers travel tips for black millennials. Williams believes there are so few black women in the industry due to lack of exposure to the business side of wine, and the high cost of it. She says people are often
Lindsey shocked that she owns Williams Davidson Wine Co., opened but she isn’t focused Davidson’s on being a trailblazer. first urban winery in She just embraces the 2019 after outpouring of support a decade as from wine enthusia corporate attorney. asts. “I have received support from other black winemakers across the country and even internationally,” she says. “There’s a great fellowship amongst the black community, especially for this type of thing.” Williams says business has been steady, and at times the line to enter has stretched nearly around the block. Inside, the winery has a cozy, modern feel, with a black bar, gold chairs, and gold organ pipes that hang on the wall in front of the bar. The pipes, owned by former Davidson College music professor Ralph Blakely, honor Blakely Organ Builders, which previously occupied the space.
PETER TAYLOR
BY SHAMEIKA RHYMES
