- John Ezzard

Dr. John Ezzard started planting grapes in 1995 on the 100-acre farm at Tiger Mountain where he was born.

John and Martha took their cues from a successful Virginia vineyard. They carefully selected the varieties of grapes suited to the climate of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains: the American Norton, and the vinifera red grapes of the Loire and Rhone River valleys of France: Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Tannat, Mourvedre and the white Viognier, as well as the Portuguese Touriga Nacional and Tinta Cao. The Ezzards planted nine acres of grapes, putting the first vines in by hand and nursing the first native Norton cuttings in small pots in the high school green house. (They are now experimenting with growing some of the Norton vines, more disease resistant then the vinifera, organically.)

They installed a divided trellis system which allows an abundance of sun and air to move through the vines. The Ezzards soon found the 2,000 foot altitude, mineral-rich soils and well-drained slopes the perfect terroir for impeccable fruit, the key to Tiger Mountain Vineyards' exceptional wines.