Wilkes Women in Wine: Josephine Silvey of Roaring River Vineyards

Women in Wine: Josephine Silvey
by: Jennifer Primrose and Dathan Kazsuk

The initial vision was to search for their weekend retreat, recalls Roaring River Vineyards’ Josephine Silvey.

Originally from the Champagne region of France, Silvey asked her husband Tom to plant a few rows of grapevines in North Carolina to remind her of home. Her husband immediately set out on an adventure to find grapevines online, and in doing so, stumbled upon an introductory seminar at Surry Community College about viticulture and enology.

“When Tom came out of the seminar, he had stars in his eyes – as if he found his new love,” says Silvey. That seminar slowly but surely morphed into what one sees today when you visit the lavish confides of the winery.

But Silvey has to admit, the winery was a far stretch from what she originally wanted. “Be careful what you ask your husband to do, because it could grow into something you never wanted or expected.” Being a city girl, Silvey was more interested in traveling the world and spending a month in France every year. But in the end, her husband convinced her that planting a vineyard would be a great idea.

Situated on 47-acres of land located in Traphill, North Carolina, Roaring River Vineyard produces varietals in the likes of Chardonnay, Traminette, Chambourcin, Norton and Cabernet Sauvignon. Although the winery produces many varieties of black and white grapes, the Silvey’s have all their wine produced 20 miles south of them at Windsor Run Cellars.

The Silvey’s have also teamed up with Holman Distillery out of Moravian Falls to create brandy using the winery’s Traminette grapes.

But to see all the vines running across the land, one would never have thought that it was originally covered by a forest.

“Had we bought the land with the idea of starting a vineyard, we would have bought a cleared parcel of land,” Silvey says. Originally, the only cleared area on the parcel was the parking space for the realtor and prospective clients.

The project, which was indeed time consuming, took a total of 17 years to complete. “We had to hire a forestry manager, get loggers to cut the trees down, and after the loggers left, it looked like the aftermath of World War III,” says Silvey. But that wasn’t all. Equipment was brought in to dig up the roots, which were pushed into a large trench which was set on fire and took weeks to extinguish.

“Then we planted clover to turn the PH balance from forest to an agricultural PH level. This took an additional two years,” she says. Add to that a 7-year stint in Orlando, Florida when her husband was offered a new job – and that brings us closer to present day.

A TYPICAL DAY

Silvey spends most of every week working on the winery’s marketing, human resources, accounting and various other daily routines. For many, daily routines might be something akin to stocking wine and talking to distributors, but for Silvey, these activities include handling duties inside the tasting room, the day-to-day operations with the winery’s vacation rentals and running her restaurant, Chez Josephine.

All of this takes up roughly 40 to 50 hours a week for Silvey, who does all the work without the help of an office staff. With all the behind-the-scenes work, Silvey still makes time to enjoy the finer things in life. Preparing dinner with her husband, a little bit of TV and enjoying a glass of wine under the oak tree overlooking the vineyard are just a few of the ways Silvey unwinds.

“I like landscaping, gardening, decorating and keeping up with my family and friends,” she says. “During Covid-19 we built raised garden beds, started plants from seed for our victory garden. We are really excited about it.”

Travel is another huge part of Silvey’s non-winery explorations, especially the wine regions in France. To date, the Silvey’s have visited all the French wine regions other than Bordeaux, which she says is next on her agenda. “We have traveled all over the world and having been a host family to international students at UNC-Charlotte for 8 years before moving to Florida, I have a lot of student contacts from all over the world, and I like to visit and catch up with them,” she says. Silvey says that this is a spectacular way to build relationships across not only countries but also diverse cultures.

FINDING THE WAY

Roaring River Vineyard lies along a 10 mile stretch of road where one can find two other Wilkes County wineries that are both receiving accolades from both wine critics and guests visiting the area. Both Jones von Drehle and McRitchie Winery & Ciderworks, along with Roaring River can lend to a day of fine wines, but for some, they might not be easy to find. But the search is well worth the reward, as the Silvey’s produce award-winning wine, provide a peaceful place to enjoy the tranquil settings along a running river and offer up the hospitality they love to give to their wonderful guests.