Wilkes Women In Wine - Diana Jones of Jones Von Drehle Vineyards

Women in Wine: Diana Jones
by: Jennifer Primrose and Dathan Kazsuk

A drive along a country road under the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of the perfect location to plant a vineyard led to getting lost on Old Railroad Grade road in Thurmond, North Carolina. That fateful day also led Diana and Chuck Jones to the perfect location to plant the seeds of their future. A location right up against the mountains with rolling hills in both directions. Could the dream become a reality? And then just a couple hundred yards down the road they spotted a for sale sign and the rest is history for Jones von Drehle Winery and Vineyards.

WHEN DREAMS BECOME REALITY 

The Jones’ dream of owning their own vineyard dates to the mid-80s and early 1990s when Diana and Chuck lived in the San Francisco Bay. As Chuck worked building wireless systems throughout the state in the early days of wireless, opportunities opened up to meet an array of people, including those in the winemaking industry. They both simply fell in love with everything about this industry. When they moved to Roswell, Georgia in 1990 and found some land, they decided to plant a small vineyard to start producing hobby wine. During this time, they both learned a lot about the industry, including having to replant the vineyard three different times in the 25 years they lived there due to Pierce’s disease.

As their two daughters grew up, they began to look to the future, and decided to move home to North Carolina. The plan was to build a house, have a small vineyard and continue their hobby of making wine. That began to change when Diana’s sister and brother-in-law, Ronnie and Raymond von Drehle, decided they wanted to join them. From that point on, hobby quickly turned to business and they were heading on their journey and dream of being part of a growing wine industry in North Carolina.

As Chuck began the research on elevation, wind flow and soil in search of the perfect location, the Jones’ also began to visit other wineries throughout the state. One of those visits was to Irongate Vineyards in Mebane while visiting their daughter at Elon University. Diana reflects on how nice the experience was to talk with people already in the industry.

They began planting the 30-acre vineyard and decided on the wine styles they were interested in producing. As fate would once more steer the Jones’ in the right direction, one day Chuck received a call from Dan Tallman, a winemaker who got his start in California at the well know winery, Clos Du Bois.

The voice on the other end of the line simply asked, “are you looking for a winemaker?”. Tallman had heard about the Jones’ starting up an estate winery and decided to take a chance and make that phone call. After one look at his resume, Jones von Drehl had its winemaker. With the vines planted, the winemaker onboard, and wines being produced, what was once a dream became a reality.

THE FACE OF THE WINERY

Jones travels the state each week from Tuesdays through Fridays promoting their brand. With major markets being Asheville, greater Charlotte, the High Country, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and the greater Raleigh area. In the summer, she picks up Wilmington and the Outer Banks. While visiting these markets, Diana checks in with her clients, meets with potential clients including bottle shops and restaurants, schedules customer tasting events and wine dinners. Jones will admit that both her and her husband are always working stating, “that’s what it takes to build something like this.” With all the time and energy the Jones’ put into making their winery what it is today, it is no surprise that Merry Edwards of the California winery by the same name is a huge influence in her life. Merry has been described as an unbelievably hard worker and meticulous. Jones had the opportunity to attend a Merry Edwards wine dinner in Blowing Rock and describes her experience. “And as I sat there and watched her and listened to her I thought, this woman has been doing this for decades, and she is still out here selling her wines, talking about her wines, talking about her vision and what she thinks makes beautiful wine. It was pretty inspirational because it felt like this is exactly what I am doing when I go out and sell wines.”

Not only will Jones be found traveling the state promoting the brand, but she is also behind the tasting room bar on the weekends. Literally working six to seven days a week, Jones enjoys unwinding in the evenings sitting on the patio with a glass of wine or taking time to go hiking at Stone Mountain State Park. One piece of advice Jones would give to an up and coming young businesswoman is simply to work hard. She states, “be willing to really put the effort in. Don’t give up. It’s too easy not to be willing to start at the bottom and work your way up.”

FAMILY AFFAIR

Jones von Drehle is a family-owned vineyard and winery with Diana and Chuck Jones being 24/7 hands on at the winery and traveling the state while Ronnie and Raymond von Drehl help out at special events. As for the next generation, of the Jones’ two daughters, the youngest, Amanda, along with husband, John Brebbia, pitcher for the Saint Louis Cardinals, have shown the most interest in carrying on the legacy. And of course, any vineyard would not be complete without the vineyard dog. Chloe, at 12 years old and a cancer survivor, is the official greeter at the tasting room and enjoys traveling with both Chuck and Diana when they travel the state.

ON THE NORTH CAROLINA WINE INDUSTRY

As the North Carolina wine industry has flourished over the past several years, Jones says she would love to see taxes come back to this industry as it does in the state of Virginia. There is also breaking the perception that all North Carolina produces are sweet wines as there are two different industries; muscadine and vinifera. Lastly, Jones expresses her concern with the lack of restaurants in the state carrying local wine as they do local beer and other local products.  She would love to see more local industries support the NC wine industry as well.