Louisville's Red Hills Winery Adds Vineyard

Red Hills Owner - James Davis

There have been several new business startups in Louisville and Winston County recently but none as unique or ambitious as the Red Hills Winery established by a Louisville native. James Davis returned to his hometown after years in Texas, California and Colorado where he learned and practiced the art of winemaking.  A graduate of Ole Miss, Davis also studied Chemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington, wine-making at the University of California-Davis and has a degree in film-making from the Colorado Film School. While in California, Davis practiced the art of winemaking working with a winery in Napa Valley. After a move to Colorado, he established the Breckenridge Winery in the Breckenridge area.

In 2009, a desire to be closer to his roots and family led Davis to establish the Red Hills Winery in Louisville. The winery was licensed in 2010 and working with the Winston County Economic Development District Partnership, the operation found an initial home at 690 Old Robinson Road in Louisville.

A winery is not an enterprise that most people expect to find in rural Mississippi. In fact, there are less than a handful of wineries in the state. Prior to Prohibition, wineries were numerous but attitudes toward alcohol, legal issues and the climate were simply not conducive to wine production. One of the obstacles that Davis faces is a Mississippi law that requires any wine produced to contain at least 51% Mississippi grown grapes. Currently the only grapes grown in the state for wine production are the native muscadines which limit the type and quality of wines that can be produced or blended.

  



Black Spanish

Davis hopes to add diversity to grape production in the state by establishing a vineyard that yields new varieties in the area. Work is underway on a small vineyard located north of Louisville on Columbus Avenue on property leased from McCully Farms. Plantings initially include a red grape from Texas called the Black Spanish and a white grape developed in Florida called Blanc du Bois. Davis indicates that red wines produced with the Black Spanish grape often sell for $30/bottle and that the grapes sell for as much as $1800/ton versus $500/ton for native muscadines. Davis’s goal is to add additional varieties to the vineyard and cultivating those that produce the best quality wine based on local soil, climate and growing season. “We want to establish a 100% Mississippi product winery where our wine is estate bottled. We hope in the future to build a winery building near the vineyard and provide a vineyard-wine experience for visitors, tourists and locals” says Davis.

The Red Hills Winery is open from 3:30-5:30 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and currently has three wines available: Davis Cuvee – a red wine @$10, Davis Heritage – a white wine @$10, and Sauvignon Blanc – a white wine @ $15. You can contact the winery through their Facebook page by searching “Red Hills Winery”.

Red Hills Vineyard

William McCully

winstonwebnews

07/07/11