Childress Vineyards to double production and add distillery

Construction workers put up a red tile roof to match the other buildings at the Childress Vineyards complex. The new bottling line will be where the dark windows are in the bottom corner of the building. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}

When Childress Vineyards winery opened in 2004, the entire complex — production area, bottling line, bistro, gift shop and banquet room — encompassed 35,000 square feet.

In about a month, a new 30,000-square-foot production area will be completed and allow the winery to double its wine production, which now stands at about 100,000 cases annually.

“It’s a significant bump in production,” said Mark Friszolowski, winemaker at the Lexington winery since it opened. “We just ran out of room. And we’ll be able to do everything more logistically, more efficiently.”

The winery has grown several times over the years, including adding a warehouse and a pavilion for dining and special events, but the latest expansion will be the largest.

 “It’s a $10.5 million investment and that’s not counting the equipment,” Friszolowski explained. “It really is a major investment for Richard [Childress, winery owner].”

The building will include a huge fermentation area with 16 six thousand-gallon tanks as well as many smaller tanks, space for more than 100 barrels for aging wine, a new bottling line, storage for packaging supplies, a conference room and lab, as well as a new crush pad across from the warehouse.

Mark Friszolowski, winemaker at Childress Vineyards in Lexington, stands in the fermentation area of a new 30,000-square-foot building that will allow the winery to double production. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}

The expansion will add about 20 jobs to the approximately 100 employees already on staff at the complex near the intersection of Highway 64 West and Interstate 285.

During the construction phase, Friszolowski said, the project has created many jobs for electricians, masons, fabricators and a large crew from Pro Refrigeration in Mocksville, a company that specializes in winery and brewery refrigeration systems.

The winery has grown from making enough wine for retail sales at the winery to a wholesale business shipping all over the Southeast.

Currently, Childress Vineyards has roughly 50 custom crush customers, which are smaller wineries that contract with the large winery to make and bottle their product. The small wineries source grapes and work with Friszolowski to formulate their products but don’t have to invest in the expensive equipment a winery like Childress already has on premises and Childress can reduce some overhead costs. Most custom crush customers are in North Carolina but the winery has clients in Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina.

The former head of both the N.C. Wine and Grape Council and the N.C. Winegrowers Association, Friszolowski said the state’s fast-growing wine industry has an annual economic impact of around $2 billion.

“People in other states are buying farmland here,” he noted. “If you’ve dreamed of building a winery, North Carolina is the place to be. Of all the wine sold in North Carolina in a year, less than three percent is made here. So, it’s wide open for growth.”

By shifting a lot of wine production work into the new building, the winery has space to pursue the production of spirts, including brandy, rum and vodka.

Friszolowski, who has worked for Hennessy Cognac in the past, said Ty Dillon, one of Childress’ grandsons, will be involved in launching the distillery business. Childress and his other grandson, Austin Dillon, recently started a professional bull riding team called the Carolina Cowboys. Both grandsons took after their grandfather and are NASCAR drivers.

The Childress distillery subsidiary will use some of the state’s agricultural bounty such as muscadine grapes, blackberries and blueberries to make brandy and other spirits