Daylong program for growers, winemakers and industry professionals explores regional identity in Southeastern wine.
October 20, 2026 (Dobson, NC) — The 14th annual Southeastern Grape & Wine Symposium takes place Thursday, Nov. 19th, at the Shelton-Badgett North Carolina Center for Viticulture & Enology at Surry Community College. The daylong event brings grape growers, winemakers, researchers, educators, suppliers and industry leaders from across the Southeast to Dobson for technical sessions, a vendor showcase and an evening tasting.
This year’s theme is “Regional Identity: Past Perspectives and Future Outlooks.” Sessions will look at how the region’s history, growing conditions and changing practices in the vineyard, the cellar and the business are shaping a distinct identity for Southeastern wine.
Speakers include:
- Joshua Grainer MW, winemaker and managing director of Lost Mountain Vineyards in Delaplane, VA. Grainer was the estate’s founding winemaker when it operated as RdV Vineyards, and in 2023 he became the first Virginian to earn the Master of Wine title.
- Drew Baker, farmer and co-founder of Old Westminster Winery and Burnt Hill Farm in Maryland. Baker and his sisters started Old Westminster on their family’s farm in 2010 and later built Burnt Hill Farm, a regenerative estate vineyard in Clarksburg, MD.
- Megan Bell, public affairs and external communications manager for the California Association of Winegrape Growers. Bell spent 15 years in wine production and vineyard management, with stints in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Napa Valley, the Willamette Valley, Central Otago and the Loire, and previously owned Santa Cruz-based Margins Wine.
- Craig Holme, national sales manager for Radoux USA. Born in Australia and now based in Napa, Holme has more than 25 years of experience working with wineries around the world on barrel programs and oak alternatives.
- Ernest “Bubba” Beasley, geologist and terroir consultant. Beasley helps growers with site selection and vineyard design, and his soil potassium research with Lucie Morton and Clifford Ambers helped change soil nutrition recommendations for Mid-Atlantic vineyards.
- Tyler Balliet, wine journalist, entrepreneur and author of “Rebel School of Wine,” a 2025 James Beard Award nominee. Balliet co-founded the traveling Wine Riot festival and Rosé Mansion in New York City.
“Growers and winemakers across the Southeast are working through a lot of the same questions: what to plant, how to farm for our climate, and how to explain what makes our wines different,” said David Bower, Enology Instructor. “Southeastern wine has changed a lot over the last couple of decades, and at this year’s Symposium we want to look at what’s actually setting it apart. We’re bringing in people who’ve built something distinctive in their own regions and talking about what that could look like for ours.”
Registration and breakfast open at 8am, and the vendor showcase opens at 8:30am. Three keynote sessions run through the morning and early afternoon, followed by educational breakouts at 3pm and networking at 4:15pm.
The day closes with the Grand Wine Tasting from 5pm to 7pm, where local wineries, cideries and meaderies will pour alongside charcuterie, small bites and live music.
Since 2012, the Symposium has drawn more than 150 wine industry professionals each year. This year’s sponsors include NC Wine, Wine Business Monthly, Tonnellerie Radoux, Waterloo Container, H&H Farm Machine Co., Wright Labels, North Carolina Winegrowers Association, Woodfield Cellars, and NC Cooperative Extension.
Tickets are available now. Organizations interested in sponsorship can contact the organizers through the NC Viticulture Center website: https://ncviticulturecenter.surry.edu/symposium/.
What: 2026 Southeastern Grape & Wine Symposium
When: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, 8am to 7pm; Grand Wine Tasting 5pm to 7pm.
Where: Shelton-Badgett North Carolina Center for Viticulture & Enology, Surry Community College, 630 South Main Street, Dobson, NC 27017
About the Shelton-Badgett North Carolina Center for Viticulture & Enology
The Shelton-Badgett North Carolina Center for Viticulture & Enology at Surry Community College in Dobson, N.C., provides workforce training and industry support for the grape and wine industry in North Carolina and across the Southeast. Completed in 2009, the state-of-the-art center houses a commercially bonded teaching winery where students make, bottle, label and market their own wine, along with a climate-controlled barrel cellar, a microbiology lab and classrooms within walking distance of the college’s on-campus vineyard. Additionally, the center hosts technical workshops and the annual Southeastern Grape & Wine Symposium, bringing together industry professionals to share research and practical experience aimed at improving grape and wine quality across the region.
