Western N.C. wineries

Hailey Klepcyk is the president of the North Carolina Winegrower Association and a member of the state's Wine and Grape Council .

The native North Carolinian was educated there — studying Business Management at NC State and earning a degree in Art and Photography from Elon University — and over the past decade has worked in the wine industry both in distribution and as a tasting room manager at Piccione Vineyards in the Swan Creek American Viticultural Association (AVA).

These past couple of weeks have seen Klepcyk, a sales representative for Wine and Beer Supply, help to provide a lifeline to the Mountain Region wineries that were knocked for a loop by the remnants of Hurricane Helene in late September. Contacted Wednesday, she was making another several-hour round-trip to where so much of the damage took place.

"I was in Boone trying to get gas, it was just a little crazy here," she said. "I'm headed up into the mountains to some of our wineries to deliver like shippers so they can at least sell wine online. So yes, just running around."

The damage was centered on wineries in and around Asheville, where the rebuilding from the winds and unfathomable flooding is expected to take years and the number of dead and missing residents continues to fluctuate .

Wineries of all sizes were affected, from Biltmore Estate in Buncombe County, which figures to be closed for at least another few weeks until its water is restored, to Stone Ashe Vineyards in Henderson County, which reopened on Oct. 10 but noted in an Oct. 7 Facebook post that several roads leading to the winery had been reduced to one lane because of damage.