Owner/Winemaker

Pat was born and raised in a small town in northern Wisconsin. She received her BA degree from the University of Wisconsin, MBA from Duke University, and worked 35 years in software development for IBM. She retired in 2005, one year after she and her husband Clyde had begun to establish an organic vineyard on abandoned farm property in Surry County, in the foothills of North Carolina, which they named Carolina Heritage. They both took classes and received Associate Degrees in Viticulture and Enology at Surry Community College in 2006.  In 2008 Carolina Heritage received its first organic certification, which has been maintained since. Pat has been, and remained until August 2022, the winemaker for Carolina Heritage Winery and regularly earned medals for her wines. In August 2022 she retired. The source of the fruit for these wines includes 10 varieties of organic hybrid and native grapes as well as organic blueberries, apple and pear trees, figs, elderberries and kiwi.