Fmr. Ag Commissioner Jim Graham, center, and David Fussel, right, present a bottle of brandy distilled from N.C. wine to Marvin Speight in 1982.
Duplin Wine Cellars, now Duplin Winery, produced the first N.C. brandy since prohibition to stimulate the fledgling N.C. grape industry. The brandy, distilled from locally grown Carlos, Magnolia and Scuppernong grape varieties, was first marketed in 1982. North Carolina has since become the seventh-largest wine producer and ninth-largest grape producer in the country.
To find out more about the grape and wine industry in North Carolina, go to www.visitncwine.com.