Fermenting the grape for purposes of making wine is a long standing practice amongst we humans. As it turns out, it has been a long tradition in western North Carolina too, much longer than we may know.
In fact, one of the oldest wineries in North Carolina began in Icard. Yes, you read that right. Icard. In the middle of the Great Depression, an enterprising Sicilian by the name of Mellie C. Bernard began making wine in addition to a number of other entrepreneurial activities.
First, let me introduce you to Mr. Bernard. Born Mellie Carmelo diBernardo in Sicily around 1891, he immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 with three dollars in his pocket, seeking a better life. He went where the work was, first helping build Hoover Dam in Nevada, then to western North Carolina to assist in the damming of the Catawba River to create Lake James.
Bernard worked hard, saved his money and invested in some very thoughtful ways. He secured petroleum franchises to start Burke Oil, bought a car to taxi fellow workers around for a fee, built service stations, bought property throughout the area and in 1935, he started a winery in partnership with a Waldensian. By the time the business got underway his Waldensian partner had pulled out of the deal, but Mellie Bernard went through with it, creating Bernard’s Waldensian Style Wines. It might have seemed an odd choice for him. He did not drink and never tasted his own product. There are stories of how he pulled people in from the street and get them to taste-test his product, but he knew what he was doing. Bernard’s Waldensian Style Wines became so popular that Mellie ended up selling Burke Oil to make time for his new venture.
At this point you may ask: What makes Waldensian wines different from any other type? It’s the process. In true old world style, Waldensians used an open vat fermentation method. Early wine makers also used to strain the wine through straw, the organic stuff you grow, not the kind you drink with.
As the Depression Era gave way to World War II, Mellie was doing great business. Coming out of Prohibition, folks began to buy wine again for more than medicinal and church purposes, which had remained legal during Prohibition. However, after the conclusion of WWII, the business shut down. When Burke County went dry, the move upended the Icard operation. In 1948, Bernard took off his wine-making apron, let the 6,000 gallons of un-bottled wine turn to vinegar and moved on to other interests. For the most part, the building stood abandoned, just as Mellie Bernard built it. In the 1980s a fire destroyed the structure.
While he operated Bernard’s Waldensian Style Wines, Mellie created a label for his bottles that had a man and a woman on each end with a wine glass in hand. Governmental officials saw the label and had a fit. They contended it would be unfit to depict a woman drinking wine, even if they did so in real life. So, they ordered a change. Instead of a wine glass, the woman held a rose. The controversy demonstrates attitudes of the time about drinking and the accepted role for women in American society.
You might think Bernard’s Waldensian Style Wines had nothing but an empty glass to offer later generations. However, you would be wrong. The rebirth comes next week.
Photo: The Bernards in front of their Icard wine shop and the label, suitably altered not to offend.
