MERLOT MEMORIES: Megan Riley is on a mission to showcase vineyards that are reshaping the state's wine industry.

• Author: Lea, Amanda

Charlotte's Megan Riley owns a global travel-tour company and is familiar with wines from Sonoma to Croatia. When she attended a wine tasting event in the Queen City in 2007, she tried wines from several North Carolina vineyards. She quickly concluded that the state's reputation for sweet wines was deserved.

North Carolina has been known for syrupy vino for decades. Cultivation of the scuppernong vine, a variety of muscadine, began in the 1500s. North Carolina led the nation's wine production at the beginning of the 20th century. But Prohibition tanked sales, and the industry didn't start growing again until the mid-2000s.

Now there are about 200 wineries and 400 vineyards in the state--many of which offer a very different taste. (Spoiler alert: It's not all muscadine.)

Several years after her first North Carolina wine encounter, Riley found herself at another wine tasting, this time paired with locally sourced food prepared by top-notch chefs.

"In addition to the thoughtful food pairings, the local wine was paired with old world options, so you could really have a head-to-head matchup of tastes," Riley says. "There were North Carolina and French cabernet sauvignons, so you could see how our state compared to wines from other areas of the world. Experiencing the taste next to wines from California, France and Italy, made me realize that our wine has come a long way from my first experience."

A BUSINESS IS BORN

The experience inspired Riley to share news of North Carolina's transformation. She reached out to a friend, Jessica Diehl, about showcasing that change by arranging winery tours.

"We wanted to show wine drinkers the top quality vineyards in our area," Riley says. "We are so passionate about changing the stigma about North Carolina's wine options, we painted a motto on our vans that says 'The unsweet wine tour.'"

Riley reached out to several local wineries to become familiar with the landscape. She also saw an opportunity to make the wine tasting experience more personal.

"There were a lot of'wine Ubers' out there," Riley says. "Transportation companies that would drive you around to different wineries, but didn't care if you bought the wine and weren't invested in helping people learn more about North Carolina wines. We wanted to go beyond transportation and provide a more personal and educational experience."

In early 2019, Riley and Diehl bought the "NC Wine Gals" domain name and hit the ground running. Diehl left after the first...