by KRISTIN LARMORE
Lifestyles Reporter

Sometimes, being a packrat of sorts can yield worthwhile results.

At Benny Parsons Rendezvous Winery in Purlear, a compilation of NASCAR memorabilia dating back to the 1940s, is just one example.

Rendezvous Ridge owner Terri E. Parsons, wife of recently deceased NASCAR driver and sports commentator Benny Parsons, completed the entire museum and winery project within only a year and a half after his death on the Parsons land.

“It’s called therapy,” she said.

Now that the downstairs portion of the Parsons’ new home is open for business, NASCAR fans and famous racers have flooded in to taste the wine and honor Benny’s legacy.

The moonshine era began on Benny Parsons Road, the dirt road that passes by the old, rock-supported house Benny grew up in with his great grandmother, a mile and a half beyond the new mansion.

As a child, Benny would watch the moonshiners meet up to put it in the trunks of their cars.

The old house, built in 1901 by the Broyhill family who began their furniture business at a sawmill in Wilkes County, still stands without renovation.

The museum features a myriad of NASCAR history, including one of the original bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a pool table Benny received as a trophy from sitting on the pole in Talladega, a race tire from Richard Petty’s last race in which his car caught on fire in front of former president Ronald Reagan, Benny’s lucky shoes and the “Holy Grail” of them all, the Winston Cup Trophy.

Race fans and historians are shocked when they can actually touch things like original checkered flags with the champagne stains still on them.

“People say ‘oh my gosh, you should put these behind glass. Don’t just let people touch ‘em,’” Parsons said. “I say, eh, you want people to be able to touch ‘em.”

As far as the lucky shoes, NASCAR racers have shown to be superstitious people. Parsons recounted times where they would change hotel rooms just because the color green was in the room.

It also houses the first wine barrel coming out of North Carolina in 1976 used as a decoration in the bathroom.

The winery was first inspired by a conversation with Benny’s long-time friend and fellow racer Richard Childress.

“They were sitting in a motor home during a rain delay in Michigan one year and Benny came home from the race and said ‘I’ve decided what we’re going to do,’” Parsons said. They would sell their house in Charlotte and build another with a winery in Wilkes County, on the land where he grew up.

Childress told Benny it would be easy, and Parsons said with a hearty laugh that was the first big lie.

The project, titled “put the mountain in the hole,” involved moving mounds of dirt for a year and a half before construction could even begin.

Four thousand grapevines are growing on the property, but Parsons and her team are leasing grapes from four other wineries until their crop develops.

The tasting room currently features five types of wine, including a three time award-winning Chardonnay, a very unique, less fruity Riesling awarded two medals, a pungent, intense Cabernet Franc, a dessert Merlot decorated with plumb and jam flavors and the popular BP’s Blush.

Though the Blush has won no awards, Tasting Room Manager Denise T. Kent said visitors love it because of its crisp flavor.

The small bit of Muscadine tinges it a rosy pink, and it contains only 3 percent residual sugar.

Parsons and Kent want visitors to know they shouldn’t be intimidated by the intricacies of wine-making, and their goal is to take the snobbery out of the process.

“A lot of people are afraid to go into wine tasting rooms because they are afraid of a test afterwards,” Parsons said. “Here, you don’t have to know a thing.”

Kent said tasters don’t even have to look at the wine list describing the flavors.

“It’s all about having fun,” she said. “Let your palate be your guide. You don’t even have to read it.”

Students of legal drinking age are encouraged to come enjoy.

“It makes my heart sing that the young people of today are so interested in wine,” Kent said.

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