For a winemaker, patience is indeed a virtue. Friendliness and a willingness to share knowledge certainly count, and that's great if you're coming for a visit to our winery. Where else can you take a tour of a winery and have the opportunity to speak directly with the winemakers themselves?

Tom Burgiss
"Crazy" Tom didn't originally plan to be a winemaker, but his training and 40-year career as a pharmacist certainly helped prepare him for his current position as "Doctor Wine" of Thistle Meadow Winery. Tom's skills as a wine mixologist are legendary in the hills of North Carolina.

Tom first began making wine after a visit to Victoria, British Columbia where he discovered the art of making wine at home in small quantities. Over the years, Tom has made hundreds of batches of wine, and he's an expert at tweaking a wine to fit the most discriminating palate. His favorite wine to drink is Beaujolais, because he says it's good for the heart. Tom lives just up the road from the winery in Laurel Springs with his wife Nancy, near the old family farmhouse that has been converted to a mountaintop vacation rental home.

Don Mabe
Thistle Meadow Winery's winemaker is Don Mabe. Don is a lifelong resident of Laurel Springs where he lives with his wife Sandra. Don has been a member of the Laurel Springs Volunteer Fire department for 6 years and is also a Medical Responder.

Don has one son, Brian, who is a police officer in Sparta, NC.