How We Got Here:
Imagine... Sun-drenched afternoons on the porch, laughter echoing over plates piled high with comfort food, and glasses clinking in joyous celebration. This is the South we know, the South we crave. But something was missing. The wines we found couldn't capture that essence, that deep-rooted connection to home, family, and community.
We're two families, bound not just by blood, but by a lifelong love for good food and even better company. We dreamed of a place where diversity was our spice, where every soul felt welcome like at a potluck supper overflowing with flavor and warmth. A place that reimagined the South, not with dusty stereotypes, but with the vibrant spirit of its people and the bounty of its land.
Frustrated by the lack of wines that truly reflected our South, wines bursting with the freshness of local fruits and the soul of shared moments, we decided to take matters into our own hands. With grit, determination, and a whole lot of love, we embarked on a journey to craft the wines we yearned for.
And guess what? It turned out we weren't alone. A chorus of voices echoed our own, yearning for wines that sparked joy, connection, and a taste of true Southern hospitality. So, we opened our doors, not just as a winery, but as a gathering place for kindred spirits.
Today, Botanist & Barrel is more than just a brand. It's the embodiment of a dream, a testament to the power of family, community, and the universal language of flavor. It's the clinking of glasses filled with stories, the laughter that dances on the air, and the warmth that fills every corner.
Come join us. Raise a glass. And let's celebrate our South, one sip at a time.
What We Do:
Botanist & Barrel is the South’s only natural cidery — and first producer of Petillant Natural ciders — in the Southeastern United States, focused on spontaneous and wild cultures. Botanist & Barrel crafts real Southern ciders, fruited sours, and wines, by way of light-handed winemaking that intertwines old-world methods with modern sensibilities. Ciders are crafted with local, sustainable, and organic fruits, including blueberries, traditional Southern heirloom cider apples, and more, from their organic estate farm. Botanist & Barrel is an active, living beverage due to its unfiltered, unpasteurized nature, containing little to no residual sugar — making it a healthier lifestyle choice. The winery supports local farmers using only sustainably and organically-sourced fruits, including blueberries, apples, and more, from our organic estate farm. Ciders and wines are raw, wild, unrefined, unfiltered, and unpasteurized, allowing customers to feel good about what they’re drinking.
THE TEAM
Kether Smith Partner + Head Cidermaker
Kether is intrigued by fermented foods and drinks. When she first learned about Kombucha, which was described to her as mushroom tea, she thought, how disgusting. Moving past her initial hesitation, she tasted it, and had to make it herself. And that’s pretty much where her fermentation experiments began. She moved on to fermenting vegetables, and helping her husband brew beer. After purchasing the blueberry patch, she started learning about wine and cider making. What better way to preserve the summer than bottling it? To expand her knowledge she ventured to the finger lakes region of NY, a viticulural area and received a cider certificate from Cornell University. Now she’s happy to pour you a taste on the farm or at a market.
Amie Fields
Partner + Sales Director
Is a co-founder and Director of Sales and Brand Development at Botanist and Barrel in North Carolina. After a lifelong career in wine, sourcing, importing and distributing, Amie realized that the winemakers have all the fun. She joined her husband and sister- in- law with the dream to build something special from the ground up and in 2017 Botanist and Barrel was born. She oversees distribution for Botanist and Barrel in NC, SC, GA, CO, MA and CA. Amie is one of a select few of people awarded the Pommelier certification from the ACA’s certified cider program. She is a certified level 1 sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and has been a judge at the Great Lakes International Wine and Perry competition and the Virginia Governor’s Cup. Amie’s expertise in tasting, evaluating and finding balance is invaluable in creating new and exciting ciders. At Botanist and Barrel she loves focusing on minimal intervention cider-making - nothing added and nothing taken away - in order to showcase a living product’s terroir. She is tirelessly working on changing the way people think about fruit wine and cider. Farm, Fruit, Ferment ya’ll! Find her on Instagram and Facebook @naturalcider.
Bailey Rehbein - Cidermaker
Moving to North Carolina from rural southwest Wisconsin, Bailey has always loved working within the local agriculture, food, and wine scene. Growing up on a small family vineyard, she’s had a hand in winemaking since she was a little kid. She graduated from University of Wisconsin-Stout with a bachelor’s degree in Food Science & Technology with an emphasis in chemistry. Her love of food and wine has taken her on many adventures over the years. She’s been fortunate to, study food and wine pairings in France, work a harvest season at Soter Winery in Willamette Valley Oregon, manage family owned and operated butcher shops, coordinate production and coffee roasting at Wonderstate Coffee. Now she’s on a natural cider and winemaking journey at Botanist & Barrel. During the week you’ll find her hard at work in production at the cidery, with hands in some sort of fruit goop. Bailey is a certified cider professional through the ACA, quickly growing into her role as cidermaker, and loving every sip of it.
Deric McGuffey Partner + Specialty Cidermaker
Deric grew up in rural Georgia where farming is in the blood. After he earned an art degree, he found himself in a professional kitchen and began to merge his love of art with his love of cooking. Deric met Kether in culinary school where they competed on a culinary team and won numerous medals on their way to the national “final four” competition. Upon graduation they went to Atlanta to hone their culinary skills. At Canoe Restaurant in Atlanta Deric found his passion for pastry, where he lets his creativity run wild. He’s a cool dad who loves guiding his active boys on the ins and outs of skateboarding. At present he is the pastry mastermind at G2B Restaurant in Durham, where he creates magnificent sweet finales for folks out for a fine dining experience. If he is not in the kitchen, you may find him at the farm, kicking back, visioning his next creation, enjoying the outdoors, or picking berries with his boys.
Lyndon Smith Partner + Cellarman + Hypeman
Farming and winemaking runs in Lyndon’s blood. He grew up foraging for family meals and drinks at his Grandparents farm and it quickly evolved into a lifelong love of agriculture and fermentation. He founded a natural wine distribution company, Sour Grapes, in 2009 but left the wine business to start a small apple orchard and blueberry farm in Leicester, NC. He then joined his family running Cedar Grove Blueberry Farm in central North Carolina where Botanist and Barrel’s farmhouse Cidery & Winery was launched in 2017. Lyndon continues to learn about creative ways to use forgotten, foraged and ugly fruits to make beautiful adult beverages. In 2019 he launched NC’s first festival dedicated to wild and spontaneous food and beverages called “Funk Down on the Farm”. He is the President of the North Carolina Cider Association and is a certified cider professional through the ACA. Lyndon loves supporting local farms, using native fruits and pushing boundaries with wild and spontaneous yeasts. Lyndon is a founder and COO of Botanist and Barrel cider and winery, and is also the winemaker at DeFi Wines along with his wife, Amie Fields. Find him on Instragram @botanistandbarrel and @spontaneousfarmer.