Community Highlights: Meet Lyndon Smith of Botanist & Barrel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndon Smith.

Hi Lyndon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Our story begins when we were little kids when we would forage for fruit with our grandparents. This developed an early and strong connection with the land and how it nourishes us. All four founding partners had careers in food and beverage and so in 2014, when many stars aligned, we took a leap of faith and purchased some farmland with an existing production building.

We set out to solve two problems. First, we couldn’t find locally produced low intervention natural wines and ciders, so we figured we’d start making the types of beverages we wanted to drink. Second, we had “ugly fruit” on our farm that is perfect for making wine, and knew we weren’t the only farmers dealing with this problem. In trying to solve these two issues, Botanist & Barrel was born.

With four unique skill sets, the project started out small but quickly grew. Kether Smith and Deric McGuffey took the lead on cider and winemaking, Amie Fields took the lead on sales and blending in the winery and I took the lead on farming and sourcing the best southern grown fruit.

And just recently we opened a second tasting room in downtown Asheville, NC. It also features a bottle shop that carries only low-intervention and native yeast fermentation wines from all over the world. We offer curated flights and locally sources charcuterie and cheese boards that pair perfectly with our ciders and wines.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We always say that we know more about what not to do than what to do. Every day is a learning experience. In the craft of natural wine, every year is different.

Every season the fruit changes with the weather and this mean harvesting times, fruit chemistry, wild yeasts, etc., are constantly changing. So, we’d say our biggest challenges are staying flexible and always keeping an open mind on how to solve new problems.

Another issue we continually face is finding ways to work while growing sustainable business that supports our community and also not running ourselves into the ground. Work and family balance is challenging in any business, but especially so in agriculture. Nature doesn’t wait!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We make Natural Dry Southern Cider+Wine. A few things separate us from the rest.

We are a no to the low additive winery. This means we won’t add anything, be it, sulfur or sugar, unless absolutely necessary. This means our ciders+wines are clean and leave you feeling good about what you’re drinking. We follow an ethos of minimal intervention, so many commonly used additives we have never used in our winery.

We use local fruits, 95% of which are sourced within 200 miles. This means we are showing you the true South. A true terrier, with a sense of place, is what we are all about. All of our beverages, including cans, are naturally conditioned. This makes for elegant, more integrated bubbles by not force carbonating.

This is part of our low-manipulation philosophy. We do everything the old-school way. We specialize in pet nat wines and ciders. This means we are not adding anything and we are not taking away anything from our beverages. We are just lightly guiding them.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a shy kid, especially compared to now, who spent every minute outside possible. I love basketball and summer camping trips. I was a difficult kid, who struggled with authority but loved to learn.

In my teenage years, my entrepreneurial spirit took over and I was constantly exploring new ideas and starting new “mini-businesses”.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.botansitandbarrelasheville.com
• Instagram: @botansitandbarrelasheville
• Facebook: botansitandbarrelasheville

Image Credits
Behind the Lens