The grapes used for their wine are grown on the Pentz’s family farm, with the exception of the concord grape, which they import from Pennsylvania or upstate New York. The reason for this is the trouble one would have to go through to cultivate concord grapes in this area compared to the profit one would receive in doing so. This is not to say that growing any of the other wine grapes in this region is any easier, “It’s hard work,” Jerry Pentz says, “Growing grapes in the south is hard. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Now, the Muscadine is a different story—they grow easy and heavy. They’re easy to grow, but the french hybrids and the wine grapes, they’re much harder to grow in the south. It’s not the heat—they grow [grapes] in the desert. It’s the humidity. The grape is a thin-skinned fruit, and fungus eats right through it.” Pentz also describes the grueling, years-long process to open up a winery and packaging and distributing wine. With this in mind, it’s a wonder that not only do the grapes successfully cultivate, but they also produce high-quality and tasty wines, despite the odds. And being in business for such a short time, the process of perfecting the product is a learning process:

    “When you do this, it takes about five to six years to make money. When I sat down and worked out my business plan, I wasn’t supposed to start making money until the fourth year, and this year, I’m hoping I can break even. It takes a lot of money to run a business that does it’s own manufacturing, and you’re putting a product out...but the first couple of years is perfecting your product. I was a red, dry wine maker, but then somebody mentioned to me a year or two before I opened up that I might want to look into white wine. So the white wines came on [the menu], and then the sweet wines after that. But basically, the last couple of years, I’ve been working on sweet wines. [The wine list] is pretty “across-the-board;” it has to be across-the-board. You can’t just stay afloat on dry, table wines.”

 There are 10 varieties of wine that De Terra offers, from dry to semi sweet to sweet. When asked about the best sellers, Pentz starts off by listing Bonafide Red, Cedar Ridge Red, and Ghost White, explaining their flavors and why they are more popular. Then he goes on to explain that Revival Red was actually a flavor specially made for Christmas, but it was so popular that they now offer the wine year-round. He then goes on to explain how good and how popular their Muscadine wine is. It becomes exceedingly clear that De Terra produces such good wine that there aren’t any that wouldn’t please every single customer. Pentz makes his different wine flavors and levels of dryness using blending techniques. “A lot of my wines are blended wines. They’re all good. They’re all good sellers.”

    What do people say about De Terra Winery? “I get all good ratings; we always get good reviews.” On their Facebook page alone, the winery has received over 50 five-star reviews—a really good number for such a new and small winery. “We’ve been really well-received in the Collierville-Lakeland-Arlington area. Now, some of the Fayette county people have been slow to jump on board—but that’s okay.” De Terra does not expect everyone to love wine and they don’t expect everyone to be big on drinking, but they’re more than just a winery. They also host community events, such as Grapevine Jubilee, hosted from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday nights during June until October. This jubilee features live music, a food truck, and, of course, De Terra is open throughout the evening.