Small Farmer of the Year!
Categories: Awards, Best Wineries in Tennessee, Nine Lakes Region, Nine Lakes Wine Country, Tennessee American Viticultural Area, Wineries
We’re super proud of winemaker and vineyard grower Nikki Riddle, who has been named “Tennessee Small Farmer of the Year, at the Small Farm Expo July 20. She also received the Alternative Enterprise Award.

Nikki Riddle, winner of Tennessee’s Small Farmer of the Year Award, is a small farm winery owner in Maynardville, TN. Photo credit: Shannon Carey for HistoricUnionCounty.com
Nikki is an award-winning winemaker and owner of The Winery at Seven Springs Farm in Maynardville, which is part of the Great Valley Wine Trail of East Tennessee. The winery and adjacent vineyard sit on 44 acres that Nikki leased from her parents, Rick and Donna Riddle. Her fiance, Michael Coombs, works with her at the winery as well.
Nikki’s winery is one of the best small wineries in Tennessee, and she has the medals to prove it. Many of her wines have won double gold, or gold medals from several competitions she regularly submits to: Wines of the South Regional Wine Competition, the Asheville Wine Competition, and Indy International Wine Competition.
Nikki was nominated for the award by USDA agent Charles Morris, and she thanked the USDA and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for agriculture grants that helped her establish the winery.
“I am so very honored,” said Nikki, as reported by HistoricUnionCounty.com. “It was a big surprise. We could not have done this without all the great programs and agencies we work with. It just really gave us a leg up to start our own business. There’s so many opportunities out there if you just want to look for them.”
Nikki also thanked her parents “for giving us this opportunity to own our own business and work in the field that we love. Vineyards are a great way to save family farms,” she said.
Her father, Rick Riddle, is president of the Appalachian Region Wine Producers Association, and is working to establish the first single-state American Viticultural Area in Tennessee.