Wine-ing About North Carolina

Yadkin Valley Wineries

2008-10-31T04:50:00.000-07:00

We were planning on visiting 5, but had to cut our trip short. We visited 3 wineries in the Yadkin Valley earlier this week.

Our first stop was The Old North State Winery. This winery is located in the heard of Mount Airy, also known as "Mayberry" to all of you Andy Griffith show fans. Old North State gets their grapes from various vineyards around the Yadkin Valley, they don't have their own vineyard. The building used to house dynamite and when they were re-doing the building to house the winery, they found a human arm in the basement. Creepy!

We were impressed with all of their wines and wish we had time to get a bite to eat in their restaurant. We bought 2 bottles of Restless Soul, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet and Chambourcin. This label features a skeletal arm and can be found in local stores. This would be an excellent wine to bring to a Halloween party. We also bought their 2005 38 vines Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine will go with anything.

Our next stop was The Black Wolf Vineyard. We had been told that this wine was not too impressive, but that they had a nice restaurant, so our expectations were already low. The vines looked lovely and the winery was housed in a log cabin with a pony grazing in front of it. When we walked in, it was completely empty. We waited, periodically asking if anyone was there. We proceeded to wander around the restaurant and went upstairs to find an office with some dude sleeping at his desk. We woke him up so he could give us a tasting. Home Slice looked like he should have been surfing or picking up chicks at a gym, not tending to a winery, but whatever. I wouldn't let this affect my judging of the wine. The wine was okay, not great, but would serve well as table wine. Home Slice didn't seem to know too much about the wines, so I don't have anything interesting to say about them. We had planned on going to restaurant for lunch, but decided against it. We bought a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon and left. We have no intentions of going back.

The final and best winery we went to was Ragapple Lassie. Ragapple Lassie is named after the owner's award winning pet cow. When you enter the winery you can see pictures of Ragapple Lassie with her owner, Frank. Ragapple Lassie has since passed on and is buried on the vineyard grounds.

We were especially lucky to have Frank give us a tasting. You would see a twinkle in his eye when he told us about his beloved pet cow. When he found out that Jim was a Geologist he plopped two large jars of arrowheads that were found on the grounds. They found enough arrowheads to full 15 jars!

Most people know the Ragapple Lassie wines by their interesting shaped bottles:

Frank's wife chose the bottle by ordering samples from all over the world. She lined them up and smashed the ones she didn't like until their was only one left. This bottle came from Italy.

All of their wines were fantastic, but we purchased a bottle of their Kaleidoscope Red, Kaleidoscope Gold and their Pinot Gris. The Kaleidoscope wines are blends, as you could probably guess. They experienced a freeze and had a limited supply of grapes, so they just blended everything together. The result is divine!

NC's Finest (so far)

2008-07-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

On our way to Blowing Rock, NC Jim and I stopped at a couple of NC's finest wineries in the Yadkin Valley.

The first stop was the RayLen Vineyards. The first thing we saw was a gigantic moss covered silo that appeared to be home to many birds. Unfortunately, no one at the winery seemed to know the original use of the silo.

You have 3 tasting options: The red flight, which includes selections such as The Carolinius and Category 5. The white flight includes their Barrel Chardonnay, Viognier, and Yadkin Gold. We opted for the Complete Flight which included all wines from the red and white flight as well as selections from the reserve cellars. Though this is a fairly young winery (they opened in 2001) all of their wines had a strong,distinct flavor. We LOVED the cabernet sauvingnon and the Barrel Chardonay. We also bought the Category 5, which has an image of hurricane hugo on it.

Westbend Vineyards was up next. This is one of NC's oldest wineries and it is very well established. You have probably seen their wine on the shelves in grocery stores and Total Wine. Next time you see it,pick up a bottle, chances are you are going to love it! Along with the tasting, you also get a very thorough tour,which actually starts as a stroll through the vines themselves. We bought a bottle of their reserve cabernet sauvignon.

Next, we went to the The Bannerl Elk Winey. This is another very young winery that surprised me. Their whites were their strong point and we bought a bottle of the Seval Blanc. We also bought a couple of glasses to drink on the porch while we listened to folk music and took in the mountainous scenery. This winery may be hard to find, but once you do it willbe well worth it.

New Wine-ing Feature!

2008-03-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

Jim and I created a Photocast of our Winery Adventures! Subscribe to it now!

Winery Photocast

Re-Discovering Iron Gate Merlot

2008-02-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Jim grilled up some chicken and steak kabobs today and I was tasked with choosing a wine. I'm in "winter" mode,so I am partial to reds at the moment. I pulled out the Iron Gate Merlot and I am SO glad that I did! I had tasted this wine back in the summer when Jim and I trekked out to Mebane to go to the Iron Gate Winery.

The Iron Gate Merlot is quite possibly the best thing ti ever come out of Mebane. It went well the with chicken, the steak, the veggies and even the jalapeno potato chips I had been snacking in. We still had couple glasses left over after dinner and it went swimmingly well with chocolate and biscotti. This wine goes with EVERYTHING! We plan to take another trip back there to get more, and have another one of their very generous wine tastings. Yum!

Two Wineries on the Haw River Trail

2008-01-13T05:45:00.000-08:00

Jim and I were heading to Greensboro to visit a friend, so we decided to check out some wineries on the Haw River Trail.

Our first stop: Benjamin Vineyards

They had a nice little picnic area and an old grape press on their porch. Very cute!

This vineyard planted thir first vines in 2002. The land used to be owned by a tobacco farmer. We were most impressed by their oaked Chardonnay, their '06 Chardonel and their spiced wine. We bought a bottle each of the Chardonnay and the Chardonel and plan to return next holiday season to pick up the holiday spice.

Although the wine was good, I think I was more impressed by the cool art on the walls.

Then, we hit the GlenMarie Winery

This was a cozy little winery, but the bar was a little high. I felt like I was at a bank, or something, where I almost have to get on my tiptoes to reach over the counter.

This winery makes all of their wines in stainless steel vats, no barrels. As a result, I wasn't too fond of the wines, because I prefer the oak-y taste, but they still had some good stuff. My favorite was the "Summer Promise" which is a blend of four white wines. We also liked the Chambourcin and purchased a bottle of that as well.

The clear winner of the two was Benjamin Vineyards, but I was a little dissapointed overall. I'd like to come back to these wineries in a few years once their vines mature.

Who put this wine in my quonset?

2007-10-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today, Jim, Candy (Jim's Mom) and I drove out Pittsboro to Visit the Silk Hope Winery. This area of Pittsboro was named Silk Hope because some Quakers settlednthere in hopesof making it big in the silk industry. Well, the Quakers are still there, but the silk dreams were a bust. All is well, at least they have a good vineyard. Wait, do Quakers drink?

I truly though the The Secret Garden Winery was going to win the award for smallest winery in NC. It was in a trailer! Well, this winery was in a quonset:

The Silk Hope Winery is a family run operation. the vineyard is about 2 acres. For four bucks, we got to taste four wines and we also got to keep the glass. This winery focused on red wines, we actually only tasted one white, their White Chambourcin. However, their strongest wine was the Red Roots. It's 50% Chambourcin, 40% Touriga and 10% Cabernet Franc. An awesome, flavorful combination.

This winery may be small, but it does have personality. I personally liked this sign:

Jim and our wine merchant:

Though this winery is far from fancy, we think it's worth the trip. May want to call before you go, appointments aren't needed on the weekends, but weekdays are up in the air. You can find info about the Silk Hope Winery here

Long Island Wineries

2007-09-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

In all the craziness of our trip to NY, my friend Lisa, was able to take us out to the Long Island Wine Country for a few hours.

All of the wineries are really close to eachother, so it's easy to hit a bunch in one day, or in our case, a few hours. I think our livers could only handle 3, especially since the last ones gave us LOTS of wine.

1st, we hit up Paumanok Vineyards. It was crowded, and we couldn't get a word in edgewise to find out more about the winery, but they had a fabulous chardonnay, a nice deck to hang out on and a gorgeous view.

Next, we hit up Clovis Vineyards, which was a little bit smaller, but we got more attention in the tasting room. Again, an excellent chardonnay.

Our last stop was Pellegrini Vineyards. I was little bit drunk by the time we got to this one, and their hefty tasting glasses didn't help. The cool thing about this winery, was that you could choose which wines you wanted to taste, go sit in their beautiful courtyard, and their staff brought out your tasting glasses to you. I wish other wineries would do this.

It was odd to visit 3 different wineries and not hear the words " . . .and THIS is our muscadine wine!"

I finally found a rose that I like!

2007-07-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

I've never been a big fan of Roses, also knows as White Zinfandels. The first White Zin that I ever tasted was the Biltmore Estate White Zin. I thought it tasted like a Jolly Rancher and it just left a bad taste in my mouth for all White Zins, untilnow.

This past weekend I visited the Raffaldini Winery in Ronda, NC (http://www.raffaldini.com/). Next to the Biltmore, I have to say this is the most popular one we've visited. I mean, it was PACKED. I don't know how, but we managed to get to the tatsing bar rather quickly. Unfortunately, we were a tad rushed, so the only wine I really remember was the Rose, called the Chiara. We will be returning for 2 reasons: 1) I visited this winery sans Jim and 2) they are building a new tasting room, no doubt to accomodate the weekend crowds.

Beautiful Scenery!

Got to keep the glass!

I can't wait to see the new tasting room when it's finished!

The Rock of Ages Winery and The Winery at Iron Gate Farm

2007-06-24T05:47:00.001-07:00

The Rock of Ages winery was not easy to find. It's located in Hurdle Mills, NC, which is outside of Roxboro. This is what I call REAL North Carolina. There are farms everyway: robacco, corn, and a lot of dairy farms. Very beautiful and peaceful. We got turned around about 3 or 4 times, but it was worth it. The Rock of Ages Winery is the most beautiful winery in NC we've seen so far. The arcitecture of the building was amazing and the inside was decorated in beautiful marble with copper ceilings. Maybe Jim and could have our wedding reception here? ;) We were greeted by the quintessential sassy southern woman who gave us a short tour and tasting. We tasted 7 wines and we even tasted the owner's special BBQ sauce. We bought a bottle of the Cork and Pork wine as well as a bottle of the Chardonnay. I was secretly hoping that Rock of Ages winery got it's name from the Def Leapoard song, but it was actually named after a Baptist Hymn. I guess this shouldn't surprise me, as they do make communion wine for several local Baptist churches.

Our Sassy Southern wine lady informed us that we were a mere 15 minutes away from The Winery at Iron Gate Farm. This winery was a little smaller,but very beautiful as well. It's an old wooden structure with outside seating for events. They were having a Blues band coming that evening. There is also a large indoor seating area where they host muder mystery dinners in the winter. We tasted 9 wines. Our favorites were their merlot and their Flue Fire muscadine wine, we bought a bottle of each. The name "Iron Gate" is very fitting as they have an electric fence surrounding their grapevines. Definitely the most SECURE winery we've seen. ;)

NC Wine Events

2007-05-25T03:34:00.001-07:00

I've had severalpeople ask me about NC wine events. I'm super-excited that peole have been reading our blog about NC wines! Here's a link to help you find local wine events:

http://www.localwineevents.com/

Also, here's a link to the savor the Vine Tours. These tours usually start at the Chatham Hill Winery and include 2-3 other winery stops. It's a pretty good deal!

http://www.savorthevine.com/

Shelton Write Up

2007-05-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Shelton Write-up is complete. At least, I hope so! We'llsee what Jim says. :)

Scoring Free Wine at Bianca's

2007-05-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

My job at Bianca's was the reason I started getting into wine. When you work in fine dining, it's helpful to a) have basic knowlege of wines and what they should be paired with or b)pretend that you do! The easiest wine for me to sell was the Biltmore Estate's White Zinfandel because of the name. Also, people are less intimidated by sweeter wines like White Zin.

Even though I hadn't been to Bianca's in over a year, I was still able to use my card for a free half-caraf of house wine (or $5.00 off of a bottle). Everyone who dines at Bianca's gets this card with their check and it never expires! It's the most easy and most delicious way to score free wine!

A Secret Garden Winery

2007-04-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

On our way back from our weekend trip to Harker's Island, we stopped at A Secret Garden Winery in Pikeville, NC. This is the smallest winery we've been to so far, as well as the youngest. The owner, Linda, opened the winery about two years ago. Wine Making used to be a hobby for her, but now it is her full-time job. It is obvious that she loves her work. She is committed to an organic wine-making process. All of the wines are fermented naturally and no sulfites are added.

Linda gave us a great behind the scene tour which included her own "secret garden", her coi pond, which she has had for 15 years. We got to taste 6 wines, including a sneak peak at her Falling Creek Peach, which was still in the barrel!

The wines are mostly very sweet and I would consider them all dessert wines. We bought a boottle of the Hush Hush Blush and the Golden Harvest.

Getting Back to Business

2007-04-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

As most of you probably know, my brother recently passed away, putting the Winery project on the back-burner. However, I feel a new inspiration to actually complete this project. Life is short and we may not have the time that we need to complete our goals. The book will be dedicated to Dan.

Jim, Elisa, James and I are headed to Harker Island this weekend and we plan on hitting A Secret Garden Winery on the way home.

http://www.asecretgardenwinery.com/intro.htm

Thanks to everyone for your support.

It begins!

2007-04-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

If you are at this blog, then you probably already know about and our plan. Jim and I have decided to visit all 62 wineries in NC, and just to make it even more interesting, we will be writing a book about it! Right now the publication date is TBA, obviously, but keep up with this blog for updates on our book and notes about our winery adventures.

I've already written our introduction and Jim and I have assembled our notes from Shelton Vineyards and the Biltmore Estate. We've already had one disagreement about the formatting, so it's sure to be even more of an adventure from here on out!

NC Wineries Visited so far:
The Biltmore Estate
Shelton Vineyards
Chatham Hill Winery