Winery Escapade Weekend #50

Well this weekend due to a family event we decided to keep it local. All the wineries we visited we have written a blog about in the past. With that being said, here's what we did this weekend. 

After the family Christmas get together at my Aunt's house, we headed over to City Scape Winery. We each had a glass, I had the Green Apple Gewürztraminer and Dennis had Müller Two-Goats. We also brought a bottle of the Winemaker's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon home. 

We then headed to Mountain Brook Vineyards for a little Christmas Caroling. We enjoyed a bottle of the Rambunctious Rosé while singing carols with Brin & Mir. For this vocalist who isn’t getting a lot of performance time these days, this was a lot of fun. Also, while we were there, Ruah was grazing in the vines. We also saw some deer beside the driveway but due to it being overcast, the deer were blending into the woods to much for me to get a good picture. 

From there we stopped to grab something for dinner and then we headed to Old Rock Quarry Winery. As always, the wine and the company was wonderful. Had a nice visit with Debbie, Lindy and Linda. We brought a bottle of the Snap Apple Sassy and a bottle of the Strawberry Kisses home with us.

Sunday morning we went to church and then we finally took some time to do a little bit of Christmas decorating. Better late than never, right? After doing that we decided it was time to go to Biltmore for a little bit as we bought season passes and hadn’t used them yet. While on the way we decided that it had been way to long since we had been to Burntshirt Vineyards, so we made a little detour. We each had a glass of their Apple Wine and brought a bottle home. 

We then made our way to Biltmore Winery and decided to do a tasting again. MaryAnn was our server and she was very knowledgeable as well as very friendly. We met a sweet cute couple who were also doing a tasting at the same time. She apparently likes wine more than he does, but he was a good sport and was trying to learn more about it. We brought both the Christmas White and the Christmas Red, (signed by the label artist – he was there signing bottles – happy coincidence for us!)  home with us as well as a bottle of the 2016 Limited Release Chenin Blanc. After the tasting we went over to the wine bar and shared a charcuterie and cheese board as well as a bottle of Zinfandel Blanc de Noir. 

We drove around the property for a little bit & then headed to see the lights at the Christmas House in Inman, SC. When it comes to Christmas light displays, I swear we are like 2 little kids. We drove through 3 times!

Sadly after that is was time to go home & prepare for this work week. Until next weekend we wish you all a Merry Christmas and as always, good wine!

Winery Escapade- Weekend 48 2017

Wow this past weekend so much fun! Honestly I did not want it to end! We left early Friday afternoon and headed to Elkin, NC.

Our first winery stop was at Grassy Creek Vineyard. We had a blast with Wayne and Joyce chatting and learning about the property. We brought several bottles of wine home with us, with 3 that are going to be Christmas gifts, a t-shirt for me and a horse shoe for Dennis. The entire property was horse pasture and the tasting room was a horse stable once upon a time.

 We left there with a recommendation from Joyce to have dinner at Southern on Main. Man was she right! The food was fantastic and our waitress was terrific! I had pork medallions and Dennis had crab cakes. Neither one disappointed. Even though we were rather full, we diet splurged and shared a Crème Brûlée for dessert. Then we walked around downtown Elkin as it was Light it Up Friday. 

Saturday morning started out with breakfast at Breakfastime which was right beside out hotel. We left there and wandered around Antique Mall of the Foothills that was near by. First of all, the store is deceptively large. It just kept going and going. We were in there for well over an hour and I am certain that we missed a lot of good stuff. We came home with 2 gorgeous blue wine glasses, a beautiful crystal heart paper weight for my desk and a super cute snowman that lights up. 

From there we headed to Midnight Magdalena Vineyards. This is a rather young vineyard but man were the wines good. Apparently there was a 7 vineyard event going on that you could visit them all and taste what is called a vertical flight of one of each of the vineyards wines. Midnight Magdalena was doing their Merlot, 2017, 2016 & 2015. Unfortunately we didn't know about that event, but we were able to do the vertical flight at Midnight Magdalena. The winery is owned by a set of sisters and their husbands. The venue itself is beautiful and Krista (one of the sisters) was a delight! We enjoyed a glass each and listened to some live music. 

Our next stop was Dobbins Creek Vineyard which was our 100th NC winery stop since this journey began. Dennis will be posting a special blog about this stop. We met our friends Will & Pam there along with fellow bloggers The NC Wine Guys. 

Our final stop of the day was at Laurel Gray Vineyards. We shared wine and laughter with Will & Pam and brought a bottle of the Peach wine & their BBQ sauce home wtith us. Dennis & I have a soft spot for peach wine. 

Sunday started with breakfast at the hotel and then we had to go on a quest for tennis shoes for me as some how I had a shoe blow out. After finding the shoes we headed to  Jones von Drehle Vineyards. This is a lovely family vineyard that has 30 acres under vine. We spent some time chatting with one of the owners, Chuck Jones. The property is so lovely and they have some amazing wines. We brought a few bottles home (yes we brought SEVERAL bottles home this trip). 

                

Next up was Mcritchie Vineyards and Ciderworks. We had a lovely time there and brought some wine and cider home. We got to chat with Sean McRitchie for a little bit.

                           

And our final stop for the weekend was Slightly Askew Wines The original purpose for stopping was to get a bottle of the Spiker Dude. We ended up doing a tasting again and getting 2 bottles of the one we went after. 

As you can tell the weekend was full and we had a blast! 

100 is Grand! Our 100th North Carolina Winery

Our 100th North Carolina Winery. Woo Hoo! Back when I wrote our bio for WineryEscapades.Com,  I penned the following.

It's safe to say our hobby has turned into an obsession. What started as a way to spend time together, has turned into a way of life.  Our ultimate goal is to promote fun at local wineries.

That in a nutshell is how this adventure began and remains our focus. Our escapades the past two years so far have taken us to visit local wineries in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and even Florida. It has however, been in North Carolina where most of our weekend winery escapade fun has been found. 

The winery industry in North Carolina has exploded. One hundred and eighty-six wineries are listed in the 2017 North Carolina Winery Guide. Jack Nales with North Carolina Agriculture Department recently advised that the current unconfirmed count is at or near two hundred North Carolina wineries,  Thereso, this weekend we celebrated the halfway point, visiting for us North Carolina winery number one hundred! 

We were honored to have friends join us to celebrate. Fellow bloggers and friends Matt and Joe, The NC Wine Guys, along with our winery adventure friends Will and Pam Rotz. We all enjoyed a tasting, which cost $8.00 and included about eight different wines. 

Dobbins Creek Vineyards was a great choice for number 100. The log cabin tasting room sits atop Hemric Mountain offering spactacular views of the Swan Creek and Brushy Mountains of the Yadkin Valley  On a clear day, from the tasting room one can see the skyline of Winston-Salem some 40 plus miles away. 

Inside the tasting room, quite a crowd was enjoying wine and warmth from the stone fireplace. The nostalgic vocals of Elegantly Altered set the festive mood. 

This journey began a little over two years ago with our first winery visit together at Burntshirt Vineyards in Hendersonville. Burntshirt will forever be special to us as their Meritage was our wedding toast wine. There have been ninety-eight others in between and we have thoroughly enjoyed every weekend winery escapade. We encourage you to check our website and read about our winery escapades as we strive to visit each and every local winery in the South and beyond. Happy weekend wining!

Jenni & Dennis

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Winery Escapades Weekend 47

This past weekend was full of fun! We started Friday by trying to locate some fajita seasoning but for reason the part of the Blue Ridge Parkway we needed to go to was closed. So.... Dennis & regrouped and decided to go to one of our favorite wineries in Morganton, Belle Nicho. Janet and Bridget are so fun. We had a bottle of the Sweet Dog Red and ended up bringing home 2 additional bottles - a bottle of Sweet Dog Red & a bottle Catawba.

From there we went to Urban Orchard Cider Co in Asheville. They had GREAT cider as well as some tasty heavy appetizers.

Saturday morning I had to sing at a funeral so we got a little later start that we had planned, but still managed to make to see Shannon at Mercer House Estate Winery. We are working on a couple of projects that involve Shannon so we needed to go see him. We did a tasting there as it had been over a year since we did a tasting there. We brought home a bottle of the Blue Perry and the Bloody Mary (sounds strange I know but it's really good if you like bloody mary's!). We left there and stopped by Hollow Creek Distillery that we just happened to see a sign for on our way to see Shannon. Meredith did our tasting and tour. We bought 3 bottles, 2 for us and one as a gift - 1 Simply Strawberry which is a brandy & 1 bottle of Salted Carmel. The gifted one was also the Simply Strawberry. We left there and went to watch the Carolina / Clemson game with some of Dennis' buddies.

Sunday after church and lunch, we headed to Parker-Binns to a charity event they were having. The winery partnered with Warming the View for a coat drive. Talk about a small world! We walk in to hand off the coats we had brought to donate and who is there for Warming the View but Lisa Nyberg Moser! She and Dee are best friends! Dennis and I had a good time listening to Champagne Charlie and sharing a bottle of the Pea Ridge Red.

We left Parker-Binns and stopped by Russian Chapel Hills and had a nice visit with Alla, Andre and the dogs.  

Winery Escapade Weekend 46

This past weekend was a lot of fun! Friday night we checked out a new restaurant in downtown Spartanburg called Mezcal. It was really nice and the food was great. We then checked out the new wine bar, Bond Street Wines, also in downtown Spartanburg. We met some fun people and had a very nice Merlot there.

Saturday morning started with breakfast at The Crepe Factory. So very tasty! We then headed toward the Charlotte area. Took a short detour to the antique store in Grover. Found some very nice wine glasses, a neat ice bucket and a lovely antique ring for me.

From there we headed to Newton, NC to meet our friends Will & Pam at Catawba Farms Winery.

The tasting room has not been open very long, only since August, but man do they have several lovely wines, the 4 of us shared a bottle of the Peach for the Stars and the Puh-leezeling - both of which came home with us! We also shared a cheese plate that consisted of pita bread, pimento cheese, a beer cheese, and hummus that was so very good!. We WILL be going back!

On the property there is a lovely bed & breakfast called the Peacock Inn at Catawba Farms. We hope to get to stay there sometime. Room rates are very reasonable.

On the 34 acres of the Farms, there are peacocks, this is Henry

bunnies,

 goats,

pigs,

chickens,

one rooster,

2 cats - Sister Kitty & Lily Mouse

and one horse whose name is Major Tom

Michael (pictured with the rooster), one of the partners, was kind enough to let us meet all the animals on the property & tell us some of the history of the property and the winery.

We spent quite a while here, looking at animals and enjoying time and wine with our friends. I strongly recommend this winery to anyone who loves good wine, fun with friends and animals.