2018 Weekend 4

This weekend we got a late start partially because we knew we weren't going far because we decided to stay in SC so we could talk to a couple of the wineries about our up coming SC Wine Competition and partially because we had some errands to run before we could start the weekend fun. Our first errand was of course the standard grocery trip everyone has to make once a week. We then headed to Brown's Meats on Union Street (formerly Eastside Meats). We were thrilled that at meat market had open back up in Spartanburg. We purchased some pinwheels - pork lion sliced long ways and stuffed with Italian sausage and rolled up. We also bought some pickles to take to a friend of ours that loves spicy pickles. We left there and headed to another meat market in Spartanburg County, Foster's Meats, where we met Jennifer McAbee who is part of the Foster family. We found out all sorts of fun stuff from Jennifer. They are producing sausage for a couple of farms using local to the farm wines, some using beer from local breweries and also some from local distilleries. This information was very intriguing to us and we are going to follow up on these and hopefully go visit the farms in the near future. She also told us of a Cidery that is hopefully going to be open to the public in the near future as well. We hope to get to speak with the cidery owner and do a feature blog on him when it gets close to his grand opening. So stay tuned!

First winery stop was Enoree River Vineyard and Winery in Newberry. We drove up we were greeted by the three dogs, Dusty, Tipsy and Maggie. We had a nice visit with Richard and they have some lovely wines! We shared a bottle of their great Gewurztraminer. We also got to sample a couple of wines that we had not had there before Saturday. The Sweet Tipsy Rose is 1/3 Carlos, 1/3 Vinifera White and 1/3 Vinifera Red. While discussing this wine with Claudia, Richard's daughter, she couldn't remember the exact varietals that were used and Richard and Dennis were deep in conversation and we didn't want to interrupt. This is a very lovely wine that would be great to have on a warm summer day sitting on the porch. Another I got to try was the Curiously White it is named that because they are not certain of the muscadine varietal. The reason is that they had thought that they purchased all Carols vines and when the grapes matured they discovered several vines were something else. Again, it's a fun wine that I think would be great in the summer or possibly make a terrific wine slushy. The wines are great, everyone at the winery is super nice including the dogs, apparently they have a cat named Robin, but I don't believe I've seen her. We missed seeing Laura on this trip though. But Pack the Porch will be returning soon so hopefully we will get to see her then!

Dusty

Tipsy

Magg

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We left Enoree River and after a stop to pick up some dinner we headed to Old Rock Quarry in Enoree, to visit with Debbie, Linda and Lindy. They were rather busy but we had a nice visit with Deb and Lindy. Poor Linda was stuck inside. Debbie & Lindy were in and out but we were still able to discuss the wine competition with Debbie. We had our dinner and shared a bottle of the Snap Apple Sassy (and brought one home). There was a birthday party outside and I'm not sure what the ladies inside were celebrating, but they sure had a good time! Sadly it was time to go home. If you have not been there, you really should. These 3 really make everyone feel like old friends and family.

Sunday after church and family lunch, we headed to Overmountain to take Sophia her pickles. We were pleasantly surprised at how busy they were for a rainy Sunday afternoon. We shared a bottle of the Camilla, which is their white table wine. Got to talk to some lovely people from Gastonia and hope we get to see them again! I kept thinking when I saw them that I knew them from somewhere. Turns out they had been at Cat's Paw a couple of weeks ago when we were there. Was so great to see them at another winery we love. 

Upon leaving Overmountain Dennis wanted to go to Biltmore and since we're pass holders he didn't have to twist my arm very much. We thought they were open until 9 but winter hours are only until 7. Our very nice and super fun waitress Jyll totally helped make the trip there for us and we hope that we get to see her again when we go back to celebrate some of our friends anniversary. Regardless of the earlier closing time, we were able to have a nice dinner and a bottle of their Riesling before having to bring this weekend to a close.