Showing posts with label wine lover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine lover. Show all posts

Friday, February 9, 2018

2018 Weekend 5

So Dennis and had a long and much needed weekend in Savannah. We left Friday morning and headed south. We first stopped at the Angel Oak Tree in Charleston. I have never seen a tree so huge and beautiful.





We decided to go to Deep Waters Vineyard in Charleston and it's a lovely place. Most of the wines are muscadine or a muscadine blend. The blends are muscadine with CA imported grapes. They use two types of muscadine that we had not heard of before, the Tara and the Ison. They have all sorts of animals on the property. Lots of chickens, roosters, ducks, pigs, a goat and bunnies. The goat (who's name I have forgotten) will climb up a spiral staircase in his enclosure to get you to put some food in a little bowl that is attached to a pulley and you send it up to him & he'll eat out of the bowl. We brought a bottle of their Magnolia, just the name of the wine not the varietal of muscadine home with us. This wine is actually made from the Carols grape.














Much to our surprise the Firefly Distillery is on the same property as the winery. So more fun there! We brought some of the Coconut Cake Liquor home. Our other favorite was the Apple Pie moonshine.

We left and headed on down to Savannah. Our hotel was amazing! We had a river view and got to see all sorts of HUGE cargo ships. They have wine and cheese every evening so that was always our appetizers before dinner. Friday night we went to B. Matthews on Bay Street for dinner and then over to Savannah Smiles for dueling pianos. To say that Savannah Smiles was not quite what we were expecting would be a vast understatement. I've been to a few dueling piano shows before but this one was very different. Now, just because I say it was different does not mean it was bad or that we didn't have a good time because we did. It had just been quite the while since either one of us had a hand stamp. LOL! I had also not been to one that the players changed out periodically. There were 4 different pianists and one drummer who played on select songs. We experienced our first bicycle taxi to and from the bar and it had not been SO cold, it would've been a lot of fun. Both of the "drivers" were super friendly. We also brought a bottle of the Southern Duck White home.









Saturday morning after an amazing breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to explore a bit. Again.... if it had not been so cold it would have been terrific! We both ended up buying ear muffs of sorts. The wind was brutal. I had looked at the forecast before we went and thought it would be great weather for Saturday. Not realizing there would be wind. Let me tell you, the wind coming straight off the river is COLD! But as always, we made the best of it. We then headed to Butterducks Winery. They us a combination of NC and California grapes. We had stopped there on our way home from our honeymoon and wanted to revisit. Since the winery is about 30 minutes from Savannah, it was much warmer and less windy. We had a nice time there and met some fun ladies who were enjoying a mommy's day out. Enjoyed a glass each of their White Merlot and cheese and crackers.





Headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went over to Tybee Island to go to the Crab Shack. SOOOO good! I had the low country boil and Dennis had the crab cakes. Both of us were STUFFED! Headed back to the hotel to get ready for our ghost tour. We decided to do The Hearse Ghost Tour because it was simply to cold to do one of the walking ones. Each hearse holds 8 people so we met some fun people. Our tour guide was hysterical! But one note. If you ever do this tour, and choose to sit in the very front, don't sit on the left side of the hearse. Sit on the right. EVERYTHING is on the right.



After another great breakfast on Sunday, sadly we had to leave. There is so much to do in Savannah that I'm not sure even a week would be long enough to do everything. Upon checking out of the hotel., we drove around the city one more time and then headed to Hilton Head to go to Island Winery. (We went to both of these SC wineries because a) they weren't too far out of the way and b) we needed to get them the SC Wine competition information). We found one antique store as we didn't want to arrive exactly at noon when they opened. Between the two of us we got to taste all of their wines. They have some really nice varieties. We each enjoyed a glass and a cheese tray. We met a very lovely lady who was headed to Florida for the month.


Sadly, our fun long weekend had to end and we had to head home. Sorry for the picture overload on this one, I just had to post them all!

More fun to come next week!

#DiscoverSCWines

Thursday, November 2, 2017

South Carolina Winery Reference



As native South Carolinian's, we set out here to provide a reference for each operating destination vineyard and winery in the state. Our research has uncovered 16 operating wineries, 2 soon to open, and 2 cideries. South Carolina offers a challenge to grow the more common European grape varieties, yet many offerings of sweet muscadine and some excellent fruit wines are produced. We encourage as you travel into and through South Carolina, stop and enjoy some of the excellent wines and destination wineries in our state. 

First we'll take a look at the operating wineries with onsite vineyards.

1.  CityScape Winery - Pelzer   (Greenville County)
A small rural boutique winery south of Greenville, operating since 2007 ish. The current owners bought the winery just two years ago. Growing Carlos, Noble, Spanish Black, and Blanc du Bois on site. Josh and Deb, owners and winemakers, also import grapes from the Finger Lakes region. The wineries mascot, is the adorable Pinot the Pig. You can often find him tethered outside the tasting room sporting his super hero costume.

Location: 589 Dunklin Bridge Rd.

Recommendation: Müller Two-Goats  (Müller-Thurgau)

 



Mountain vineyard and winery styled after a French chateau, offering a bistro with gorgeous views of the mountains overlooking their vineyard. Growing several varieties of vinifera wines, which can be enjoyed with lunch from their gorgeous terrace. 


Location: 1360 S. Saluda Rd.
Recommendation: Sangria



3. Enoree River Vineyards and Winery - Newberry

Open 11 plus years now and still going strong, vineyard and winery sit just off Interstate 26 about 30 miles Northwest of Columbia. Growing Carlos and Noble, plus Herbemont and Lenoir on site, offers several handcrafted blends and fruit wines along 
with several seasonal wines available. The winery offers a spacious tasting room and beautiful porch overlooking the vineyards, perfect for relaxing with a bottle of good wine.

Location: 1650 Dusty Rd.
Recommendation: Elderberry



4. Mercer House Estate Winery - Lexington


The Winery at Mercer House is a rural estate winery. Many muscadine and blends are offered, along with a few very unique wines. Perhaps Mercer House most unique offering is the Bloody Mary wine.  

Location: 397 Walter Rawl Rd.
Recommendation: Sagaree




Working vineyard and winery serving the Grand Strand area. The vineyard is popular among the millions of visitors each year to the Myrtle Beach and surrounding Grand Strand area.  Home to the Twisted Sisters wine brand.

Location: 1120 St. Joseph Rd.
Recommendation:  Cabana Boy "Just Peachy"


Charleston area's only Vineyard and Winery, originally Irvin - House Vineyard. Nestled among the live oaks just outside of Charleston. Fryfly distillery is right next door. 

Location: 6775 Bears Bluff Rd.
Recommendation:  Magnolia


Not a destination winery, a working vineyard which doesn't support a tasting room. Their wines are sold at local farmers markets. 

Location: Pee Dee Farmers Market, Florence
Recommendation: Southern Sunrise

The wineries listed below are operating without support of their own vineyard. Many are using locally sourced fruit and each is unique in it's own way while providing a destination to relax and enjoy some good wine. 


Small craft winery nestled on farm land just Southeast of Charlotte. 

Location: 1567 Fayrene Rd., Rock Hill
Recommendation: Strawberry Sensation




Small rural craft Winery in Spartanburg county located just off Interstate 26. Offering a diverse selection of sweet fruit wines. 

Location: 629 Old Rock Quarry Rd., Enoree
Recommendation: Snap Apple Sassy



The following three are urban wineries in the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand area.
All three are in high tourist shopping venues.


Location: Barefoot Landing, N. Myrtle 
Recommendation: Bare-Foot Blush


Location: Boardway at the Beach
Recommendation: Wine Slushie


Location: Broadway at the Beach
Recommendation: Wine Slushie

One urban winery can be found on Hilton Head Island. 


Location: 12A Cardinal Rd. 
Recommendation: Peach on the Beach

Plus one craft winery just off I-26. 


Not a destination winery, open only by appointment offers hand crafted wines for tasting and purchase. 

15. Bowman Vineyards - Round O

A family owned vineyard growing several muscadine varieties. 


Location: 17144 Augusta Hwy.                    (Outside of Walterboro)

Recommendation: Palmetto Blush


16. Abiding Vine Vineyard - Lauren’s 

This winery just opened but had been in planning for almost 10 years. 


Two planned wineries are awaiting state licensing.


17. Wellborn Winery

18. Hoptown Winrry


It is our understanding that Palmetto Pickup Wines in Cowpens is currently in the process of closing up for good and therefore we are not including in this reference. Wines possibly remain available for purchase at the location just off I-85. 

Duplin Winery operates a tasting room in Myrtle Beach however this is a North Carolina based Vineyard and Winery. 

Mira Winery Napa Valley   operates a tasting room in the historic district of Charleston on King St. allowing for the tasting of thier Napa Valley produced wines. 

South Carolina also had two operating cideries.  

Windy Hill Apple Orchard and Cidery
in York is alway busy during the fall Apple harvest season.  

Ships Wheel Hard Cider operates in the historic district of Charleston on King St. 




Whichever portion of beautiful South Carolina you find yourself, one of our state wineries will be near. Check the VinoWine app for details and directions. 

Along I-85

If in the Greenville area, visit CityScape Vineyards in Pelzer. 

Along I-26

Just outside of Spartanburg visit Old Rock Quarry Winery in Enoree. 

In the Columbia area visit The Winery at Mercer House in Lexington and Enoree River Vineyards in Newberry.

In the Charleston area visit Deep Water Vineyards on Wadmalar Island and Ships Wheel Cidery in Charleston.

Along I-77

In the Rock Hill / Charlotte area visit Cats Paw Winery in Rock Hill, SC and Windy Hill Apple Orchard and Cidery in York.

Along I-20

In the Florence area visit Hyman Vineyards at the Pee Dee Farmers Market.

Please view map below for South Carolina Winery Association members. 



Happy Weekend Wining! 



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