The Great Jen-Nis Weekend Winery Escapades: winery

Showing posts with label winery. Show all posts

Monday, January 8, 2018

Abiding Vine Vineyard - Laurens South Carolina

A new vineyard and winery just recently opened in South Carolina. We are very excited to see industry growth in the state and therefore were excited for our first visit. Located on rural family property in Western Laurens county, Abiding Vine is the dream of David Barnes.

David has planted six varieties of muscadine, about 230 plants total. Three whites including Carlos, Magnolia, and Welder, along with three reds, Noble, Creek, and Regale. Plans are to plant additional vines in the near future and also offer some sweeter fruit wines.

David, an educator by trade, is truly enjoying this new venture. He loves to interact with customers and has many interesting stories to share. The small winery has inside seating and a small patio with outdoor seating. The rural setting and good wine make for a very peaceful experience for one that locals and travelers alike are sure to enjoy.

Abiding Vine and CityScape Winery in Pelzer are approximately 30 minutes apart. Siri knows the quick way taking you through some beautiful South Carolina countryside. We highly recommend a Saturday day trip visiting both of these rural craft wineries. Both small businesses are locally owned. Happy weekend wining!

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

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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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

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.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Winery Escapade- Weekend 45

Friday evening we had the pleasure of dining in Tryon, N.C. at an old favorite. The Caro-Mi Dining Room offers family style servings of Southern comfort food in a rustic cabin along the banks of the Pacolet River. The Caro-Mi does not serve alcohol, however brown bagging is allowed with a small service fee. So don’t hesitate to bring a bottle of your favorite local wine. I could perhaps pen an entire post about the Caro-Mi, but why not just go partake in this incredible dining experience for yourself. Keep in mind though, reservations are highly recommended.

Saturday our plan was to visit a couple which we had yet to get to. First stop is one we previously planned to visit, but ran short of time. Little River Winery is a beautiful historic property which also doubles as Summer Duck Farm. Owned by John Georgius, surrounding land acquisitions have expanded the farm to nearly 1400 acres.

The Greek revival style historic home, built in the early 1870’s, sits stately above the entrance driveway and vineyards.

Some of the wines offered which we most enjoyed included a German Riesling, and the silver medal wining Big Johns Red, a bold medium bodied blend with the Crawdad Creek label. Two different Cabernet blends, the silver medal winning Synergy which is 100% estate grown and the Infusion blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Island Breeze, a pineapple wine is also bottled under the Crawdad Creek label. We brought a bottle of the Riesling and the Big John’s Red home to add to our collection.

We left the winery and decided to stop at Town Creek Indian Mound state historic site. The site was incredibly interesting, informative, and fun.

We headed back towards Ablemerle and our final stop of the day, Stony Mountain Vineyards.

The winery sits atop Stony Mountain, part of the Uwharrie Mountain range. The winery offers incredible views from their tasting room and a small deck. The view looks out over the vineyard and valley below and upon a neighboring mountain. We were able to watch deer playing and grazing just below the vineyard. You can see the deer in the below pictures.

Winemaker Ken Furr owns the winery with his wife Marie whom we were fortunate to speak with. Daughter Laura poured our tasting, and we also met son Devron. Devron explained that their Chardonnay is extra crisp, so they like to describe it as more of a ChardonnHEY! European reds and whites are offered, and the winery is making some good fruit wines. The view is awesome and we look forward to getting back one day and taking a tour of the entire property. We enjoyed a bottle of Strawberry at the winery, and brought a bottle of the Songbird Blush home with us.

Sunday our super talented friend Alex Davis was playing at Owls Eye Vineyard. We are saddened that the winery is closing at the end of this month, yet we just couldn’t past the opportunity to see Alex perform. As his website states, Alex certainly isn’t your average piano bar man. Alex is a fellow alum of the University of South Carolina, and one the nicest individuals we know. He plays at wineries up and down the East Coast and certainly has began to build a following. We are thrilled to announce that Alex has agreed to write a guest blog for us. Look for it soon, and check out his Website for upcoming shows and to listen to his original music.

Another weekend Escapade comes to close. One note I want to pass on, as of this weekend Jenni and I have visited a total of 95 North Carolina wineries. We’re looking for recommendations as to which one should be number 100. Hoping to make a big deal out that special visit. Happy Weekend Wining!

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Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Weekend Escapade - week 39 of 2017

Thursday night Jenni and I decided to go to Mountain Brook Vineyards in Tryon for trivia night. Oops! Turns out trivia night is Thursday the following week. We found the winery closed. Luckily for us, we found Owners Dennis and Miriam still at the tasting room shipping wine to out of state customers. After a laugh, We were allowed to purchase a bottle of thier Rosè. We sat and chatted with Dennis and Miriam as we enjoyed our wine. I’ll soon have a new blog post up with a full review of Mountain Brook. It was just wonderful to talk local wineries with them.

Check out these views

Yes, there are horses on site and Jenni can’t leave without showing the horses some love.

Friday night Jenni and I enjoyed a bottle of Barn Owl Red from Owls Eye Vineyard in Shelby, N.C. while relaxing at home on our patio. The weather was perfect for sitting outside. Fall has arrived.

Saturday we headed to Germanton Vineyard and Winery , up above Winston-Salem. Named after the community in which it is located, owners David and Judy Simpson opened way back in 1981. Both David and Judy are cancer survivors by the way. The winery shares a building with their art gallery. David joked that even beyond the fine works of art in the gallery, he and Judy are serious junk collectors.

They have a small organic vineyard on their property just behind the winery, and buy all local grapes and fruit to supplement. Many of their wines have won medals at competitions not only in North Carolina, but also in New York and California. My favorite was the Suana Red which recently won bronze in the Fingers Lakes wine competition. There are many fine works of art to peruse, many with North Carolina themes and several are available for offers. In the gallery are fine art paintings, sculptures, and photographs from some eighty plus different artist. We each had a glass and enjoyed browsing the gallery. The first picture below is a priceless drawing by the owners granddaughter.

Upon leaving, we consulted the Vino Wine app and decided we’d venture further North to Autumn Creek Vineyards.

Autumn Creek Vineyards, located on incredibly beautiful property with thirteen total acres of vines. Planted in the Vineyards are eight varieties, Merlot, Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Cab Franc, Chambourchin, Petit Manseng, and Riesling. The tasting room, pavilion, and cabins all have a modern rustic look. The tasting room is surrounded by a beautiful deck overlooking the lake and surrounding Vineyards.

Autumn Creek offers a large rustic pavilion, and a gazebo by the lake perfect for weddings or other events. Rustic cabins nestled in the vineyards are available for overnight stays. A bottle of their wine is included with each nights stay.

As our Sundays are normally reserved for visiting our local favorites, we drove up to Parker-Binns Vineyards. We love Roberto, Karen, and Dee at Parker-Binns. Our joke is, a bottle of wine, dinner, and entertainment for about $20. Each Sunday, the winery has a local musician playing and bakes pizza in their outdoor brick oven. The pizzas are not sold, just cut in small slices and brought around for everyone to share. Just for information, the pizza is really, really good. We ran into some friends, and met a few new ones, all sat around and discussed wine, real estate, and whatever other subjects came up. The people are just fantastic, the environment just relaxing, the views fantastic, music good, the pizza superb, and the wine is the star of the show. Sundays at Parker-Binns make for a really fun afternoon.