South Creek Vineyards & Winery - Nebo (Morganton), NC

Saturday August 19, 2017 - Jenni and I visited the Morganton area and our first stop was South Creek Vineyards and Winery. 

A Bordeaux style winery, owner James Rowley shared with us tales of a recent visit to several French Bordeaux Vineyards. A learning experience to ensure their wines are living up to the standard. 

Highly recommend a full tasting, costing $10. Each wine should be experienced and you're certain to find one to your liking. My favorite was the Cabernet Sauvignon and I also enjoyed the Cabernet Franc. Trust me, I'm a true Cab Sauv Snob, and this one is good. 

 The winery has a nice shaded patio, where we enjoyed a glass while listening to the smooth sounds of singer, songwriter, storyteller, and musician Thomas Aaron Garlow.

We chatted with Dana Kendall, owner/executive driver of Asheville Premier Transportation. She had chauffeured a large bridal party in for a tasting.

South Creek is well worth a visit, a little slice of Southern France in Nebo. Happy weekend Wining!  Dennis

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Old Rock Quarry Winery

So kind of on a whim Dennis & I decided to go to Old Rock Quarry Winery. Best decision ever! We met Debbie & Lindy Glidden. Sadly for us, the other owner, Linda, wasn't there. We laughed, shared & tasted wine. She told us a story about Grapa from Germany that was also too spicy to drink. At the end of our tasting she asked which of their wines was our Grapa. We told her none! They have mostly sweet wines but we loved them all! A bottle of their Plum Crazy & one of the Snap Apple Sassy came home to the Turner wine collection. This is one that we will visit many more times!

Update: 9/8/2017 from Jenni:

We started our weekend with a second visit to Old Rock Quarry in Enoree after dinner since they're open until 8 of Friday and Saturday. While the attached picture is not so flattering of me, I wanted you to "meet" the two lovely ladies that own the winery, Debbie and Linda. To say we love these 2 ladies would be an understatement. They are so funny and sweet! I would encourage all of you to make the drive (short from Spartanburg, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Clinton and Columbia) to see these two. We shared a bottle of their peach, brought a bottle of that and a bottle of their Snap Apple Sassy home.

Now that the weather is cooler, Old Rock quarry has a really cool gas fire pit to help keep warm. The tables are made from wooden large cable spools and have a cut out in the center for the ice bucket to keep your bottle chilled. All makes for a really nice evening experience.

Happy Weekend Wining!

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Douglas Vineyards, Kannapolis NC

Finishing up this past Saturday, August 12th, 2017, we all headed over to Douglas Vineyards   We'll really fond of Douglas Vineyards, a true family owned small farm vineyard.  This was our second time visiting, we were glad to see that they were very busy. The first time we visited, it was late and not as busy. The owners have a beautiful lab, and he was jumping up with his front paws on the bar as if to say, "hey what about me?"  We were able to find a really good groupon, to include tastings, souvenir glass, and one bottle of wine, so look for it.  Douglas is growing muscadine on site, and are also making some good fruit wines.  My favorites were the Blush, which is semi-dry, the Apple Sauce, the Starting Point (Strawberry), and the Just Peachy.  A bottle of the Apple Sauce came home with us.  The winery has a beautiful porch with tables, and some nice adirondack chairs scattered about under some shade trees. A very relaxing place to sit and enjoy a bottle with friends.  Loved this note from their website, "when you visit the “D” you are not just indulging in some delicious wine, you are becoming a member of our family."

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Cougar Run Winery, Concord, N.C.

Saturday, August 12th, 2017. Jenni. I, and our friends left CABO and headed over to Cougar Run Winery  a few blocks from downtown in Concord. Cougar Run is again an urban winery. Cougar has more the feel of a local tavern, allowing the opportunity to sit around the bar. I noticed Cougar also had a large event room. Reading on the website, the proprietors sound so much like us. They attended a wine festival, fell in love the idea of making their own, and turned a hobby into a business. Our wine server was a lot of fun and the whole place has the feel of a friendly neighborhood tavern.  As to the wines,  I liked the Gentle Spirit (Bergamais), the Predator (Merlot), and the Blue Ridge Road Trip, a good red blend. However, the star of this tasting, and the bottle which went home with us, is the Telling Secrets, a Peach Chardonnay.  Happy Weekend Wining! #NCWine

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September is NC Wine Month

NC Wine Guys just blogged about NC Wine Month Kickoff Event.  September is NC Wine Month. We'll hoping to be involved and share our thoughts and encouragement about visiting NC Wineries. Read what  NC Wine Guys wrote about the event.

Cabo

This weekend we went to Cabo Winery in Concord this weekend. Although we had been there before, friends who met us there had not. We had such a lovely time there! They have several wines that we enjoyed although we only took 2 bottles home. They also had a fantastic cheese - cheddar vegetable that the next time we are up that way, and take a small cooler with us, will be going home with us. They're tasting room is not on a vineyard, it is actually in downtown Concord. The quaint shop has the feel of an old time cafe to me. The staff is a lot of fun and laughed and cut up with us while we did our tasting. What they say on their website is very true -  relaxed atmosphere not snobbish (www.cabowine.com).

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Mountain Brook Vineyards

Jenni and I were busy this weekend with wedding things.....but we managed to slip away Sunday and visit Mountain Brook Vineyards in Tryon. We enjoyed a bottle of their Rosé while sitting on the upstairs patio. Weather was a little cool but overall sunny and nice. We spoke with both owners, and they shared with us some cheese and crackers. They explained that they had hosted a cheese and wine pairing on Saturday. We then finished up with some chocolate chip cookies they also shared. The tasting room is small and upstairs, with a couple of tables on the patio. The owners shared with us that they will be moving the tasting room soon to the house which sits at the top of the hill. This will give more room and offer some excellent mountain views. I'd absolutely recommend placing this small boutique winery on your list of the HWY 9 vineyards.

The HWY 9 vineyards you ask? The five are Russian Chapel Hills, OverMountain Vineyards, Mountain Brook, Green Creek, & Parker-Binns.

Happy Weekend Wining!

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