Road Trip + Sisters + Wine = FUN!

Well, Liz and I had our first wine tasting road trip together, and I have to chalk up another successful run of the NC wineries! One of the things I especially took note of this time was how unique every winery is, and how they each bear the stamp of their owners in the decor and ambience. They all have a story to tell, and most of them involve families. I think every one we went to had pictures or photo albums showing families pitching in at harvest time, including kids and grandkids. We also discovered what a close-knit community the Yadkin Valley grape growers are. They all know one another, and since it's still a fairly young industry in this area, many started off pitching in at the older ones, interning and learning until they could get their own vines in the ground and pick their first harvest.
Another find this trip was Chambourcin. You may recall from the last trip my exciting discovery of Viognier, which is seems our state is becoming quite well-known for. Well, nearly every winery we went to also had Chambourcin, which to me, is like the red version of Viognier. It's the lighter, fruitier cousing of the wines you're probably more familiar with, and is a great entry into the "real" wine world for those who are still struggling to move past White Zinfandel or Arbor Mist! It's a really jammy yummy round-tasting red... check it out!

We also learned that the original spelling of "Yadkin" was "Yattken", which is Native American for "Land beside muddy water". If you've ever seen the Yadkin River, you know how appropriate this is.

Before we get started, I should just note that my rule of thumb for purchases is this: only if I can't get it in Raleigh do I buy it during the trip, and even though, only if I'm bowled over by it. I tasted more wines that I loved than those I didn't, but if I bought every one, the car would clink all the way home, and I could only afford to do this once a year! Just so you know...

Now I also can't jump into the winery descriptions without pointing out my driving challenges for the day. Criminey! Western NC is apparently very big on ROUNDABOUTS, which I LOATHE. As if that's not bad enough, they plunk them down at the top of exit ramps. Check out the photo album, and you'll see the sign that means "hey dummy, there's a nexus of evil, ie: rotary, ahead.. wrap your brain around it and get ready". I didn't wrap my brain around it, and I'm lucky I didn't wrap US around a signpost. So yeah... very interesting start, and I hadn't even touched a drop of wine yet!

So first up was WestBend, which we found out is one of the oldest vineyards in NC (perhaps THE oldest in Yadkin Valley? Can't remember for sure, but started in the 70s!). Check out the pictures, it's beeeyoootiful! They have a super-cute little courtyard area and connected building, and it's very reminiscent of Europe. I'm going to have to come back and update my tasting notes in a bit, since I've misplaced them.. :-)

Next we headed to Flint Hill. Now as you drive to Flint Hill, you may wonder, "am I lost?". The answer is "no", so keep going. It's well worth the trip. They're still a fairly young vineyard, but the owner is one of the nicest, most personable people we met the whole trip! The tasting room is in an old Victorian farmhouse that he restored (before and after pics in the parlor). There are pictures of him, his wife, and their cutie kids all over the place, and it's just homey and nice. The yard is beautiful with little touches everywhere like rusty old bicycles propped up against huge old oak trees, picnic tables, a baby swing hanging off of another ancient tree. There are rockers on the porch, and Tim told us to take our glasses , enjoy our lunch, and just settle up whenever we were ready. This was my first purchase of the day, a bottle of YUMMY Viognier for a friend's birthday. They also had a Chardonnay that was very crisp for Chard. That was followed by a smokey/oaky smooth Cab that we also enjoyed. The last two were more "sippin" wines / dessert wines... not my thing, but still not too bad. The Old Yattken was referred to as a "gossipin' wine", and the Crushed Velvet an even sweeter wine. We left there with high spirits and full bellies (we had a picnic lunch!).

Our next stop was RagApple Lassie. It was enroute that I noticed the oval conviently located right between the girls in the V of my shirt.. courtesy of the balsamic vinagrette we had with lunch. A Shout wipe and Tide to go stick only enhanced it with an aura of slightly lighter detergent. I mention this because it gets better as the day goes on, and was a constant source of amusement for us. So, RagApple Lassie. When we first pulled up, my initial thought was "well, they didn't put alot of effort into this, did they?". It's a neat but very nondescript warehousey looking building. There are some nice plantings, and a pretty cool arbor over the industrial door, but other than that, it kinda reminded me of a brewery. But then you walk in.
You actually enter on the 2nd floor balcony / catwalk, overlooking the winery floor. Below to your right are the big steel tanks and equipment, and all along the wall to your left are old wooden benches, photos and collages, and cute little homey touches that actually accent the whole industrial thing better than you're probably imagining. Look at the pics.
Like everyone else, they had a great Viognier. This is pretty much my new favorite white. Their Chardonnay was also pretty yummy. Not as buttery / oakey as we prefer, but very good if you prefer yours with that typical Chardonnay tang. Their merlot was also very good, and very cherry! We tried a few others, some of the sweeter variety that I'm just not a fan of, but the surprise came from the Evening Sunset. I think nearly every winery had some type of dessert wine, plus most North Carolians are so used to Muscadine wines that they tend to prefer sweeter wines.. so nearly everyone offers a few. Well, this one was sweet when it hit your tongue, but it had such a clean finish.. nearly no cloyingly sweet aftertaste. It was a bit like if you had apricot extract.. you got the flavor or essence, but not the sweet. I actually liked it. I keep surprising myself by trying and enjoying wines at which I'd normally turn up my nose!

I'm going to pause here, and point out that it was on the last stop that I started taking 1 sip, then dumping the rest of my glass into Lizzie's. I'm just saying...

Next stop was Hanover Park, which I'd tried last trip and really enjoyed. They were just as good as I'd remembered, and as a bonus this, time, we got to sample some local goat cheese that was FAB! Elizabeth started to acquire a taste for Cab Franc about this time, and noted that it "was light, but would still hold your attention". The other half dozen people in the room all got quiet at the same time, looked introspective, then all shook their heads (including the owner) and said it was such a great description! Too funny! I liked pretty much everything there. The one exception was the Chardonnay, which wasn't bad, but had a slight dill aftertaste that was just not what I expect from a Chardonnay (maybe a sauvignon blanc, but not so much in a Chard). It's that's your thing, though, it was still fairly yum. My favorites were the reds: Michael's Blend (which I bought), Mourvedre (which I bought last trip), and Chambourcin (which you can get in Raleigh). Their blueberry wine, also quite delish. Another great example of where they've captured the flavor and essence, but not the overly-sweetness you might expect. They recommended this with cheesecake, and I think that sounds amazing!

Last stop of the day was Ray-Len. A funny thing about this area of the state.. some wineries that you'd think would be right around the corner end up taking you down some very long windy country roads, and make you wish desperately for a GPS! Others really are right around the corner. RayLen was NOT right around the corner from Hanover Park, but we did make it.
Just like before, it was all sooo good! I bought another bottle of the South Mountain Chard, which you can only buy onsite. They were actually CRAZY busy, and we stood at the tasting bar for about a good 10 - 15 mins before anyone came over. I got the feeling it had been a long hard day, and the tasting bar folks were getting a little grouchy. The girl who ended up serving us was no different, but she was a spunky kind of grouchy! She was very knowledgeable, and it was like sitting around grousing with your girlfriends about your rough day. She described one of the wines as very "jammy", and Liz commented on what a great, descriptive word that way. She said, "isn't it? I was so proud when I came up with that, but then I read it somewhere later and was kinda bummed that I didn't actually make it up. I saw it and said, "son of a bitch!"". I then told her about Elizabeth's profound "it keeps your interest", and she said, "oooh, that IS good. I'm sorry, but I've seen THAT before, too". And Elizabeth pointed out, yeah, but it was new to her, she did make it up herself. Tasting Bar Chick said, Yeah it WAS an original though for US, wasn't it? At that, she whipped her own glass from under the bar, poured in a good swallow of whatever we were tasting that moment, and toasted, "To original thought!". And that's how RayLen went.
Oh yeah, all the wines were awesome... again.

Oh yes, back to the dirty shirt. So had the balsamic stain, yes? Encircled by the Shout Wipe and Tide to Go stains? Well, on the ride home, we decided to munch a little more rather than stopping anyway. French bread rounds topped with cheese and balsamic greens.. yummy for a picnic, but NOT car food. Now I had a little trail of dots running down to my thighs, where more stains took up residence. Top that off with another drop of something I picked up lord knows where... and it doesn't stop yet! We made a quick pitstop at the Hobby Lobby in High Point (Micheal's + Steinmart on steriods), and when I parked, I left the wheels turned... and brushed my thigh right up against the tire. THEN (can you believe there's more?) Jim's parents, Allen and Vera, met us in there to say hi, and Vera came up and said, "oh, is that grass on your bum, love?". Yes, it was.. grass stains to complete the look. Elizabeth said, "I don't think I've ever seen you this dirty". When someone tells this to a toddler's mother, that is NOT good. Fortunately, I have some great wine to dull the pain.

Gearing up for trip #2 (or 3, depending on how you look at it)

I guess #1 technically would have been our soujourn to Biltmore, but since the destination was more about just getting away vs. just wine, I'm more inclined to count the Swan Valley trip as the first official wine trip. Thus we begin plans for trip #2...
Lizzie and I are gearing up for a day out west. This time we're hitting a few closer ones, still mainly in the Yadkin Valley.
Here's the lineup, can't wait! (hope we'll make it there in one piece, because it has NOT been a good week for sleeping!)
Westbend Vineyards
Flint Hill Vineyards
RagApple Lassie
Hanover Park Vineyard
RayLen Vineyards

Reviews and incriminating pictures will be posted shortly after we return.

Postscipt

P.S.: The Raffaldini website had a great little "grape dictionary" that explains all about the different grapes. Good reading.

Also, Chambourcin was another one that I wasn't familiar with pre-trip... there's a little write-up on them on the NC Wines website. cya!

First posting - Swan Creek Wine Trail

Saturday, Karey and I took a daytrip to the Swan Creek vineyards, just west of Winston-Salem. The drive was shorter than we thought it would be, we hit 1 more winery than we thought we would, the weather ROCKED, and we even got home sooner than planned... could it have gone any better? Nope!

Laurel Gray
First stop was Laurel Gray, which was RIGHT off of the highway. It was small, cute, and probably had the smallest distribution of any of the vineyards we visited.. you can only buy their products on-site. They had some pretty good ones, although a few tasted pretty young.. they'd been recently bottled. It's in an old milking barn, so it's super-cute. The people there were very nice, and the view was beautiful.. there's a little covered veranda on which you can lounge, if you're so inclined. Their wines are made in the French style, so lots of soft, oakey wines. Their Cab Reserve (aged 18 mths) was yum! They also had a fruity red called Scarlet Mountain that any non-red drinker would like, but not so fruity or sweet that a typical red drinker would scoff at it.. good for mixed company! We agreed that we'd visit this one again. I bought a bottle of the reserve cab here for Sterling.

Buck Shoals
You cross back over the highway for this one. It too was cute, although it didn't seem to have as much character as some of the others. Just on a side note, they share their winery (where they actually press/make the wine) with Raffaldini, so that will explain the sign you see when you pull in. They offer a few Italian-esque wines, and they had one called Vito's Pride that was pretty good. They were very nice, and had a decent selection. They also gave us a great tip on lunch at the Amish store down the street. Put us down as a "maybe" on a return trip. They did have a nice Chard that was 85% steel barrel, 15% oaked, that I picked up as a gift.

Raffaldini
Hands down our favorite. Driving onto the site is like driving up to a little villa in Tuscany (I imagine..). The landscaping is gorgeous, there's a scenic mountain backdrop, and roses everywhere. Once you park, you walk through their garden to get to the tasting room, which looks like a little country cottage with a big deck out front for picnics and taking in the view. The inside is decorated just as nicely, and the folks are very friendly. They also had the best selection of munchies if you wanted an inpromptu picnic. They offered many truly Italian style wines, including a white called Vermentino.. apparently they are one of only 4 places in the U.S. who produce this. It was great, and I picked up a bottle of this and their Rosso, a red table wine. I'm pretty sure we liked all of their wines, and would totally visit this one again! Their wines are available at Total Wine, Angus Barn, and Weaver St. Market.

Windy Gap
Windy Gap was a cute little winery, also a small one. They had a big tasting room, and more of a funky farm-like feel. (Karey and I coined the phrase Cofunky.. country/funky). They also had a pretty good selection, and were generous with their pours and a little lenient on the "tasting includes 6 pours". The women who poured for us made it a point to share her favorites and make sure we tried some that we might not otherwise have tasted... that's how we BOTH ended up buying sweet wines, something neither of us would typically do! Karey bought the Fat Basset Red, which was actually VERY good and we expect will rock our mouths the next time we have BBQ. I bought (brace yourself) a BLUEBERRY WINE! It's actually real fermented blueberries, smells like a glassful of cobbler, and doesn't really finish that sweet. It would make a great dessert wine, or a blueberry martini (2 pts grey goose, 1 pt bbw). I actually bought that and the Vermentino, intending to let Wanda pick which one she'd like, as a thank you for watching James. Frankly, I was sad to part with either, because I made it a point to get something that I knew would be good... so we've agreed that another trip to this winery is also in order, so that we can snag another bottle of blueberry! You can also pick up their Tory Oak Red at Total Wine.. this one was YUM!

Hanover Park
This one was an impulse stop. It was right off of the highway on the way home. Karey had also just read a reference to their Michael's Blend in a Delta Skymiles magazine article about NC Wines. Apparently, the state sprung a big fat detour on them last week, and getting there was nutso, but well worth it (after you get off on 601, you just keep going until you see the huge orange detour signs for Courtney Church Road, and you follow those signs until you get back on track with the normal directions). Their wines were very consistently good, all fantastic! We tried a Mourvedre (which we'd not heard of before) that was a yummy very drinkable red.. I bought a bottle of that! Michael's Blend, as the article had promised, was also fantastic! Their wines are available at Total Wine, the Teeter, and Lowe's Foods. Definitely worth another trip. Also, super-cute ambience, as it's in an old farmhouse off of a country road.

Other finds:
A few of the wineries sold this balsamic vinegarette called Signolia's. I can honestly say that it is the best vinegarette I have ever put in my mouth, and I've found an excuse to eat it with every meal except breakfast for the past two days! I plan on buying many more the next time I'm up there!

Viognier is apparently very well-suited to our region... I'd never heard of it before our trip to Ray Len and Biltmore, but every winery we went to made this. It's like a fruitier version of a pinot grigio.. a very light white with good body and a crisp finish with heavy apricot undertones. If you've never tried one of these before, I'd totally recommend it! I thought the best ones were Ray Len and Windy Gap (but I really like the apricot.. if you don't, then you might like the Laurel Gray or Hanover Park).

All of the wineries seem to encourage picnicing, and have plenty of places to do so.. bring a cooler and some munchies, or pick some up while you're out there. Some bread, cheese, and balsamic vinegarette would make a great accompaniment to a bottle of vino! Cheers!