Our wine tonight is the limited release Chenin Blanc from Biltmore Estate Winery in Asheville, North Carolina.
Vintage 2019
Limited Release.
Fruit harvested from partner growers in California.
Pale gold in color.
Expressively floral bouquet with pleasantly aromatic hints of honeysuckle and lilac, plus lemon, mango, and pink grapefruit.
Semi-sweet on the tongue exhibiting crisp acidity.
Citrus notes layer the palate with lemon and lime, mango, pink grapefruit, star fruit, and key lime pie, finishing with lingering tart notes of green apple and bosc pear.
12.5% ABV
$17 a bottle (at the winery).
The 2019 is perhaps more pleasantly balanced than the 2017 and 2018 vintages. This vintage is delightfully refreshing and elegantly balanced.
Winery Escapades scores 90 points.
Gold Medal worthy.
2019 Chenin Blanc from Biltmore Estate Winery
Biltmore Estate Winery is the most visited winery in The U.SA. A tasting is included in the Biltmore Estate price of admission.
Biltmore Estate currently with 40+ acres under vine grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Merlot, and has recently planted a vineyard of Petit Manseng. Area viticulturalist are seeing Petit Manseng grow very well in the Western North Carolina climate.
Doesn’t smell like Pluff Mud, which is a good thing for beer…shows aromas of freshly ground coffee, malt, black licorice, almond, and charred wood.
Pluff Mud is a mixture of dirt and water indigenous to the marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, with a distinct odor that’s endearing to locals, but off-putting to tourists and redcoats.
Holy City Brewing – Our second flagship beer was an effort to bring the American Porter style to the Charleston market proper, while also making a beer that stays appealing as the mercury rises.
Opaque dark brown in color with pronounced flavors of dark roasted coffee, malt chocolate, caramel, black licorice, and mocha.
Drinks smooth and rich while exhibiting slightly lighter fullness of a traditional Porter.
5.5% ABV
Average on Untappd 3.75. BeerAdvocate score 85.
I rated this one at 4.00. Overall quality is good.
We’ll keep this pinned toward the top of our page and do our best to keep it updated as we hear interesting industry tidbits.
E-mail tidbits to WineryEscapades@gmail.com or text Dennis @ 864-357-1435
Let’s get going!!!
Jones Von Drehle is constructing an amphitheater near the vineyards. Rumor is it’ll seat up to 2,000 people.
My Sweet Love Vineyard has Grand Opening in Spindale, North Carolina on August 21, 2021
A new Cidery is planned for Raleigh. Shady Grove Cidery plans to open in 2022 as a tenant in the East End Market development.
Russ Gardiner has told us Eagle Mountain Vineyards in Travelers Rest, S.C. is now open to the public! Open seven days a week, reservations required for tasting.
Old Farm Winery at Hartland is opening Fall of 2021. Located in Aldie, Virginia, this is the sister location of The Winery at Bull Run.
Hinnant Family Vineyards is turning their event room into their new tasting room. The renovation and new construction will give them a larger tasting room with additional indoor seating and larger gift shop. Located in Pine Level, North Carolina, Hinnant Family Vineyards is the largest muscadine vineyard in North Carolina, sprawling over 100 acres.
Adagio Vineyards is planting 1500 new vines. Existing are 7 acres total including varietals Arandell, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Traminette and Chardonnay.
Marked Tree Vineyard is planting 2200 new vines of Cab Franc and Petit Verdot this Spring.
Marked Tree Vineyards is also expanding their tasting room in Flat Rock.
Mountain Brook Vineyards in Tryon is this Spring replanting the entire vineyards planting fifteen acres under vine consisting of 25,460 new vines. New plantings will consist of Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Pinot Grigio. Mountain Brook will also terrace off the sloped grass hill below the patio and redesign parking.
MountainBrookVineyards has hired Renteria Vineyard Mgmt to fly out from Napa Valley CA to Tryon NC to put in 15 acres of new vineyards. Planting is underway.
Burntshirt Vineyards in Hendersonville has started pre-construction on their On-site restaurant. The Winery restaurant will be located between the tasting room and the Vintner’s Cottage.
City Scape Winery in Pelzer, SC is building a brand new impressive tasting room. The original vineyard home has been gifted to charity and the land has been graded awaiting soon to begin construction.
JOLO Winery and Vineyards has recently acquired Hutton Vineyards in the Yadkin Valley AVA. The 45 acre Hutton vineyard and winery will be rebranded as Rayson Vineyards and open to the public in 2022.
Duplin Winery has broken ground on a third tasting room location in Panama City Beach, Florida. The original location in Rosè Hill, NC and second location in Myrtle Beach, SC. Some rumors have a fourth location considered for the Gatlinburg area?
FYI…..E&J Gallo Winery of California is building a $400 million investment for a distribution center in Fort Lawn, South Carolina. Gallo further than lans to open up to as many as three off-site tasting rooms in South Carolina.
Ok…Send us your tidbits! WineryEscapades@gmail.com
Covid took our New Years Eve celebration, however we still managed a few visits to several local establishments.
Warmth and wine are the theme of our January escapades!
January 2 – we start the year off right and take advantage of the mountain top open air tasting room at Point Lookout Vineyards in Hendersonville. Doesn’t get much better than mountain views while enjoying wine by a fire table! That’s just plain awesome!!
Mountain View at Point Lookout Vineyards
These fire tables most definitely enhance your outdoor wining experience, such as we certainly enjoyed during our visit to Wellborn Winery in Travelers Rest, S.C. Tony and Deb are always gracious host. Wellborn Winery focuses on wines produced from locally grown French-American Hybrid grapes such as the Chambourcin (Rustic Red) we enjoyed below.
Wellborn Winery in the Woods
The impressive tasting room fireplace at St. Paul Mountain Vineyards in Hendersonville, is always a great spot for warmth and local wine! Our go to wine here at St. Paul is the Queen (of the reds), a medium bodied semi-sweet red blend
We excitedly discovered the sign erected at the future Eagle Mountain Vineyards and Winery. A discovery which only intensified our anticipation for their scheduled opening in the Spring of 2021!
We enjoyed a fun weekday afternoon visit to Ciclops Cideri and Brewery in Spartanburg to sample their selection of in-house produced ciders on tap.
Cyclops Cideri and Brewery
Refreshed with some mead and beer at Buzzed Viking Brewing Company. In Concord. This placed also had some iconic t-shirts available. Go there, drink, and get the t-shirt! lol
Buzzed Viking Brewing Company
Attended a tasting with the mead maker at Wandering Bard Meadery in Greenville, South Carolina. Keep a check on their website for future classes and tastings. Brian the mead maker is incredibly knowledgeable and the tasting is well presented even with a tasting syllabus!
Wandering Bard Meadery
A Valentines Day cheesecake and wine pairing at Elevation 966 Winery in Greenville. Wine and Cheesecake for the win!!!
Stopped by Red Bordner Distillery in Boiling Springs for a couple bottles of his award winning Whiskey and Blue Agave! Red is an true American moonshiner and a man with many stories to share. An absolute must visit!
Picked up some great deals at a local grocery store which was closing…. 75% off!!!
Middle of February the weather started warming and we took advantage of one of these Spring-like days to visit City Scape Winery in Pelzer. The site has been prepared for their soon to be constructed brand new tasting room! These are certainly very exciting times in the South Carolina local wine industry!
Similar spring-like but different day the weather was so nice we cruised up to Marked Tree Vineyard in Flat Rock and took in the incredible mountain views. This is one of the most Zen-like winery experiences in all of the Southeast.
Perhaps the highlight of the year so far….we joined our great friends on an excursion to find this incredible amazing and somewhat surprisingly great tasting 27” pizza. You have to ask for it at Pizza and Beyond….but it so incredibly worth it!
Now That’s a Pizza and Beyond
So here’s to relaxed restrictions due to lower Covid 19 cases. We look forward to a more normal Spring and Summer. One with events, parties, and social gatherings at our favorite local wineries!
Zinfandel 50% Barbera 25% Syrah 15% Petit Sirah 10%
Aged in French Oak – 30% New 70%
Decanted 60 minutes.
Medium ruby in color.
Medium intensity nose of blackberry, blueberry, black plum, black licorice, and pepper.
Off dry with a full body and medium acidity, complemented with medium-high tannins and high alcohol.
Medium flavor notes of blackcurrent, black plum, blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, cloves, black licorice, pepper, smoke, and charred wood on a medium finish.
This is a good drinking wine once allowed to open up.
Wandering Bard Meadery in Greenville, South Carolina hosted the tasting class led by meadmaker Brian Daughhetee.
Purpose of the class was to gain a greater appreciation for Mead, to understand the evaluation process of Mead, all while sampling a variety of different Meads, and a discussion of what foods will pair with Mead.
Traditional Mead is simply Honey, Yeast, and Water.
Session Mead is with twice as much water. Therefore generally lower in alcohol and often with carbonation.
A Cider is of course fermented of raw Apple cider (juice). Ciders generally ferment to 4-6% ABV.
A Cyser is produced by fermenting blended Honey and raw Apple Cider.
Our tasting included 5 Sessions, 2 Ciders, and 2 Cysers.
We started with Meadings Greeting, a tea infused Session, and then an Oaked blueberry Session called February Stars.
Next we tasted Reply Hazy Try Again, a New England IPA styled Session.
Last two Sessions were Bear & The Bard, and Dreki Skald. Both are fruit infused carbonated Sessions.
Next we tasted two ciders, a semi-sweet French style and a semi-dry English style.
Our tasting finished with two Cysers. A semi-sweet Caramel Apple Cyser and the semi-dry Strawberry Distinction.
We organize wine competitions, so it’s a real treat for Jenni and I to actually have the opportunity to evaluate and score a tasting. So yeah, no wonder this was the part of the class we most enjoyed. I am a certified Cider judge and just completed my WSET level 2.
Scoring on a 20 pint scale, considering appearance, aroma, taste, and overall impression.
How did we score our tastings? The semi-dry Caramel Apple Cyser we both scored at a gold medal level.
Jenni scored the Meadings Greetings very high and I scored the Reply Hazy IPA style at a gold medal level. Averaging the two scores will squarely earn these two a silver medal. We likewise both scored the French Humor semi-sweet cider at a Silver medal level.
We both agree though, all which we tasted were good. Not a one in the bunch did we just not like.
Mead, like beer and wine are distinctly personable. Different individuals will certainly enjoy different flavors and styles.
Precisely why Wandering Bard Meadery has 18 different taps of their award winning Mead!
Class cost is $20 each. Check their website and social media for upcoming classes.
A class syllabus is handed out which includes a lot of educational information.
All class participants were offered a 15% discount on any purchases after completion of the class.
We look forward to attending future classes. Learning and drinking, a win win right!
Wine Competitions and Marketing! 