Wine Competitions and Marketing!

Cabernet Franc – Parker-Binns Vineyard

Tonight we celebrate Cabernet Franc day with one of our favorites. Our wine tonight is the Cabernet Franc from Parker-Binns Vineyard in the Tryon Foothills of North Carolina.

Vintage 2016

Blend of 77% Cabernet Franc and 23% Chambourcin.

Dark ruby color with a gorgeous garnet rim.

Aromatic nose of cocoa, coffee, lavender, cranberry, and graphite.

Dry, medium bodied, with mild tannins.

On the palate exhibits notes of cherry cola, dark chocolate, fresh baked cinnamon buns, vanilla bean, sweet tea, and leather.

13% ABV.

$23.00 a bottle.

We may somewhat better enjoy the 2015 vintage however this 2016 certainly drinks very nice.

Decant for about 30 to 60 minutes to open.

Contact Parker-Binns Vineyard direct for ordering/shipping info.

2020 Wine Competitions

Dennis and Jenni Turner of WineryEscapades.Com announce the promotion of three wine competitions for 2020.

The third annual Palmetto Wine Competition is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18th. The Palmetto Wine Competition focuses solely on the marketing and promotion of the twenty plus commercially licensed wine producers in South Carolina. Individual awards ceremonies will follow at later dates each participating winery.

New for 2020, the American Amateur Mead-Cider-Fruit Wine Competition now scheduled for August 1st. This new competition will focus on the marketing and promotion of home-brewed mead, cider, and fruit wine producers.

The American Mead-Cider-Fruit Wine Competition for Commercially Licensed producers has been postponed until 2021.

The North Carolina Mead-Cider-Fruit Wine Competition sponsored by the North Carolina Wine and Grape Council will be tentatively scheduled for January of 2021. Additional Details are forthcoming. The goal of the NCMCF is to promote the North Carolina Commercially Licensed producers of Mead, Cider, and Fruit Wines.

Each competition primarily focuses on the marketing and promotion of our participants. All professional entries are required to be commercially available for purchase. The American Mead-Cider-fruit Wine Competition will consider entries from amateur non-licensed producers.

Our efforts and hard work over the past few years have provided us with the knowledge and skills to organize and produce high quality wine competitions. We look forward to the challenge of assembling the competition panels of highly qualified professional judges. We will immediately set about the task of marketing our competitions to potential participants.

Please contact us at WineryEscapades@gmail.com with any press inquiries. Look for our official press release coming early 2020.

Cheers!

Winery in Pictures – Biltmore Estate Winery

The most visited winery in the U.S.A. #NCWine

Corot Noir – Midnight Magdalena Vineyards

Our wine tonight is the Corot Noir from Midnight Magdalena Vineyards.

Vintage 2017

100% Estate Grown Corot Noir.

North Carolina’s Swan Creek AVA.

Developed at Cornell in 1970, Corot Noir is a hybrid of Seyve Villard and Steuben.

Gorgeous dark ruby in color.

Decant for one hour to open.

Very fruit forward nose of Bing Cherries, Red Plums, and Blackberries.

Medium bodied, soft tannins, dry.

Flavor notes of ripe cherries, blueberries, red currants, and plum, softly fading to earthy and mineral tones.

12% ABV.

$24 a bottle.

#NCWine #SwanCreekAVA #CorotNoir

Seven Must Visit Upstate South Carolina Wineries.

The upstate of South Carolina is home to several very unique wine destinations. Just in case you haven’t heard, below we break down seven must visit local award winning producers.

Cityscape Winery – Pelzer
The Muscadine vineyard and winery was established approximately 10 years ago on old farm land along the southern outskirts of Greenville County. Josh and Deb Jones, current owners, purchased the operation in 2015. The wine offerings have been expanded to include several Vinifera vintages produced from imported grapes. Winery mascot, Pinot the Pig, is a local legend.

Wellborn Winery – Traverlers Rest
Small vineyard and winery in Northern Greenville County producing small batch award winning wines mostly from estate grown French-American Hybrid grape or locally sourced berries and fruit.

Lazy Bear Winery – Easley
Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this small winery focuses on producing fruit wines and meads. This family owned backyard operation has accumulated multiple awards for their craft.

Old Rock Quarry Winery – Enoree
This winery will satisfy your sweet tooth with their fruit infused blends. The atmosphere has been described to be reminiscent of visiting old friends and sitting in their backyard by the fire pit sharing a bottle of homemade wine.

Victoria Valley Vineyards – Cleveland
South Carolina’s only winery with estate planted European Vinifera vines. The winery also features a café serving a full lunch menu. The café patio features beautiful mountain and vineyard views.

Wandering Bard Meadery – Mauldin
Producing award winning meads from locally sourced ingredients. The production facility host an open house the first Saturday of each month offering lovers of mead an opportunity to discover their craft.

Windy Hill Orchard & Cidery – York
A working apple orchard, the cidery is open seasonally and normally gets very busy around harvest season. A great family atmosphere with the apple orchard and farm store featuring their locally famous apple cider doughnuts.

Please share your thoughts on these and give us a shoutout as you visit each local establishment.

Follow WineryEscapades.Com for further details and suggestions as we continue to explore for locally and regionally produced wine, mead, cider, beer, and spirits.

Join our Facebook group ~ Support Drink Local South Carolina. https://www.facebook.com/groups/841899742988383/?ref=share

Fav NYC Pics!

Some of my favorite pictures from Labor Day Weekend trip to Manhattan. Day 1 – Landing @ JFK, Times Square, Hard Rock Cafe

Approach at JFK

Day 2 – Times Square, Broadway, Double Decker Bus Tour, Harlem, The Apollo, Trump Hotel & Tower, City Vineyard, Pier 26.

Finally we made it on Broadway!

Harlem Grocery

Famed Beatles Crosswalk!

Joe Louis Plaza @ Madison Square Garden!

Day 3 – Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, 911 Memorial, New York Pizza, Empire State Building,

Madison Square Garden!

King Kong @ Empire State Building!

View From Observatory Atop Empire State Building!

Statue of Liberty!

Atop The Empire State Building!

We can’t wait to visit the Big Apple again!

Cheers!

Wine and Cheese Pairing @ Wellborn Winery

Cheese! Wine and cheese! It’s certainly no secret wine pairs well with cheese, so we recommend taking any available opportunity to attend a wine and cheese pairing. Couple that with the chance to pair with local wines and you’ve got the makings of a very special experience. Wellborn Wine in the Woods located in beautiful Travelers Rest, South Carolina hosted their second ever wine and cheese pairing featuring their locally produced small batch crafted award winning wines paired with carefully selected exotic cheeses.The pairings for the evening were as follows;

The whites started with Appalachian White, a un-oaked Viognier paired with a semi-soft Jarlsberg cheese. Second, Appalachian Amber, a blend of estate grown Chardonel and North Carolina grown Chenin Blanc paired with Sage Derby cheese. Next was 2018 Palmetto Signature Wine and gold medal winning Woodsy White, a blend of hybrids Seyval Blanc and Traminette paired with a Cheddar cheese infused with rum, figs, and honey. Finally Zing, a rosè produced from Sonoma grown Zinfandel was paired with Cranberry Cinnamon Goat Cheese.

The reds started with Appalachian Red, a blend of estate grown Leon Millot and North Carolina grown Cabernet Franc paired with Gorgonzola Dolce cheese. Next was El Campo, a Chilean Malbec paired with Manchego. Then the gold medal winning Rustic Red, a light colored Chambourcin was paired with Cheddar and Bourbon Vanilla, and lastly Holiday Velvet, a port style blend of Leon Millot and plum infused with cocoa paired with Biltmore Vanilla Bean Cheesecake.

Some 30 plus local wine lovers enjoyed the evening pairing. We were seated at a table with Stephanie and Steve, food bloggers from Greenville. It was certainly fun hearing their story and getting some knowledgeable feedback on the pairings. Check them out on Facebook @ tastenwstephnsteve. Tony and Deb were gracious host as always, giving a lot of thought, planning, and effort into creating an incredibly informative, fun, and pleasurable experience for all. Tony was great in explaining tasting techniques and detailing each wine and cheese plus offering tips on savoring the pairings. The patio outside was beautifully illuminated with strings of lights and the weather cooperated in being amazingly nice and comfortable. We concluded our evening enjoying a glass of wine and engaging conversation on the patio. We decided it a must to take a bottle of the Rustic Red to enjoy later at home.Follow Winery Escapades and Wellborn Winery on Facebook to stay in the know about future upcoming winery events. We look forward to meeting and getting to know you at the next LOCAL wine event. Til then, drink local. Cheers!

911 Memorial in NY

I saved these pictures from the 9/11 memorial just for today. There are no words. I wish I had more pictures but several of the rooms you’re not allowed to take pictures. When we were walking through the room with all of the victims pictures we both noticed the same firefighter almost at the same time. He was so young…..

If you get the chance to go to the memorial…. GO. The nationality diversity alone is worth it. Not only did it bring back all of those feelings from that day, but it made me wonder what happened to the unity we felt as a nation. Do you remember that from that day & the weeks that followed????

So in honor & memory of that firefighter and all the victims of 9/11 I am going to do everything I can to make a difference to someone today. I don’t know what that will look like, but I am going to do my best.

These are called the survivors steps….

This picture is done in pano so that’s why the truck looks bent. It was the only way I could get the entire truck. Ladder 3 was one of the first on the scene before the collapse…..

Posted by Jenni M. Turner

City Vineyard – New York

A local guide online recommended we visited City Vineyard on Pier 26. In New York for a long weekend, we thought it a destination we didn’t want to miss. Waterfront on Pier 26 in lower Manhattan, this urban winery sets a standard for chic. We enjoyed a bottle of the Riesling, fermented of grape sourced from the Finger Lakes region of New York. We paired with the cheese and charcuterie board. Features a riverfront outdoor wine garden and a covered ground level open air main dining area, plus a rooftop bar offering breathtaking views of the Hudson river and the city skyline. A concept dreamed by founder Michael Dorf to bring the wine country to the Big Apple.

A limited wine selection, though the Riesling we enjoyed was certainly good, off dry with exotic fruit flavor notes. City Vineyard checks many of the boxes we look for in a successful winery. Good wine, nice outdoor seating with amazing views, good food to pair with your wine, and local music. A wine oasis in the chaotic Big Apple.

Bitchin Blackberry – Douglas Vineyards

Our wine tonight is the Bitchin Blackberry from Douglas Vineyards in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

Grape wine with natural and artificial blackberry flavor.

Not sure of the base. I’d guess Chardonnay.

The nose is reminiscent of blackberry Kool-aid.

Sweet on the tongue.

Bursting with blackberry flavor on the tongue, just like a hot blackberry cobbler right out of the oven, fading with a slight tartness and subtle earthy tones.

9% ABV.

The owners suggested this one for us to take home as it is always one of their top sellers.

It did not disappoint. Very easy drinking.