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+--- Thread: North Carolina Wineries (/thread-15276.html)
- tandkvd - 10-09-2004
Today we traveled up to the Yadkin Valley. Our first stop was Shelton Vinyards. This is a vrey beautiful vinyard, the largest in NC. For $5.00 each we went on a tour of the winery, sampled 6 wines and recieved a wine glass. I was very supprised with the quality of all their wines. They have been in operation just since 1999.
These wines were tasted around 11:30 this morning, and describing taste is not my strong point. So, here goes.
The first wine was their Estate Bottled Chardonnay 2002. I have only had a couple Chardonnays that I liked, this is one of them. Very little oak, buttery and smooth. I bought a bottle of this.
Madison Lee White their blend of Chardonay 72%, Viognier 14%,Reisling 10% Pinot Blanc 3%Sauvignon Blanc 1%. I liked this wine but not as good as the Chardonnay.
Pinot Noir - 2002 was the only year they have been able to have a PN since they grow all their own grapes. This was a good PN for their first try. They have just distributed what was left to the public. At first they thought they only had enough for the people on their wine club.
Madison Lee Red their blend of Merlot 33%, Syrah 30%, Sangiovese 27%, Mourvedre 6% and Pinot Noir 4%. This wine reminded me a little bit of Bonny Doon Big House Red, I will have to taste them side by side, then report on them. I like that kind of home work.
Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 - My favorite of the day. I was very supprised by this wine. I did not expect it to be as bold and complex. I bought a bottle of this as well. Will report more on this one when I open it.
Salem Fork Blush - A blend of Sangiovese and Viognier. This is a salmon color wine that has a crisp acidity not surpey sweet wine. This would be a good front porch wine.
They were sold out of the Reisling. I was wanting to try it, since WOW had liked it.. I asked the tour guide and she said that they even grew there own Reisling. I was supprised at that fact. But they have about 10 acres that are down in a valley that gets lots of shade to keep it cooler, where they grow the Reisling.
We met a couple that are from Mt. Arey that was about 20 mi. north. They were having a fall festival today so we rode up to check it out. For any Andy Griffith fans this it where Mayberry was made after. They even have Floyds Barber shop. This is one of the largest festivals I have ever been to. It streached thru downtown about 3/4 mi. And people were packed sholder to shoulder, especialy at the food stands. We went from one end to the other and back and it took about 2 hours, most of which was at a Christmas shop my wife was in.
Also in downtown was Old North State Winery. They were having a wine tasting, for $3.00 you got to taste 7 wines and keep the wine glass.
There wines were not up to Shelton's standards, although I did like 3 of the 7 wines tasted.
The 3 I liked were:
Spring House White - A blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. This was a good crisp ascidic wine that would pair well with food.
Sangiovese - I will have to give this one the pizza test. This was a good NC version of the Italian viratial.
Carernet Franc - I have not had much CF to compair this wine with but it was good with some spicy licorice flavor.
I could tell the differance in the quality of Shelton's and Old North State wines. I would say on a scale of 1 - 10. Shelton would be around 7 - 8 and ONS about 5 - 6. I did join Sheltons wine club. I am looking forward to seeing this wineries wines develop more.
- Innkeeper - 10-09-2004
Makes me want to vist NC.
- Thomas - 10-11-2004
I'm going to have to do that one day IK.
Thanks, Tand. Good information.
I was thinking: if you go to enough of the NC wineries you might be able to build a case of wine glasses too!
- winoweenie - 10-11-2004
What a surprise! Hope the Arizona wineries start producing good stuff. So far I've been under-whelmed. WW
- tandkvd - 10-11-2004
Ya'll come on down. They are having a wine festival in Yadkinville October 23.
http://www.yvhf.com/index.html
Karen wants to go back and get some more mountain apples. She used most of what we got the other day in a wonderfull pie. Still have some of the wine-sap apples left. They are great!
And happy birthday IK.
And if you look at the web-site above, it says that I.D. is required for the wine tasting. So don't forget yours IK. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by tandkvd (edited 10-11-2004).]
- wondersofwine - 11-23-2004
I came late to this post. Thanks for the info Tandkvd. My Harris-Teeter grocery store sells some of the Shelton wines--the Riesling, Madison Lee Red and Madison Lee White. Do you have Harris-Teeter where you are? If so, you might check.