Yadkin Valley Wine Tour: Day 3

Day three was back to making our own adventure. We had selected four wineries to try to visit and ended up adding a fifth along the way. If you can plan your outing in the fall, this area and in particular the route between these wineries is absolutely beautiful. There are some other wineries closer to some of these but they are ones we had already visited or had plans to visit the next day based on which ones were open on Sunday.

First stop was Hanover Park in Yadkinville, NC. We had actually been to the winery before but found that they were not open that time so we were pleased to finally get to do a tasting after having enjoyed a bottle of their wine out at dinner on a previous trip. This is one of the better wineries in the area in our opinion in terms of caliber of the wine. The tasting takes place in the old farmhouse that has been refurbished as a tasting and dinner facility. We had the added pleasure of having the house cocker spaniel join us during our tasting. They do limit the number of wines you can taste to five but Brad and I selected different ones and shared a couple.

• Viognier – very nice body, slight fruit, not overly sweet
• Barrel Chardonnay – light for a Chardonnay, only aged six months so not as oaky as some
• Mourvedre (red blend with less than 20% Syrah) – slightly tart alone but paired well with bread dipped in balsamic vinegar, very nice
• Chambourcin – medium body, not overly spicy but Brad did not like (too much clove)
• Michael’s Blend (varies each year and version we tried was a Cabernet Franc + Merlot) – medium body, slight tart in finish but nice
• 1897 (Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon) – excellent, mild with good body
• Early Twilight (Muscat + Muscadine) – good mouth feel, not cloy, lightly sweet



View from back deck at Brandon Hills



Brandon Hills, also in Yadkinville, was the next stop and was added at the last minute based on having some time to kill before our next planned stop. This property is a new large cabin on a beautiful site with a great deck overlooking the vineyard (bring a picnic). The owner was doing the tasting and he really liked to talk about the wines. They are only open on the weekends as this is their “expensive hobby”. We tasted all seven wines here and while they were good, they are still young and a step down from Hanover Park.


• 2007 Pinot Gris – light, dry, well balanced but tart-ish
• 2008 Pinot Gris – nice but not as good as the 2007
• Barbera – light body, balanced flavor, mild
• Merlot – not as peppery as some, better body
• Raptor Red (46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot and the remaining made up from Cab Franc, Petit Verdot and Viognier) – good mouth feel, tannins present, balanced flavor
• White Merlot (100% Merlot grapes but processed like a white grape) – light, summery, not too sweet, like a white Zinfandel but better
• Rip Tide Rose (Merlot, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon) – nice, light, good balance



Allison Oaks was stop number three and is located in a storefront in downtown Yadkinville. The two gentlemen (father and son) were an absolute hoot as the place was being used for a bridal shower so they were thrilled to step aside and run the tasting bar. They gave stingy pours which made it hard to discern how good the wines really tasted. We actually bought several bottles only to be disappointed when we could really have a try at them later - too young. We did try all seven wines.

• Proprietor’s Blend (Red Zinfandel, Merlot, Syrah) – peppery taste
• Merlot – good body, tannins
• Cabernet Sauvignon – lighter body
• Chardonnay (no oak) – crisp, not as minerally as others
• Orchard White – not overly sweet, some fruit
• DZ Rose of Zin – pepper fragrance
• Ms Mimi (Muscadine + Chambourcin) – medium sweet

RagApple Lassie was next in Boonville, NC. This is a really neat place and had the best wines of the day in our opinion (not to mention one of the coolest labels). They do limit the number you can taste but have the best descriptions of their wines of any location we have visited in NC. We tasted five wines.

• Cabernet Sauvignon – good body, well balanced, excellent
• Syrah – light pepper that mellows, nice mild tannins, good wine
• Zinfandel – mild oak, strong body almost like old vine Zinfandel
• Rockford Red (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel) – sweeter, good mouth feel but a little cloy
• Hobson’s Choice – nice tannins, big bold wine, lighter finish but not empty



Flint Hill



Flint Hill in East Bend, NC was our final stop of the day. Nice site, beautiful old house and we would love to go back for dinner in the Century Kitchen where they do the tastings. We tasted all eight wines and while not as good as RagApple they are easily as good as Hanover Park. The exception was the Chambourcin which was the best version of that wine we tasted the entire trip. One key thing to note about this location is that the wines are actually processed at RayLen using grapes grown at this site.

• Viognier - somewhat tart, not as minerally as others
• Chardonnay (no oak) – tart, light mineral taste
• Synergy (80% Syrah, 20% Viognier) – nice balance, really like, some tannins
• Syrah – some berry flavors, oaky, good balance, very nice
• Chambourcin – good body, less spicy than most, milder oak
• Cabernet Sauvignon – good tannins, nice body and lighter finish
• Olde Yattken (Viognier + Chardonnay) – mild, fruity, like a Riesling
• Crushed Velvet (Chambourcin) - very sweet, chocolate like