West Jefferson Area Adventures: Part 1 Friday Tastings

This will be a three part piece to cover the five wineries we visited as well as where we ate and stayed in the town of West Jefferson, NC.

We headed out on Friday afternoon with plans to visit three wineries on our way up to West Jefferson. However, after looking at the details on our NC wine map I discovered that one of the three we had marked for Friday was listed as only being open Saturday and Sunday so that meant we would only get to visit two wineries. Now, in the past we have had a very clear plan in place with printed directions and information from each winery but with all the cool apps and features on our phones why bother. Long story short is that upon our return on Sunday when we started checking off the places we visited we discovered that we had actually gone to the winery that was supposed to be closed on Friday and then skipped a place that was scheduled to be open. This is what happens when trying to read map codes and then enter addresses into your cell phone after you have been tasting wine. Kudos to the owner at Carolina Heritage for never mentioning that they were officially closed and then providing what was one of our best wine tasting experiences to date. Please note that we were not the only unannounced visitors who were unaware of their hours because another gentleman also showed up at the same time we did.

First stop was Sanders Ridge in Boonville, NC. This is a beautiful location which not only has a nice tasting bar with a lodge-like ambiance but also a restaurant with deck overlooking the lake. They are also located right next to Big Woods Zipline if you need some additional excitement during your visit. We arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon and the restaurant looked to be packed which has to be a testament to it either being really good or just an extra interesting place to stop and hang out drinking on an early Friday afternoon. They offer two tasting options either twelve wines for $10 or six wines for $5. You do not get to keep the glasses as part of the tasting (with restaurant on-site they can appropriately clean and reuse). Since it was the beginning of our trek we decided on only tasting six wines but with our different picks we managed to taste a total of seven between us. The hostess was personable, knowledgeable and did a nice job of explaining the differences in the weather between 2007 and 2008. As a reminder 2007, in much of NC, was a very dry year resulting in some of the best wines. For bolder red wines they consider 2007 to be a benchmark year in terms of wine flavor profiles. When it came time for us to compare taste the 2007 and 2008 Big Woods wines we asked that she put both our taste pours for each wine into one single glass so we had one glass of 2007 and one of 2008 and passed them back and forth to taste them at the same time. That makes it much easier to compare versus tasting one then the other separately.

• Cabernet Franc – spicy, toasty, very earthy tasting with a nice finish, best Cab Franc I have tasted to date in NC (bought 2 bottles)
• Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – vanilla, layers of plum and cherry, light spice, just a bit of oak, was light but not empty (bought one bottle)
• 2007 Big Woods (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah) – Bordeaux style, rich cherry, light licorice and pepper, was the bolder tasting of the two Big Woods and would pair well with food (bought one bottle)
• 2008 Big Woods (same blend, same style as 2007) – warm pepper, currant and berry, drier finish, smoother tasting and would be drinkable without food (bought one bottle)
• Merlot Barrel Select – raspberry, currant, described rather well by their chef as being “Sassy with a silky finish”, had a nice mild finish with soft tannins
• Chambourcin – smoky, plum, a tad too acidic giving it a sour tasting finish
• Round Hill (Sryah) – blackberry, mild sweet/tart, soft and more like a pinot (bought one bottle)

Sanders Ridge

Our second stop was Carolina Heritage  in Elkin. This is the location that is only open for set hours on Saturday and Sunday unless you schedule an appointment, which we certainly did not do, but the owner, Pat Colwell, was very gracious in never mentioning that. This location is the first USDA-certified organic vineyard and winery in NC. Because they are all organic there are no European varieties in the vineyard because to grow in that area they would have to have treatments to resist mildew. The tasting building is a beautiful cabin with lots of seating and tables inside set up for playing a variety of table top games. It is $5 to taste six wines; however, she ended up pouring us all the wines so we tasted a total of eight and she opened all fresh bottles for us. You get to keep the glasses and they are really cute little cordial-style glasses. Pat told us that they specifically named their wines after the grapes because so often when they asked people what they like to drink they refer to a wine by some cute name but have no idea what grapes are in the wine. She also noted that a couple of their blends (Burch-Bleu and Carlos-Magnolia) actually originated from watching tasters trying to decide between two wines and then asking to mix them together. When they see something like that they begin to gradually offer that option as a taste and if enough people approve they create the blend officially. Overall this was one of the best wine tastings we have done with regards to the discussion and learning things from the owner. After visiting as many wineries as we have it is very interesting to learn something you did not already know.

• Traminette – good subtle tartness with light acidity, not overwhelmingly fruity, mild finish (bought one bottle)
• Chambourcin – smooth, mild tannins, very soft but not empty tasting (bought one bottle)
• Chambourcin-Cynthiana (Cynthiana is the same as the Norton grape) – dry, fruity/nutty flavors, mild sourness, really good with dark chocolate. Pat indicated that they use the Chambourcin to mellow out the Cynthiana flavor. (bought one bottle)
• Carlos (Muscadine) – mild tartness, good for sipping, liked a lot. They use very low amounts of sugar in their wines compared to the eastern NC way of making wines from muscadine where they use lots of sugar. So the wine actually tastes like the grape which is actually very good. 
• Carlos-Magnolia (Muscadines) – lighter than the Carlos alone, seemed more sour as a result of the blend
• Noble (Muscadine) – sangria like, light, mild, tangy. We learned that Noble grapes actually have colored pulp so even without fermenting with the skin they produce a light reddish color. (bought one bottle)
• Burch-Bleu (Chambourcin, blueberry) – lightly sweet, good blueberry flavor and the Chambourcin provides a nice finish versus the tartness of the blueberry. Wine labeling laws indicate you cannot use the name of fruit (which is actually classified differently than grapes in the world of wine) so they could not call this Chambourcin – Blueberry. (bought one bottle)
• Blueberry – This has highest sugar content of their wines but not done on purpose.  When the natural fermentation process stopped the wine still had high levels of sugar which made it a very good dessert style wine that still has a nice tartness from the blueberry fruit. (bought one bottle)

Yes - the sign clearly states the hours but we
just barged right in on a Friday unannounced!