Yadkin Valley Wine Vacation Part 4

Saturday was also a busy day and we managed to visit another five wineries mainly in the Lewisville and East Bend area.

We started the day at Misty Creek Vineyards where they were hosting a dog adoption/fund raiser event for Rottweiler’s called Wag and Wine. It was really nice to see the dogs and in particular the puppies. They have a large tasting room with artwork done by the 90+ year old mother of the owner and beautiful views of the owner’s houses out the back window. Yadkin Valley Wine Group and Westbend do the bottling for them. Here we learned that leaves of the Chambourcin are prized for use in cooking, especially stuffed grape leaves. The tasting with glass was $7.

• Chardonnay: crisp, light, nice
• Rose': light, not sweet, crisp and lightly tart, nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Sauvignon: used French and American oak, oaky, currants but tad empty, okay
• Merlot: currants, tart, not peppery, okay
• Syrah: very fruity, cherry, peppery, empty finish, okay
• Barrel House Blend: great blend, fruit and pepper, dry finish, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Chambourcin: tasted alone and with chocolate. Alone: fruit and some spice, mellow version of this grape compared to others, ok. With Chocolate: made it more bitter for me but Brad liked.
• Misty Rose': light, added sugar, actually pretty nice

Misty Creek

Next stop was Westbend Vineyards. We have been to Westbend many times before so this visit was just to taste the beers. The grounds at Westbend are some of the prettiest in the area and they are well equipped to handle large groups which they tend to get on weekends. The beer tasting is a small pub-like room and they charge $10 for a flight of five beers. Brad bought a pint of the IPA and we picked the remaining five for our flight so we could taste them all. 
 

• Golden Ale: grassy, decent body, not too bitter, okay
• English Ale: less green than Golden, light bitterness, okay
• Pale Ale: very light, very similar to first two but tighter bubbles, okay
• IPA: not very hoppy for IPA, mild, not much different from first three beers, okay
• Stout: burnt tasting in an unpleasant way
• Winter Ale: best on the board, vanilla and toffee flavors were notable, would get again

 

Third stop was a brand new winery in the area that also has cabins for rent Medaloni Cellars. They had a really large tasting room and the pourer was in the “new winery salesman” mode but was very pleasant. I am sure he will relax and become more personable after doing this for a while. They charged $6 for tasting and you get to keep glass.

 

• Chardonnay: used French oak, Taster said “Best Chardonnay in Yadkin Valley”, light buttery, not overly oaky, very nice
• Blush Rose' (Chambourcin): Italian style Rose', dry, not sweet, best rose' based on Chambourcin this trip, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Merlot 2008: pepper aroma and flavor, intense, spirited and spicy, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2008: dry, French Boudreaux style, nice body, decent finish, nice
• Sweetheart Red: sweetened in same style as Panera flavored teas (10% sugars come from grapes only) sweet finish, okay

 

Our next stop was lunch at Pig n Out where we had chopped bbq and assorted sides. The food was very good and very generous.  They actually heard Brad wondering about how their pasta salad tasted and brought us over a sample to try.

 

The fourth winery of the day was Divine Llama Vineyards which has both alpacas and llamas on the property. Small tasting room but nicely done in the old farm house and had a really nice seating area on the patio where a lot of people were hanging out. The tasting pourers were a bit stiff, maybe a little unsure of themselves and seemed to stick pretty much to a script. It was $8 for the tasting with glass. 
 

• Chardonel Gold: crisp clean, light fruit, nice
• Chardonel: done in oak versus the Gold being done in stainless, mild oak, tasted young and not yet fully developed, okay
• Traminette Gold: crisp, some honeydo flavor, not overly sweet
• Traminette Divine: oak version, some oak, more body, still tart
• Dry Rose': strawberry finish, tart, very light, nice
• Mustang Sally (Chardonel & Traminette): acidic sourness, okay body, decent blend, okay
• Merlot: driest they have, spicy but empty finish, okay
• Cabernet Franc (25% Merlot & 75% Cabernet Franc): pick up on the Cabernet Franc bite but also some of the emptiness of the Merlot, nice
• In A Heartbeat (50% Merlot & 50% Cabernet Franc): good balance of the two, spice of Merlot and bite of Cabernet Franc, nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Traminette 2001: like the gold, nicely sweet, good fruit, nice
• Red Rita Rose': lighter wine, not as sweet, very nice

 

The last stop of the day was Cellar 4201. This place has a very nice outdoor patio which was beginning to fill up at the end of the day. They have a small inside tasting bar and were nice to chat with. I cannot recall the price for the tasting with glass. In addition to the tasting we bought two glasses of wine to enjoy on their patio before we left for the day.

• Stainless Chardonnay: apple and pear, crisp, light not tart, good mouth feel, nice
• Oaked Chardonnay: light, not overly oaky, some “butteriness”, good mouth feel, nice
• Sangiovesse: oaky, spicy, good body, has some character, nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Sauvignon: okay, medium body, some tartness, okay
• Cherokee Red (Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot): nice with chocolate, good blend but a little tart, nice
• Sweet Native (? Blend): was meant to be a dry wine but made it sweet, tart, sour (off tasting)
• Merlot: smoke, peppery, good finish, quite drinkable, very nice

Cellar 4201

  

Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread

Made this recipe not too long ago to take with us on our April wine vacation.  The recipe came from Southern Living Magazine August 2012 issue and states that the loaves freeze well.  I like that the recipe is designed to cook as 3 mini loaves but it can be adapted to cook as a standard loaf.  This is one of the best zucchini bread recipes I have tried and is very different than the classic sweet version that ends up tasting more like a cake than a bread.  I left the poppy seeds out of one loaf for Brad (has braces). 

Yield: Makes 3 (5- x 3-inch) loaves

Total: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 325°F. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in zucchini and next 2 ingredients. Spoon batter into 3 greased and floured 5- x 3-inch disposable aluminum foil loaf pans (about 1 1/3 cups batter per pan).

Bake at 325°F for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes).             

Yadkin Valley Wine Vacation Part 3

Friday the adventures continued as we visited five wineries heading into the Dobson and Mt. Airy areas. 

First stop was Stony Knoll Vineyards which I thought was one of the prettier stops for the entire trip.  They have a large tasting bar, big tasting room and they even have a refurbished cabin on the property for rent if you really want to get away from it all.  The gentleman doing the tasting was actually one of the growers and was very interesting to talk with but he gave very small tastes which always makes it so hard to really know what a wine tastes like.  The tasting was $5 each without the glass or option to get the glass with tasting for $7.

• Chardonnay: short time in the barrel so only light oak, green apple, not too tart, nice
• Viognier: crisp, tart but pleasant and refreshing
• Chambourcin: five years in French oak, fig is present, tannic, very nice
• Cabernet Franc: plum, not as acidic as most Cabernet Franc, lingering finish, very nice
• Merlot: light, a bit empty, okay
• Syrah: very smooth, oak flavors, good tannins, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Sauvignon: smooth, kind of light on finish (bought 1 bottle)
• Red Table Wine (five grape blend): European style sweet, sugars are carefully added back to make more intense, nice (bought 1 bottle)

Stony Knoll

The second stop was Hutton Vineyards.  We may have been there just before they officially
open which would explain why we waited by ourselves in the tasting room for several minutes (different opening times listed in different places).  Wine tasting is $5 or if you want the glass $7.  The taster poured generously, too generously considering there wasn't an obvious dump bucket and we imbibed more than we intended to for it being only the second stop of five.  But this was probably one of the most interesting tastings because we were primarily tasting four different vintages of the same wine.

• Viognier 2007: (not sure how long bottle had been open in fridge) tart, some fruit, was a tad empty, okay
• Chardonnay: (was a fresh bottle but was over chilled) could smell the oak, but was crisp and tart not buttery, okay
• Cabernet Franc 2005: smooth, mellow but has the classic "Franc bite"
• Cabernet Franc 2006: mellower, not as much bite, more tannic (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Franc 2007: dryer than 2006, closer to 2005 in flavor, good bite and smoothness (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Franc 2008: darker color, tarter, more "Franc bite"

View across the vineyard as leaving Hutton Vineyards

Our third stop was to be Snappy Lunch in Mt. Airy but we arrived 15 minutes after they closed. Plan B was to just go on to the third winery which was in walking distance of Snappy since we knew they had a deli  Old North State Winery & Brewery.  They have a large tasting room with a deli counter on one side and a bar on the other side.  We opted to sit at the bar and were able to do our tasting there as well as place and eat our food order.  Food-wise we opted to split two items off the extensive and diverse "deli" menu which had everything from cold to hot sandwiches to pizzas and fajitas.  I had the Cuban and Brad had the chicken quesadilla both of which were really good.  Drink-wise their wine tasting offerings include dry wine tasting for $6, semi-sweet & sweet tasting for $6, wine flight sampler of three wines your choose for $10, premier wine tasting of all dry and semi-sweet & sweet wines for $10 (get to keep glass) or the Riedel reserve tasting of their more premium wines plus the dry wines for $15 and for $5 more keep the nice Riedel glass.  I opted to do the reserve wine tasting and Brad opted to drink a beer because they are after all also a brewery (note he did get sips of the wine from me).  I was disappointed that they were out of their porter but that made it easier for me to decide on just a wine tasting.  Brad only had their IPA and thought it was good.  The wines were the best of the trip thus far.

• Spring House (Viognier/Pinot Gris): very light, honeysuckle, not tart, very nice
• Bare Bones (Chardonnay/Riesling): crisp not tart, drinkable, not oaky, more like Riesling than Chardonnay, very nice
• Malbec: caramel, butter, very smooth but kind of empty, undecided/nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Tannat: more character than Malbec, tannic, has a bite, Brad did not like, nice
• Prelude (Cabernet/Merlot): okay on own but better with dark chocolate, okay
• Restless Soul (Malbec/Tannat/Cabernet): smooth, dry, great blend, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Merlot: really good with food, peppery, empty without food, nice
• Autumn Rose (Chambourcin): jammy, interesting for rose, has a punch, okay

Fourth stop of the day was Olde Mill Winery & Vineyards.  Small but nice tasting room where tasting with glass is $5. We had excellent conversation with the gentleman doing the tasting, who happens to be the father of the very young wine maker.  We got the impression this 20 year old is a bit of a prodigy since he has been blending wines since he was 12 years old.  The winery is just a hobby for his parents.

• Chardonnay: French oak only 6 months, not overly buttery, crisp, fruit, some tartness, nice
• Sangiovese: they buy the grapes for this one, acidic on finish, mellow, very nice
• Cabernet Sauvignon: spicy, peppery, nice body, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Chambourcin: local grapes, tart but mild, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Mill Creek Red (Cabernet/Syrah/Merlot): smoky from Merlot, well balanced, some tartness, light tannins, nice
• Epiphany (Cabernet/Chambourcin): spicy, smoky, not tart, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Petite Manseng: rare grape variety for NC, typical in southwest France, semi-dry, tart and sweet, unusual, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Niagra: semi-sweet, clean finish due to high acidity, okay
• White Blossom (Petite Manseng/Niagra): not overly sweet, acidic finish, okay



Olde Mill Winery

Fifth and final stop of the day was Round Peak Vineyards which also has Skull Camp wines & beers available for tasting. They have a nice tasting room and offer wine tastings as flights; 1 flight is $6 and 2 flights is $9 (flight is either the Round Peak wines or the Skull Camp wines or if doing 2 then is both) and they have tastes of beers ($1.50 or $1.75 if high gravity) as well as pints of beer.  Once again I did the wines and Brad did the beer.  And at this stage in our trip we actually started encountering other people doing tastings.  We actually ran into the same group we sat next to here later in our trip during our lunch at Elkin Creek.

• Chardonnay: no oak, crisp, clean, good fruit, green apple, nice
• Rose (Sangiovese): tart, not bitter, strawberry, dry, very nice (bought 1 bottle)
• Fiddlers Red (Cabernet/Merlot/Sangiovese): tart, tad empty on finish, too tart, okay
• Merlot: smooth, mild, some spice and pepper, okay
• Nebbiolo: licorice, earthy, high acidity, tart finish but smooth, needs aging, has potential (bought 1 bottle)
• Cabernet Sauvignon: incredible fruit, smooth, very drinkable, "cab for California wine drinkers", very much like (bought 2 bottles)

Above were Round Peak and remainder on list are Skull Camp

• Anticipation (Chardonnay/Muscat): green apples, oaky but sweet, okay
• Pear Wine: 100% pear juice, nice punch but sweet, very nice
• Euphoria (Traminette/Muscat): honey, orange, good mouth feel, buttery, very nice (bought 1 bottle) 
• Confusion (Cabernet Franc Rose): strawberry, pear, very nice
• Flirtation (Barbera/Sangiovese): strong Barbera, cherry, very mild, very nice
• Dedication (Sangiovese/Petit Manseng): great fruit, smooth, very nice (bought 1 bottle)

Brad tried a double IPA, a pale, another IPA...??? things are a bit fuzzy at this stage, too bad they don't have beer information on their website.

Round Peak