Our group of 11 gathered at Lynnwood Brewing Concern in early February, around a long table in the taproom. Each guest chose four beers for their flight, and had their order filled at the bar. While tasting, everyone enjoyed appetizers from Wilson’s Eatery, sister next-door restaurant to Lynnwood. The pimento cheese is great on pork rinds or tortilla chips, and the salsa and guacamole were very good also.
During our tasting, we learned about the history of watering holes in the neighborhood, dating back to the late 1700s, before Raleigh was even a city. Today, the area has become a beer and cider mecca, home to at least five breweries and the city’s first cidery, with more to come in the near future.
For our second stop, we made the short walk to nearby East Bower Cider Co., stopping briefly to learn a little history of the Whitaker Mill neighborhood. East Bower was having their annual Wassail Day, celebrating hot, spiced cider with music, dog adoptions and crafts vendors.
Pork rinds pair well with pmento cheese from Wilson’s Eatery.
The group found tables indoors and everyone tasted two ciders – Dry Twig cider and semi-sweet Ginger Agave. A few tried the warm, spiced cider (Wassail). The drinks were well-received, with some preferring one to the other, and nearly everyone was surprised at how much they enjoyed the cider. The group continued getting to know each other, even after the tour time was over. Some moved on to explore other businesses in the neighborhood and vendors selling items for Wassail Day.
Join our next tour in this neighborhood will be March 9, 1-3 pm. Purchase tickets at here while they last!
A look back at the top experiences of the last year
2023 was a great year for wine and beer activities, so I decided to rank the highlights of my beer and wine activities. Here’s to doing even more in 2024!
Happy New Year from North Carolina wine influencers, 2 Winey Friends, NC Wine Guys, Blends & Bubbly, NC Wines, Tarheel Taps & Corks and Wine Mouths
8: Special events in wine, beer and cider Events at North Carolina wineries, breweries and cideries are getting better all the time. Here are just a few that were memorable in 2023: A wine and food pairing dinner at Gioia Dell’Amore Cellars. They promise more wine dinners in 2024. A Raclette cheese tasting at Botanist & Barrel, because who can resist this melted cheese poured over vegetables, bread and more? So many celebrations at Glass Jug Beer Lab, including a Girl Scout cookie and beer pairing in RTP and a Mardi Gras celebration in downtown Durham. And fellow wine influencer Dave Nershi shared his love for and expertise in South African wines by hosting a food and wine pairing dinner at his home. And Dathan and Jen of Triangle Around Townhosted a fun “Open that Bottle” night in their home.
Guests gather around tables in the Gioia dell’Amore tasting room for the food-wine pairing dinner.
Mardi Gras celebration at Glass Jug Beer Lab in Durham’s Central Park downtown.
Raclette cheese tasting at Botanist & Barrel.
South African wine dinner at with Dave Nershi of Vino-Sphere.
7: Mead tasting with friends at Starrlight Mead I think The Plant in Pittsboro is such a fun place to visit, so I invited some friends to taste mead at the Starrlight tasting room in the beverage district. After our tasting, we toured the production room and strolled through The Plant to see other businesses, including ax throwing. We wrapped up our afternoon with a beer at Fair Game Beverage.
6: Food and beer tours I started guiding food tours with Triangle Food and City Tours, which provides tours in Raleigh’s Historic Oakwood and Boylan Heights. I also began working with People1Tourismto offer some beer and cider tours in the Whitaker Mill neighborhood. Please look for opportunities to participate in both of these tour groups!
5: Wine tastings with Merlot2Muscadine Fellow wine influencer Arthur Barham hosted several wine tastings this year, and I participated in two of them – sparkling wine and Tannat tastings. Arthur is a real expert in planning such events, and I hope he’ll do more of them in 2024!
With candles and lanterns, the tasting continued even without lights.
4: NC Winegrower’s Association meeting This year’s wine annual meeting was a real celebration, and as one participant described it, like a family reunion. The sessions were great fun, including a Reidel glassware demonstration. You can read more about itin the blog or Screw-it Wine (shop for the digital issue).
A Reidle glassware demonstration was part of the wine conference. Nearly 300 participated.
3: Judging the 2023 NC Wine Competition After a surprise last-minute phone call from Brianna Burns of NC Wine and Grape Council, I found myself with a group of wine experts judging the top wines entered in the state wine competition. And this year’s top pick was a Seyval Blanc from Shadow Springs Vineyards.
Judging the NC Wine Competition for 2023
2: NC Wine Digital Media Summit Having hosted this event in Yadkin Valley, as well as online during the pandemic, the @ncwineguys took this event to Western North Carolina to explore wineries in the Crest of the Blue Ridge AVA. In advance of the Summit, participants spent two days touring wineries and cideries in the Hendersonville area.
1: Trip to Napa and Sonoma A Big Highlight of this year’s wine experiences was visiting wineries and more in Napa and Sonoma. It was a wonderful opportunity to taste some of the best wine produced in the world, but it also left us with a true appreciation of what North Carolina’s wine industry and how accessible it is. You can read all about the trip in three recent blog posts – yes, it took three posts to get it all down! Before Christmas, Arthur Barham and I took the opportunity to trade notes on recent wine trips, including his to the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Arthur, Natalie, Kyle and Mary enjoyed dinner together and swapping wine trip stories.
Guests gather around tables in the Gioia dell’Amore tasting room for the food-wine pairing dinner.
These wines were featured in the food-wine pairing dinner.
As Laura and David Comer, owners of Gioia dell’ Amore Cellars, celebrated their second year of owning the winery at Autumn Creek Vineyards, they planned their first food and wine pairing dinner for early November. The dinner’s caterer, Pepper Moon Catering, did a fabulous job of creating dishes that really complimented the wines.
This Texas couple realized their dream of owning a winery in 2021 when they bought Autumn Creek Vineyards in Rockingham County, near Mayodan. They gave the winery a new name that means “Joy of love,” while keep “Autumn Creek Vineyards” as part of the name.
At this sold-out event, Laura started out by telling the guests that the food changes the taste of the wine, not vice versa. So she encouraged everyone to taste their wine first, then taste the food, returning to the wine to see what differences we observed.
First course: Brie, bacon and blackberry glaze grilled cheese
The first course was a brie, bacon and blackberry glaze grilled cheese sandwich paired with Flirt Sparkling Wine. The salty, richness of the grilled brie and bacon, with a slight sweetness from the blackberry glaze, made this first course a great companion to the wine. This sparkling wine, made by the method champenoise, is 100% Chardonnay. The crispness of this wine paired well with the rich, saltiness of the grilled cheese, which some at our table considered their favorite course.
Second course: Fall quinoa salad with butternut squash, craisins and pumpkin seeds
The second course was a small quinoa salad with butternut squash, craisins and pumpkin seeds, served up on an endive leave. The sweetness of the squash, craisins and pumpkin seeds — all great fall flavors — paired well with the First Blush Dry Rose, made with a blend of all estate-grown Chambourcin and Merlot. The dryness and citrusy flavors of the rose help offset the sweetness of the salad.
The next three courses were not only paired with wine, but were cooked with wine.
Third course: Baked Mahi-Mahi, served with garlic spinach
The third course was baked Mahi-Mahi with a Chardonnay caper sauce and the added treat of baby spinach with garlic butter, tucked under the Mahi. The sauce brought a brightness to this very mild fish, and many people commented on how much they enjoyed the spinach. The Off-Dry Riesling was bright enough to compliment the fish without overpowering.
The fourth course was just as hearty as the third: Merlot-braised beef short ribs with tomatoes and herbs. It was served over the top of a creamy risotto and paired with Cabernet Sauvignon. The rich sauce for the short ribs complimented the velvety smooth Cabernet. The short ribs were so tender that we could cut them with a fork.
Fifth course: Apple tart with caramel drizzle and Mayo River White reduction
The final course was an apple tart with caramel drizzle and Mayo River White reduction. Mayo River White is a sweet wine made from North Carolina Muscadine Carlo grapes. The dessert was paired with Glowing Ember Sweet and Spiced Red Wine. This just-released wine has spices associated with fall apple desserts – cinnamon, anise, ginger, and dried orange peel. The sweet and sour flavors of the apples were mellowed by the spices of the wine. Many people said this was their favorite pairing.
I was also impressed with the creativity of the vegetarian dishes for those who requested them. Though sometimes caterers take the easy way out by simply providing extra vegetables for those not eating meat, Pepper Moon provided substantial portions of grilled tofu as a substitute for the Mahi and marinated cauliflower as a substitute for the short ribs. Those who had these dishes were especially pleased.
Decorations for the tables provided a warm, fall atmosphere – peacock-colored tablecloths, with peacock feathers and dried fall grasses adorned each table in the tasting room, and the fireplace provided warmth and light.
Cabernet Cabin
An extra treat for us was being able to spend the night at the vineyard in the two-bedroom Cabernet Cabin. The winery has several overnight accommodations, including another one-and-a half-bedroom Cabin in the Vines across the vineyard, and four suites, with king bed, bath and a small kitchen with microwave. The cabin was very comfortable, clean and well-equipped for a family or two couples. Standing on the porch at night, we could see so many stars in the dark sky. It was nice to have such a short “commute” to our evening residence following the dinner.
The evening was also a fundraiser for the local Toys for Tots program, which provides toys for local children at Christmas. Throughout the evening, Laura and David raffled off wine and other goodies to support the cause. Overall, it was a fun evening! After this successful event, Laura and David want to offer more wine and food pairing dinners, with the next one sometime around Valentine’s Day. So, visit their website or sign up for their emails to participate in the next one.
Arthur Barham of Merlot2Muscadine media is known for his wine tastings, pairing foods with wines he wants to share with fellow wine lovers. In honor of NC Wine Month in May, Arthur hosted two tastings to allow his wine friends to taste and compare North Carolina wines with wines from other producers. The result? So much fun and a new appreciation among the tasters for sparkling wines and Tannat.
Salty snacks paired with the sparkling wines.
A newly minted Sommelier I, Arthur enjoys the planning and pairings that go into his wine tastings. “I love conducting wine tastings especially when I get to expand a person’s knowledge of wine or promote their curiosity about learning more,” he said.
Arthur’s tasting event for sparkling wines drew a some stormy response. We had barely started the tasting, and Arthur was explaining various methods for creating sparkling wine, when suddenly the wind picked up, rain started to pour, and the lights went out. No more slides!
But that didn’t stop the fun. With light from the windows, candles and cell phone flashlights, we started pouring and tasting four NC sparkling wines and rating them. It was clear that our group had a diverse palate and preferences in sparkling wines. In the end, the group’s favorites were sparkling wines the 2022 Raffaldini Augurirom and 2019 Piccione Vino di Lusso.
With candles and lanterns, the tasting continued even without lights.
The sparkling wines for the taste testing revealed.
Brianna Burns and Arthur Barham enjoy dessert after wine tasting.
The sparkling wines were paired with some yummy, salty rich foods, including French fries, horseradish potato chips, candied bacon strips and prosciutto-wrapped dates. We finished it all off with cheesecake and strawberries with whipped cream.
Tasting 2: Tannat
If you are a lover of red wines, you’ve surely tasted Tannat, which is produced in Europe, South America and North America. As we learned from our tasting, North Carolina is making some pretty good Tannats.
Tasting sheet and seven (plus one!) Tannats to taste! Go!
Arthur rented a community center in Fuquay-Varina to host this tasting. The foods he served up included barbecued pork and smoked turkey, with “drunken beans” and a chocolate brownie for dessert. Participants in the tasting included Matt Kemberling and Joe Brock, the NC Wine Guys; Brianna Burns of the NC Wine and Grape Council, Dave Nershi of Vino Sphere, and Dathan Kazsuk and Jen Primrose of Triangle Around Town and Local 919 wine and beer shop.
We took an hour to taste and rank seven Tannats, including three from North Carolina, two from Virginia, one from Texas, and one from both France and Uruguay.
The third-place winner was the 2008 Kerrville Hills Tannat from Texas; second place went to a 2019 Surry Cellars Tannat from NC; and the top pick was the 2019 Shelton “259” Tannat, also from NC.
Arthur introduces the Tannats for tasting.
Tasting guests taste and score the wines in the blind taste testing
Barbecued pork and smoked turkey, with drunken beans rounded out the menu.
Arthur wonders if the strong showing of NC wines in this tasting shows that wine lovers, particularly in this state, are developing a taste for the local terroir and winemaking styles. Definitely a possibility!
How to build a “Big Red” wine? Two winemakers share their ideas. We taste wine, while finishing our morning coffee.
COVID has wreaked havoc on conferences since 2020, but this year’s conference of the NC Winegrower’s Association, held in Winston-Salem Feb. 2-4, felt like a return to normal for the state’s wine industry. One grower described it as high-energy, adding, “it felt more like a reunion than a conference.”
From the sessions that Tarheel Taps & Corks attended, there were three takeaways about the state of North Carolina wine.
More North Carolinians are visiting our state wineries
Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, tourists have tended to stay closer to home. That may be why a survey of winery guests found an increase in the number of North Carolina residents visiting state wineries last year.
UNCG faculty Erick Byrd and Sam Troy, with help from their students, are working on results of a 2022 tasting room survey. Students collected nearly 600 surveys of guests at 22 wineries across North Carolina last summer. The when the study is complete, it will include recommendations for winery tasting rooms.
The survey included questions about where guests came from and who they traveled with, what attracted them to a winery, what their wine-consumption habits were and what they planned to purchase while visiting.
Since the last tasting room survey conducted in 2012, the percentage of winery guests from North Carolina has increased, likely due to the pandemic. But another possible reason for the increase is that local consumers have a greater awareness of North Carolina wine than in the past.
The survey also found:
On average, guests visited 1-2 number of wineries per trip
Nearly 70% of guests planned to buy one or more bottles of wine during their visit
Guests’ preference for red wines increased dramatically from 2012 to 2022, while their preference for white wines remained about the same
Word of mouth recommendations were the most important factor driving guests’ choice of which wineries to visit
Access to food at the winery or close by or the chance to bring food in were all important features to winery guests
Once the survey results are finalized, the researchers will make recommendations on strategies wineries can take to attract more guests and improve their guests’ winery experience.
The wine glass you use makes a difference
Riedel wine glasses and four wines sit ready for a tasting demonstration.
Of course I have known about Riedel’s fine crystal wine glasses, but had never experienced how the same wine can taste differently depending on the glass you drink it from. The 265-year-old crystal company based in Austria made it their business to create the right glass for the right wine.
Riedel representative Susan Dubrow guided us through tasting four different wines in five different glasses: Extreme Restaurant Rose, Riedel Restaurant (designed for Sauvignon Blanc), Riedel Performance Restaurant (designed for Pinot Noir and Chambourcin), Degustazione Red, and stemless Riedel O Restaurant for Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab Franc.
We “played with” our wine, pouring small amounts into different glasses, then tasting the wine to discover the result. To me, the greatest taste difference was for the Jolo Vineyards Rose, which we tasted from three different glasses.
From the Extreme Rose (Glass 1), the Rose filled the whole pallet – the acid and sweetness of the fruit were both , strong. From the Restaurant (Glass 2), the wine was less acid. And from the Degustazione (Glass 4), the wine was more tart. Finally, we tasted the wine from the plastic cup it was poured in, and it fell flat, screaming of acid. (Never drink wine in a plastic cup again!)
We continued to experiment with the glasses, pouring a Shelton Sauvignon Blanc, a Hanover Park Chambourcin and a Shadow Springs Cab Franc. The taste of each wine varied with the glass we drank it from.
As a bonus, we got to bring home our tasting glasses in a big black Riedel bag, each wrapped in red tissue paper. Can’t wait to try my own tastings with these glasses.
Sparkling wine production is growing in North Carolina
Sparkling wine was the focus of the closing session. More and more wineries are making a sparkling wine.
A few years ago, it was hard to find a sparkling wine produced in North Carolina, let alone a good one. But today, quite a few wineries are producing their own sparkling wine, using different methods.
At the final session of the conference, Ed Williams of the Greensboro News & Record introduced three of the sparkling wines produced here and gave winemakers a chance to share their production processes. By show of hands, a number of the wineries represented in the room indicated that they produce a sparkling wine.
Two of the sparkling wines – Childress Blanc de Blancs Brut and Biltmore Chateau Reserve – are made by the traditional method. The Shelton Sparkling Riesling is made using the tank method, with added carbonation.
Making a sparkling wine by any method is challenging. Biltmore winemaker Sharon Fenchak told the group that sparkling season is, “the most stressful time of the year.” And Childress winemaker Mark Friszolowski said, “you can’t make a mistake with sparkling.”
And we are so glad that they are taking a chance on sparkling.
New officers elected For the first time, the Winegrower’s Association will be led by two women, Hailey Klepcyk of Piccione Vineyards, president; and Becky Muhlenburg of Haze Gray Vineyards, vice president. Justin Johnson of Shadow Springs Vineyard will be treasurer, and Chuck Johnson, also of Shadow Springs Vineyard, will be secretary.
Award winners
Awards were presented in the following categories:
Bunch grapes wine, Shadow Springs Vineyard, 2019 Petit Verdot
Muscadine grapes wine, Cypress Bend, Autumn
Meade, Honey Girl Meadery, Strawberry Honey
Grower of the Year (selected by NC State University’s Mark Hoffman), Philip Oglesby, Biltmore Vineyard Supervisor
Member of Distinction, Julia Kiger, Childress Vineyards
The food and wine pairings known as “Taste of NC” continued in Winston-Salem, as part of the conference. There were so many pairings I didn’t get around to trying them all. The good news is that these events will continue across the state this year, in Wilmington, the Triangle area and Charlotte.
The speakers for the individual sessions were all very good, with most representing North Carolina wineries or some other area of the wine industry.
Winegrowers can dance! The closing dinner on Saturday night wrapped up with a DJ and dancing, a real experience.
The Taste of NC portion of the annual NC Winegrowers Association conference is famous – great North Carolina wines paired with food from some of the state’s finest restaurants. And the only Taste of NC I had experienced took place when a snowstorm made it impossible for many restaurants and wineries to make it to the Winston-Salem conference center in 2016.
So I was excited to have the chance earlier this month to attend the Taste of NC event in Asheville at the downtown Masonic Lodge. Restaurants brought samples of their finest cuisine to pair with wine from Western NC wineries.
Despite rain that held Asheville captive for several days, the event was very well attended. In fact, just making our way around the room with our event wine glass and tasting plate was a bit of a challenge. But it was well worth the effort.
We tasted lots of good wines, paired with oysters, pork belly, mini-tacos, tomato and mozzarella skewers, chocolate cake and chocolates. The quality of the wines we tasted shows why the Hendersonville and Tryon areas are drawing lots of wine lovers.
Participating wineries: Parker-Binns Vineyard, Marked Tree Vineyard, Biltmore, Stone Ashe Vineyards, Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards, Mountain Brook Vineyards, Souther Williams Vineyard, pleb Urban Winery, My Sweet Love Vineyard, Botanist & Barrel Tasting Bar, Silver Fork Winery, Overmountain Vineyards, Shadowline Vineyards, FernCrest Winery and Point Lookout Vineyards
Participating restaurants: The Rural Seed, Ivory Road Café & Kitchen, Toasted Cuban, The Lobster Trap, Braised & Confit Catering, Relish Food Truck, Urban Graze, Geraldine’s Bakery, Tequio Foods, Ob-Skewered, Jargon Restaurant, RAD Kitchen, Asheville Chocolates, Cielo Catering, Bears Smokehouse and AB Tech Culinary.
Tarheel Taps & Corks 