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Hosta plants at the entrance to the lodge, Sanders Ridge Vineyard & Winery, Booneville, NC, located on a 179-year-old family farm consists of an old-growth forest, creeks, lakes, open fields, and a 15-acre vineyard.
After a Saturday morning trip to the local farmers market for wonderful tomatoes and squash, we drove to the Yadkin Valley area to tour a few vineyards and have lunch. We use to visit this area quite often when we lived in Salisbury, NC, pre RV’ing. But our last visit was pre-2015.
The Yadkin Valley is North Carolina’s first federally recognized American Viticulture Area (AVA). The Yadkin Valley has over 35 Wineries/Vineyards in the area and some beautiful scenery that can make for a nice “day away.”
An American Viticultural Area, or AVA, is a specific type of appellation of origin used on wine labels. An AVA is a delimited grape-growing region with specific geographic or climatic features that distinguish it from the surrounding regions and affect how grapes are grown. Using an AVA designation on a wine label allows vintners to describe more accurately the origin of their wines to consumers and helps consumers identify wines they may purchase.
This area is still relatively young on the world winery/vineyard scale, so many wineries are still in the maturing process. The upside is these wineries are small, with intimate wine tasting rooms providing more access to the winemakers and owners (often the same).
We ended up visiting only two vineyards. Both were beautiful, and we had a wonderful lunch, tasted just a little wine, and enjoyed the scenery with beautiful clouds and loud rumbling thunder. We didn’t, however, get rained on as the storms always seemed to be bypassing us. It was a good day, and we will return.
The clouds became more of a focal point for photography as the day wore on.
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Storm clouds over the vineyard, Sanders Ridge Vineyard & Winery, Booneville, NC, located on a 179-year-old family farm consists of an old-growth forest, creeks, lakes, open fields, and a 15-acre vineyard.
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A view of the vineyards and entrance from the tasting room at the top of the hill, Piccione Vineyards, Ronda, NC, a young vineyard with Italian history.
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Roses and grapevines, from the tasting room at the top of the hill, Piccione Vineyards, Ronda, NC, a young vineyard with Italian history.
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A distant rain shower and clouds, from the tasting room at the top of the hill, Piccione Vineyards, Ronda, NC, a young vineyard with Italian history.
Your post made me wonder how many states have their own viticulture areas. Looks like a great day away.
Thanks, Mark. According to Wikipedia: “As of July 2021, there are 257 recognized AVAs in 34 states—several of which are shared by two or more states. Over half (142) of the AVAs are in California.” There is a list on the Wikipedia page of sites by state.
We’re about a 1hr 40min drive when using secondary roads (which we like to do) from our home to the central Yadkin Valley. The drive there and back, along with leisurely visiting a couple of vineyards in between, makes for a nice relaxed day. Many people from the area do this on the weekends. Some more popular winery tasting rooms can get crowded. Two vineyards a visit leaves us with about 17 more visits to cover them all. :-)
We certainly enjoyed visiting some of the vineyards last time we were in CA. I am not a big wine drinker as it tends to give me headaches from
sulfites, but do enjoy some of the lower sulfite kind.
Yeah, for us, it’s not about the wine tasting or drinking. We often buy a glass of wine at each stop to be a little supportive, but we seldom drink it all, and it seems many wineries pour a short glass, to begin with. But I’m usually the designated driver and I take that seriously. We do it to enjoy the scenery, the atmosphere, and sometimes good food. There’s also often live entertainment on weekends, but it’s hit or miss if it’s any good.
Wineries I’ve visited have all had a wonderful sense about them. By that I mean the look and feel. They usually look beautiful and well maintained. Most have been inviting to sit and stay a while. Great for marketing their product. Looks like this is one of those areas where pride is essential and where a lot of people will visit. Wine was my drink of choice and I just dealt with the headaches. Great series.
I agree Monte, a large part of the Winery charm has to do with their ambiance; at least for Bonnie and me, that’s the case. Most of the wine I personally could take or leave, and to be honest, many of these wineries are too young to be producing any outstanding wine yet. But it’s an entertaining way to spend a day. Thanks!
Beautiful! Vineyards are so common here in California that I tend to ignore them in favor of other, less common landscapes. Your post made me wan to go to one. Sounds like you had a great time out.
There are many Vineyards in this area these days, but none have much age or reputation yet. Some have okay wines, but it’s a hit-and-miss proposition finding them. A good deal of their income comes from leisure and wine tasting visitors. The landscapes at these vineyards are usually well maintained and beautiful. Thanks! 🙂