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NC Wines

HillShmillHillShmill
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in North Carolina

Our caterer recommended we buy our own alcohol for our wedding and hire a bartender to help keep costs down. Since we're both NY transplants who LOVE NC, we're planning to serve lots of local NC food and drinks. We're both big beer drinkers and know what local breweries we'd like to feature but does anyone have recommendations for NC wines? I've read a lot of the local wines are very sweet because of the kind of grapes that grow around here. Has anyone tried wines that are more traditional and dryer? Thanks so much!

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Re: NC Wines

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    pirategal03pirategal03 member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Muscadine wine is sweet (think Duplin) but that's not the only kind of grape grown here.

    We served Childress wine at our rehearsal dinner, and while it's not my favorite NC wine, it's priced well for this sort of event and is good.

    If you do want to go with a muscadine; Cypress Bend has some good, dry whites.  I told the lady I thought that was an oxymoron, then I tasted it and it really was a dry muscadine. 

    Flint Hill is my favorite NC winery, but they only sell direct from the vineyard and don't always have high quantities available.

    It'd be worth looking into Shelton Vineyards wine too.  It's good and well priced. 
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    NcsuPsychNcsuPsych member
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    edited December 2011
    Duplin is awesome! Plus, it's relatively inexpensive IMO. We got some of their Christmas Eve wine and it was extremely delicious.

    Aside from that, I have no idea about NC wines. Best thought would be to take a couple date nights and do some wine tours at the local places. :)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    edited December 2011
    Biltmore wines!!  They make some seriously yummy and reasonably priced wine.  If you have a Total Wine nearby, they should be able to order it for you in large quantities and you can even order direct from Biltmore.  Also, I think this sounds like an excellent excuse for a romatic weekend in Asheville to visit Biltmore, tour the winery, and do some tasting :)
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    MBS0310MBS0310 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011

    I'm from NC and my parents recently decided they love wine, so we always have local wines.  Childress is our favorite, but they may be more on the sweeter side for you.  Shelton is really good.  Their chardonnay is very good, as well as their Riesling.  Biltmore is great, especially their Christmas wines!! Since you have time and the wedding is after Christmas, I would highly recommend trying those!  Duplin is also good, but havent had those as much.  But we don't like dry wines, so we try to head for the sweeter wines.  I think you should be good with any NC wines that you pick! 

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    Beth0882Beth0882 member
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    edited December 2011
    We have tried a lot of NC wine, and we don't like the muscadine wines or super sweet wines, so here are some suggestions for wineries that have drier types:

    Raffaldini (we don't love these wines, but I think thats a personal preference, a lot of people love them)
    Rag Apple Lassie (our favorite! their chardonnay is amazing)
    Shelton
    Westbend
    RayLen
    Childress

    These are the "bigger" ones that would be more affordable.  There are asome smaller ones that are good too, but it might be expensive to buy in bulk!  Total Wine has a sectino of NC wines, as said above, so you could check out their selection to try a few!
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    HillShmillHillShmill
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    edited December 2011
    Thank you everyone for their help! I'm glad to hear there are a bunch of more traditional non-muscadine local wines to chose from. I'm going to stop into Total Wine one of these days and see what they can show me. This may end up being my favorite wedding task ever! haha
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    uneek1323uneek1323 member
    First Anniversary First Comment Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    Can't go wrong with Duplin. We had 2 different reds and 2 different whites. We got a lot of postive comments about it.
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    shigaitesshigaites
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    edited December 2011
    Man, I must be the only one who hates Duplin wines around here.  Every one I've tried is sooooooooooooooo sweet to me. 

    To be honest, I don't really like most NC wines because of the sweetness, but when I went to the NC Wine Festival a couple weekends ago I found a winery I really enjoyed!  It's called Weathervane Vineyard and they're in Yadkin Valley.  Here's their website: http://www.weathervanewinery.com/

    The two I liked the most that they were sampling were the Temperature Rising and Evening Breeze.  

    Another vineyard that I thought was pretty good was Round Peak Vineyard out of Mount Airy.  They're a bit on the sweet side on some of their wines but they also have some good ones.  I think my favorite of theirs I tried was Skull Camp Anticiptation.  I'm normally not a white wine drinker but this one was pretty good!

    If you are interested in doing a wine cocktail, one drink I had at the festival that was pretty awesome was a peach sangria made from peach wine produced by Chatham Hill Winery out near RDU.  Although winter isn't really peach season haha.
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    shigaitesshigaites
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    edited December 2011
    Whoa what happened to my font?  Knot bug strikes again! hahaha
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    bellamisto43bellamisto43 member
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    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina_nc-wines?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:115Discussion:3fe96549-3baf-470d-b695-1163b598f1ccPost:1815c604-db91-4689-83c6-13cbb2221d05">Re: NC Wines</a>:
    [QUOTE]We have tried a lot of NC wine, and we don't like the muscadine wines or super sweet wines, so here are some suggestions for wineries that have drier types: Raffaldini (we don't love these wines, but I think thats a personal preference, a lot of people love them) Rag Apple Lassie (our favorite! their chardonnay is amazing) Shelton Westbend RayLen Childress These are the "bigger" ones that would be more affordable.  There are asome smaller ones that are good too, but it might be expensive to buy in bulk!  Total Wine has a sectino of NC wines, as said above, so you could check out their selection to try a few!
    Posted by Beth0882[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>We have the same exact taste!!  Rag Apple Lassie Chardonnay is my favorite wine!  </div><div>
    </div><div>We are getting married at Raffaldini, so obviously love their wines, only available at the winery.  I would also have to add Laurel Gray has some really great wines and good pricing.  Best of luck.  I think a lot of people think Duplin and Hinnant are all NC has to offer, it's definitely worth a great weekend to head out to the Yadkin Valley area and hit a few of the good ones for those that don't care for the sweet!

    </div>
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    mthornton40539mthornton40539 member
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    edited December 2011
    Gregory Vineyards is about 98 for 12 bottles (a case)

    the Mary Elizabeth (Sweet White Muscadine Wine) is amazing. 

    They have  a website and they do ship :)
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    malivermanmaliverman member
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    edited December 2011

    May i suggest that if you live near a winery go to a tasting and see for yourself. I went to Duplin's winery and tried almost 20 kinds of wine and they also have packs to make wine-a-ritas which are GOOD!!!

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    HillShmillHillShmill
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    edited December 2011
    Um...did you say wine-a-ritas?? Be still my wine-loving heart! haha

    Thank you girls for all the great suggestions! I may try to convince my FI to take a long weekend and go winery hopping with me this fall. So many options to chose from!
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    NcsuPsychNcsuPsych member
    Combo Breaker First Comment First Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    Speaking of wine tours. .

    If you're a member of Livingsocial (if not : https://livingsocial.com/redeem_invite/2690565-ncsups?ref=lnk)

    Anyways, heres a link for a wine tour for two down in Pine Level :)

    http://livingsocial.com/deals/54481-vineyard-tour-and-wine-tasting-for-two-people?msdc_id=45&ref=RALDeal062411_45_9936email

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    weddingaway12weddingaway12 member
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    edited December 2011
    I use to run a wine bar here so I know a lot about the NC wine scene.  First off, you don't want Duplin because it is way too sweet.  Second, do not get Biltmore because they buy all of their grapes from California and it still doesn't taste that good.  My personal favorite is Junius Lindsay - its small but they just added a tasting room a couple years ago.  They "contract" the same winemaker as Childress, but the wines are sooo much better.  Their specialty varietals are Syrah and Viognier.  Michael Zimmerman is the owner and he is a great guy!  They are in Welcome which is just south of Winston Salem.  

    Other recommendations are Raylen (their Category 5 red and South Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay are my picks) and Shelton (I like their Cabernet Franc and avoid the super sweet Riesling).  Also, Childress is widely known that they have arranged their vineyard to look beautiful but it is layed out in the most unfunctional way resulting in less than stellar wines.

    Your best bet is to contact the vineyard directly or go through Total Wine for a variety which is a good place for beer, too.
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