Asheville has long been called Beer City, but what you may not know is that the Travel Channel named Asheville in the top ten cities for wine snobs. North Carolina is home to more than 100 wineries with 20 in the mountains around Asheville. The Biltmore Estate in the heart of the city is the most visited winery in the country and is open 365 days a year. Another, Burntshirt Vineyards, features a 10,440-square foot winery with a 1,700-square foot barrel room equal to the best of European chateaus. It is only about a thirty minute drive from Applewood Manor and it is open Sunday-Thursday, 12-6 PM & Friday-Saturday 12-7 PM, with tours at 2 PM every day. And if you want to make a day of it, there are two nearby clusters of multiple wineries, the Tryon Foothills Wineries and Hendersonville Wine Country. The Tryon Foothills has five wineries, and it’s an easy 45 mile drive from Asheville. Hendersonville has three along a ten mile scenic drive through apple country.
Tryon wineries include:
- Parker-Binns has six wines for tasting and on Sunday, winemaker and owner, Karen Binns, will dish up complimentary brick oven pizza.
- At Overmountain Vineyards you need to book in advance for their $35.00 per person special tasting and, weather permitting, you can enjoy your wine from their outdoor areas overlooking the vineyard.
- The Russian Chapel Hills Winery produces several varietals including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and a wonderful dessert wine.
- Mountain Brook Vineyard is a small boutique family winery producing Pinot Grigio, Rose, as well as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Currently, they are only open Wednesday and Monday afternoons.
- Green Creek Winery is another small winery. You can enjoy the day’s end on their patio sampling a few wines or their wine-flavored foods that include ice cream and chocolates. They are open Thursday-Sunday from one to five.
Hendersonville Wine Country’s three wineries include: South Creek Winery, a boutique winery farm that offers tastings in its Italian Renaissance Farmhouse. Their wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc as well as blends. They are just off I-40 at exit 90—2240 S Creek Rd.; Silver Fork Winery (six miles from South Creek), that produces Bordeaux style reds as well as Chardonnay, Rose, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; and Lake James Cellars, a family winery located near the beautiful lake of the same name. Lake James’s tasting room is a restored textile mill where you can sample wines handcrafted from local fruits—dry reds and whites as well as fruity and sweet wines. These wineries are usually open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 to 5 and on Sunday from 1 to 5. But it is a good idea to check ahead of time.
A final word of advice, when visiting multiple wineries in the same day, book a car service or have a designated driver. Those numerous small sips of wine can quickly accumulate in too much wine to be driving! Asheville has several car services that can be booked for day trips and wine tours. Two of those include Asheville Premier Transportation at (828) 407-0221 and Backcountry Butler at (828) 808-4416.