Exploring North Carolina with KathieyV

A year ago my family and I took off for the mountains of North Carolina.  We rented a house near Blowing Rock and Boone for our family vacation. No matter where you find yourself in N.C. you can usually find a winery nearby.  Whenever I travel, I try to visit a new to me wine shop or winery in the area.  This vacation was no exception.  Erica, T-Josh and I took off in search of  Banner Elk Winery  in Banner Elk NC. It was a beautiful drive.  T-Josh was the driver of the evening and took us on some beautiful mountain roads, and with the windows open we breathed in the refreshing mountain air.  Wonderful. We arrived and were greeted by a wooden elk sculpture just outside of the tasting room.  Then we went inside to find some much-needed wine. We each selected our wine and then headed out to enjoy the evening.  We found some nice seats outside overlooking the property took a then took a seat and enjoyed the lovely view.  Here ...

It was going to be an exciting day, and I could not wait to get started.  I was headed out with a group of wine tasting buddies to a couple of vineyards and wine stores in the great state of North Carolina. Before we get started on our first tour, I want to share with you an NC wine fact. "North Carolina is home to 186 wineries.  More than 525 individually owned grape vineyards on 2,300 acres are spread across the state." NC Wine Our first stop, Grove Winery and Vineyards. Grove Winery & Vineyards 7360 Brooks Bridge Rd Gibsonville NC 27249 A bit about them from their website, Grove is recognized as one of the most awarded wineries and estate vineyards on the East Coast. European grapes are dry farmed and used for a limited production of about 3100 cases of premium wine each year. We grow more than 80% of the grapes we use each year here at our estate vineyards which were first planted in 2002. Grapes we grow here include Cabernet Sauvignon,...