We were recently at the Biltmore Estate for a visit (which you can read about by clicking here), and 
stopped on the way to visit one of the local North Carolina wineries. This was Lake James Cellars in Glen Alpine, NC. Located in an old, converted textile mill, the winery has an adjoining antiques shop. It is a quaint and interesting place to visit, and we tried all of their wine, finding several worth noting, and worth bringing home. We also found a carved wooden duck in the antique shop, which we named Chester and sent to our son as a present. You never know what you’re going to find when you head out to visit these smaller wineries, but it is almost always something good.
Lake James Cellars makes almost all of its wines from North Carolina grapes, primarily from the Yadkin Valley. The lone exception is their red Icewine, which uses Canadian grapes. They have both sweet and dry wines, as is pretty typical for North Carolina. We’ll start with our favorites on the sweet side.
Fonta Fora Blush – this is a cranberry flavored wine. The fruit wines are all made with real juice. There are no extracts or essences added 
in. This particular wine is delicious, and the cranberry is tart and sweet at the same time. This is dangerous though, as I could picture a tall glass and a straw. Fortunately, the fruit wines are also relatively low in alcohol, at 8-9%.
Bridgewater Bramble – this is a blackberry flavored wine, on a Cabernet Sauvignon base. It had some balsam pine on the nose with blackberries at the end. This is delicious, and smooth. We brought a bottle home.
Carribean Mist – this is unusual, with tropical flavors, pineapple and banana, along with mango. A very interesting wine that would pare well with spicy food.
Icewine Red – made with Canadian fruit, this has 15% alcohol and is very much a dessert style wine. It is rich, with ripe fruit and some molasses. Very good indeed.
All the sweet wines are priced at $15, except for the Icewine, which is $25. Now for our favorites from the dry side:
2017 North Carolina Syrah – light, cherry red in color, this wine is a lighter style, with black cherry, tobacco and black pepper aromas and flavors. This is a good food wine. $18
2016 North Carolina Merlot – Rich ruby color, and medium bodied, this has cherry flavors and also black pepper spice. Also $18.
2016 North Carolina Cabernet Sauvignon – the most substantial of the dry wines here, this has toasty oak and currant aromas and
flavors. It is medium bodied, with the black pepper that seems to be a signature of the winemaker. It has a long finish. This is quite good for a medium bodied Cab Sauv. We bought a bottle to bring home. $20
Local wineries are a great place to meet interesting people and explore new areas. Our visit to Lake James Cellars was something new, and trying the wines was fun. We also got a duck, which was just an added bonus.
There is a very vibrant winery industry in North Carolina, and now that we live here we’ll be exploring it and writing about the many people who are turning local juice into the drink of the gods. Later this month, we’ll be at the North Carolina Wine Bloggers Summit, where we’ll start to make some new friends and learn much more about the North Carolina wine scene. If you are a NC wine blogger you can read more about the event here: http://ncwineguys.com/index.php/2019-ncwine-bloggers-summit/. There are a lot of wineries to get to.
For more information about Lake James Cellars, visit their website at: https://www.lakejamescellars.com/.
A votre santé!
Leave a Reply