muscadine

Muscadine on a Massive Scale: Hinnant Family Vineyards

Muscadine on a Massive Scale: Hinnant Family Vineyards

We’re celebrating North Carolina Wine Month with an episode featuring Ashley Nicholas from Hinnant Family Vineyards in Pine Level, NC! Hinnant Family Vineyards started in 1972 as contract grape growers specifically for the muscadine varieties. After several years of growing fruit, they transitioned into the you-pick and fresh market industry.

It was only natural that they started making wine out of their grapes and the winery and tasting room opened in 2003. Now with 100 acres of grapes, they are the largest muscadine vineyard in North Carolina and they are literally making thousands of gallons of wine and harvesting literal tons of grapes.

Wine Class with the Wine Mouths is back again! Join us as they talk about the making wine in concrete eggs! For more information about the Wine Mouths, head to https://www.winemouths.com/ or find them on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok @Winemouths. The Wine Mouths theme was written and performed by Joshua Morris. You can find him at twitter.com/joshtimejosh.

If you like this episode, please leave us a rating and review. It really helps spread the word. Subscribing and sharing with a friend is another great way to support Cork Talk.

This episode was made possible in part by a grant from the North Carolina Wine and Grape Council. For more information, please visit https://www.ncwine.org

Posted by Matt Kemberling in Podcast, 0 comments
Elevating Muscadine Part 2

Elevating Muscadine Part 2

We’re back again with Tina Smith and Nadia Hetzel of Cypress Bend Vineyards! Located in Wagram, NC, Cypress Bend is in a unique location in North Carolina where the Muscadine grape grows well and produces an outstanding wine.

Tina and Nadia talk through their abundant wine list. They tell us about the differences between each wine and how they craft the best expression of the fruit. As you’ll find out, each wine is filled with abundant aromatics and is very food friendly.

Wine Class with the Wine Mouths is back. They talk to us about the relative new comer Traminette. For more information about the Wine Mouths, head to https://www.winemouths.com/ or find them on Facebook and Instagram @Winemouths. The Wine Mouths theme was written and performed by Joshua Morris. You can find him at twitter.com/joshtimejosh.

Closing Content

If you like this episode, please leave us a rating and review. It really helps spread the word. Subscribing and sharing with a friend is another great way to support Cork Talk.

Did you know we have a Patreon page that offers Patron Only content, early access to episode, blooper reels, and more? Head to patreon.com/CorkTalk to learn more and sign up!

This episode was made possible in part by a grant from the North Carolina Wine and Grape Council. For more information, please visit https://www.ncwine.org/

Posted by Matt Kemberling in Podcast, 0 comments
Elevating Muscadine Part 1

Elevating Muscadine Part 1

In this episode, we sit down with Tina Smith and Nadia Hetzel of Cypress Bend Vineyards! Located in Wagram, NC, Cypress Bend is in a unique location in North Carolina where the Muscadine grape grows well and produces an outstanding wine.

Tina Smith and her husband, Dan, decided to plant grapes on Dan’s family land back in 2001. Over time, they grew from a humble 10 acres to the 35 acres that they now have. For wine grapes, they decided on Carlos and Magnolia for their white grapes and Noble for their red. Each of these grapes has close ties to the breeding program at NC State.

Nadia joined Cypress Bend Vineyards in 2014 as their winemaker. Nadia explains how her training in cold and hot climate grapes helps her craft an outstanding wine. She treats the grapes just like any other wine grape. That process results in a higher quality wine which fully embraces the aromatic profile of the muscadine grape.

Wine Class with the Wine Mouths is back. They talk to us about the lesser known Rkatsiteli grape and how it does in North Carolina. For more information about the Wine Mouths, head to https://www.winemouths.com/ or find them on Facebook and Instagram @Winemouths. The Wine Mouths theme was written and performed by Joshua Morris. You can find him at twitter.com/joshtimejosh.

Closing Content

If you like this episode, please leave us a rating and review. It really helps spread the word. Subscribing and sharing with a friend is another great way to support Cork Talk.

Did you know we have a Patreon page that offers Patron Only content, early access to episode, blooper reels, and more? Head to patreon.com/CorkTalk to learn more and sign up!

This episode was made possible in part by a grant from the North Carolina Wine and Grape Council. For more information, please visit https://www.ncwine.org/

Posted by Matt Kemberling in Podcast, 0 comments
NC Muscadines Delight the Taste Buds

NC Muscadines Delight the Taste Buds

August is now North Carolina Grape Month.  To celebrate, the North Carolina Muscadine Association recently hosted a virtual tasting of muscadine grapes and wine with local media, bloggers, and social media influencers.  We were fortunate enough to take part on the second day of this event.

The Mothervine on Roanoke Island in Manteo, NC

The Mothervine on Roanoke Island in Manteo, NC

Native Grape

Muscadines are the indigenous grape variety of the southeast.  The oldest known cultivated grape vine in the United States is a scuppernong vine on Roanoke Island in Manteo known as The Mothervine.  Scuppernong is a muscadine variety that’s also the state fruit of North Carolina.

The association sent a package that contained seven different muscadine grapes varieties along with a bottle of muscadine wine.  The grapes included fresh market as well as wine grapes.  Fresh market grapes are grown for eating.  Wine grapes are obviously grown for wine.  Fresh market grapes tend to be sweeter and less acidic than wine grapes.

Grape Tasting

The tasting was led by Kristen Baughman Taber of Tabletop Media Group and Debby Wechsler, Executive Secretary of the Muscadine Association.  Debby walked us through the proper way to eat a muscadine grape.  You place the stem scar facing your mouth.  Then you squeeze or bite the grape. Next, you decide to chew the skins and seeds or spit them out.

We then tasted through five fresh market grapes.  Three were white/bronze grapes:  Triumph, Tara, and Hall.  Two were red grapes:  Supreme and Lane.  These fresh market grapes had been sourced from Hinnant Family Vineyards in Pine Level, NC.  While all had a common grapey flavor, there were subtle differences particularly when chewing with the skins.

We finished by tasting the two main muscadine wine grapes, Carlos, a white/bronze grape, and Noble, a black/red grape.  Carlos is the most widely planted muscadine variety in North Carolina.  Both grapes have smaller berries than any of the fresh market varieties we tasted.  The wine grapes came from LuMil Vineyard in Elizabethtown, NC.

 

Wine Tasting

After the grape tasting, we moved on to our favorite part, the wine tasting.  Winemaker Nadia Hetzel of Cypress Bend Vineyards in Wagram, NC led us through a tasting of the off dry muscadine wine, Livy Estate.  Livy is 100% Carlos and is a beautiful wine.  The nose is similar to a Riesling as well as the palate.  It is nicely acidic and a joy to drink.

Muscadine Grape Extract Research

Following the wine tasting, Dr. Patricia Gallagher of Wake Forest University School of Medicine talked to us about the research into the potential health benefits of muscadine grape extract.  It’s exciting research and holds great promise in helping those with cancer.  To learn more about it, visit this link.

Thanks again to the North Carolina Muscadine Association, Tabletop Media Group, Hinnant Family Vineyards, LuMil Vineyards, and Cypress Bend Vineyards for a great tasting and celebration of North Carolina Grape Month!

Posted by Joe Brock in North Carolina Wine, 0 comments