wwbd

May has 31 days. And with that many days, there are plenty of opportunities to drink some great North Carolina Wine. We did just that. The weather also was quite amazing, so we ended up taking a few weekends and visiting some wineries we haven’t been able to get to in a while. Also, toward the end of the month, we celebrated a milestone birthday in the only way we know how, with wine!

Check out our featured NC Wines on our Instagram feed and be sure to leave us your feedback!
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April showers bring May flowers. The onset of spring has the vineyards starting up their growing season. We made it out and about to a few wineries this month and ended up featuring around 20 wines. We’ve already got a few plans for next month so stay tuned on social media for what we’ll be up to.

In the meantime, check out our featured NC Wines on our Instagram feed and be sure to leave us your feedback!
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In like a lion and out like a lamb, they say. March has come to a close and with it starts the growing season in the vineyards. The vines are starting to wake up and bud break is eminently upon us (for better or worse). Midway through the month, we were lucky enough to attend the Showcase of Fine North Carolina Wines. This showcase featured the twelve winning wines in the NC Fine Wines competition. More details on that in our post soling soon.

Check out our featured NC Wines on our Instagram feed and be sure to leave us your feedback!
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A short month, yet a good month for North Carolina wine. Two important wine “holidays” also took place; National Drink Wine Day (February 18, we had the Petite Sirah from Junius Lindsay) and Open that Bottle Night (February 25 we opened the2007 Merlot from McRitchie). In total for the month, we had 15 fantastic NC Wines (with a short break at the beginning of the month).
Check out our featured NC Wines on our Instagram feed and be sure to leave us your feedback!
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The first month of a fresh new year has drawn to a close. January was a good month for NC Wine, too. The annual NC Winegrowers Conference took place in Winston-Salem around half way into the month. We were able to attend both days of the conference this year (no snowstorm got in our way) and the attendance was incredible! Each session was packed and we learned a lot about some of the current issues wine makers and grape growers are facing. Of course, we also presented on the importance of hashtags in social media. Everyone had a great time and we got a ton of good pictures. To see for yourself, head over to Instagram and search for the hashtag #NCWine.

Check out our featured NC Wines on our Instagram feed and be sure to leave us your feedback!
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The final month of 2016 has come and gone. As the weather turned cooler, our choices tended to lean more to the red side. As we counted down the days of 20316, we did have a few highlights to the month. A vintage tasting at Hanover Park Vineyards greeted us with a fantastic selection of well aged wines. One of these was truly surprising to see, a 2011 Viognier. Normally white wines are best when drunk within a year or two of the harvest. This particular bottle has seen 5 years in the bottle. As such the flavors were incredibly deep with cream and honey gracing the palate. This was truly one incredible wine.

Also worth noting, we finally made our way to an event where Dover Vineyards was pouring their wines. These small batch wines have a lot to offer. We really enjoyed the 2012 and 2013 vintages of their Chambourcin. Both were full bodied and well balanced. We look forward to getting back and trying more of their wine.

Here’s to looking ahead to 2017 and hoping for another great year of wine. Cheers!

Check out our Instagram feed for a recap of our December selections.

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November always seems like such a whirlwind of a month! Family visits, holiday parties and a few vineyard trips filled up our calendar. Among the highlights we made a visit to two new wineries (Midnight Magdelena Vineyards and the newly re-opened West Bend Vineyards) as well as took part in an impromptu botteling at Hanover Park Vineyards!  We’re excited to see what the next month brings with it!

Check out our Instagram feed for a recap of our November selections.
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Half way through November and we remembered we didn’t post our recap of last month! October was one busy month! For us, it involved a trip out to the coast to visit Sanctuary Vineyards. On our return trip, we made a quick stop at the NC State Fair and sampled a few wines from those who were out sampling for the public. It was a tasty month and we are already making progress on our November.

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Another late posting, but we’ve been busy during the month of August! July was another hot month, but we found some great wines to keep us cool. We also made our way to another new winery in July! Roaring River Vineyards opened its doors in mid July so we couldn’t resist making a visit.   It was so peaceful and serene we didn’t want to leave!  We made a few other winery trips during the month and picked up another set of Riedel glasses during a special tasting event at Hanover Park.  It was a great way to beat the heat of summer!

Check out our Instagram for a recap of what we had during the month of July:

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Summer is officially here! As the weather heats up, we normally shift to the whites and rosé wines.  Normally we would be full force into the North Carolina white wine scene, but slightly cooler weather and some rain toward the middle of the month allowed for a few red wines to slip in our mix.  Notable June happenings included our trip to the Finger Lakes, a visit to a West Virginia VIneyard, and a first visit to Shadow Line Vineyards right here in NC.

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Summer is almost upon us and the North Carolina wine has never tasted better! May was warm and our selections were a bit heavier on the whites and rosés. But still, each bottle showed what NC can produce and how it really is an exciting place to be for new wines.

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Where has the time gone! As we were preparing the What We’ve Been Drinking for May, we realized we never posted April’s recap.  April was quite the month. We had a good sampling from around the state. Also worth mentioning, we had the opportunity to travel out to the Upper Hiwassee Highlands AVA out near Murphy, NC.

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It’s hard to believe how fast the months go by. March brought with it warmer weather and the beginning of spring. Many of the grapes in the vineyards have already seen bud break and are well on their way to getting ready for their prime growing season.

During March we drank a bit of North Carolina Wine (26 bottles according to our Instagram).  Some notable wines included our first wine of the 2015 vintage, the Barrel Chardonnay from Hanover Park, and the new 2014 Grenache from Junius Lindsay.  Both were exceptional when we tasted them.  We know that these will only improve over time and can’t wait for more!

Check out our feed below for more details on what we had.  Cheers!

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Another month has come and gone. Even though we got a late start to the month, we still ended up with 11 North Carolina wines! This February marked the first time we participated in Open That Bottle Night! We also had the opportunity to pour three wines for Hanover Park at the Shoppes at Home, Heart and Soul.

We look forward to March and hope it brings with it more NC Wine. Click on the pictures below for more details on our month in wine.
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It’s hard to believe that we’re already one month in to 2016!  So far this month, we’ve posted about 16 wines from across the state.  Also worth noting was the North Carolina Winegrowers Conference that took place January 22, 23, and 24.  This annual meeting of wineries, vineyards, and wine fans  in Winston-Salem is a great opportunity to talk wine with the experts. This year we actually had the opportunity to lead a session on how wineries can make the most of their social media outlets. It was a lot of fun and we can’t wait until next year.

Back to the wine. Our January wine summaries are found below. Click on a picture to expand and read more about the wine.

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A quick note: We have taken a short break this past week that will continue into the early part of next week. Never fear, we’ll get to posting soon and will have a great recap when the month is over.