Take Memories and Leave Footprints: Yadkin Valley and Winston-Salem, North Carolina

My husband and I were lucky enough to sneak away on a little winery trip to the Yadkin Valley over Memorial Day weekend. We had been to the Yadkin Valley once before, but this time tried 4 all new wineries and visited Winston-Salem. I love the feel of this area - you won't find Napa quality, but the vibe is very relaxed and friendly, many of these are small family wineries, and you often end up doing tastings with the owners. And you will find some very drinkable wines!

One note: we tend to be dry wine drinkers and strongly prefer reds. If you like sweet wines, NC usually has a great variety of these, including their signature muscadine wines.

Our first winery was Hanover Park Vineyards located in Yadkinville, NC. It's out in the country, but it's worth the stop. The tasting room is in a very cute old farmhouse built in 1897 - the owner told me there was no indoor plumbing when they moved in! All their grapes are estate grown. We did the $5 tasting for 5 wines and a souvenir glass; there is also an option to taste about 12 wines for $10. We did our tasting with a very sweet friend of the family and then headed outdoors to hear her husband and friends play with their band. We chatted with Amy and Michael Helton (the owners) and enjoyed a food truck and the live music in a very pleasant garden setting. They did ask on the website that we RSVP to be sure the food truck had enough - check ahead if you are headed there on an event day.

View from the garden

Our favorite wine was the 2010 Michael's Blend, which is a little different each vintage. This year's wine included cabernet savignon, cabernet franc, merlot, and chambourcin grapes. Very nice for an afternoon glass with our delicious burgers.

Our second stop of the day was Misty Creek Vineyards. We loved the drive up to the beautiful tasting room and the view from the windows there. We started our tasting with the wife of the owner, who didn't seem altogether focused on us, but finished it with a very knowledgable employee. The owner Barry Nichols chatted with us as well - he worked for NASA for many years and seems to really love what he does. I would try to get him to do your tasting if possible. Tastings are $10 for approx 12 wines (including 4 dessert/berry wines) and includes a souvenir glass. Their wines were not our favorite, but if you are interested in sweet wines/wines with berries and grapes, this might be worth a stop. They grow all their grapes on site, but they bottle the wine elsewhere. They have a very nice outdoor patio and also had live music the day we were there. Several patrons had brought picnic coolers and they are dog friendly.

View from the tasting room

Our favorite winery of the trip was RayLen Vineyards. RayLen is a larger operation than the previous two, but even though it was a busy Saturday, we never felt crowded or rushed. They are conveniently located near Highway 40 in Mocksville, NC. The employee who did our tasting was fantastic - knowledgable, funny, and very enthusiastic about his wines. He had a group of 6 and made us all feel like we had the individual attention. We did the Red Flight tasting for $6 (6 wines) and a souvenir glass. We purchased bottles of the Rose of Cabernet Franc (delicious!) and Category 5. We enjoyed 1 bottle of the rose on the fabulous shaded patio listening to live music. The vineyards surround the patio and make for great scenery - I wish I had a few more pictures! But we will definitely be returning :)

That night, we decided to stay at Graylyn, a 55 acre property in Winston-Salem. Graylyn was originally the home of Bowman Gray, Sr, the one time CEO of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. It was completed in 1932 and was gifted to Wake Forest in 1946. It had many different purposes over the years, but become and hotel and conference center in 1993. They have maintained a lot of the original character of the buildings, especially the Manor House and the Mews, which were the original stables. We stayed in the Mews in a quiet, comfortable courtyard room and felt like we were the only people there (although all the cars outside told us differently).

We were not able to take advantage of Graylyn's restaurant - it has a fabulous reputation - because of a wedding on property that evening. We instead enjoyed room service by the pool (the one area at Graylyn I felt could have used a bit of a facelift) and then a bottle of wine in the Mews courtyard. Our bed was incredibly comfortable, the bathroom was beautiful, and it was overall a romantic, relaxing evening.

The main Mews courtyard - make sure to sneak in to the room on the right where they have complimentary ice cream :)

Looking back toward our room

Our room was the second from the right and this courtyard was glorious under the stars!

You can actually stay in the Silo Suite :)

Walking to the pool

Out on property

Not a bad view to wake up to!

Walking up to the manor house the next morning. The walk was gorgeous and about a half mile, but they do offer free shuttle service if you like.

The gorgeous manor house. They offer a complimentary breakfast buffet here in a fabulous dining room, and also have croquet, bocce, and volleyball offered on the lawn behind.

After packing up at Graylyn, we headed to our last winery - Childress Vineyards. Owned by Nascar team owner Richard Childress, it has been open since 2004 and has very nice grounds. The front is beautiful landscaped, the main building is charming, and there is a huge patio and a lake out back. They have a tasting room and a bistro, and they also offer tours of the property.

The concern we had with Childress is that it seemed to be very little about the wine and much more about the money. We got to the tasting room as it opened at noon, and we were quickly inundated with people. You need to buy a tasting ticket at the front cashier (which was not immediately obvious) and we flinched a bit at the $15 tasting fee for 8 wines (does include a souvenir class). Our tasting hostess was knowledgable, but she seemed to rush through any information she was giving to hit on the wine club membership, which was mentioned no less than 10 times in our 15 minute tasting. It put us off pretty significantly. I will say that their wines were all drinkable and I really enjoyed the sangiovese.

After our tasting, we decided to enjoy a glass outside before driving home. We weren't able to purchase these from our tasting host, but instead had to stand in a sizable line to do this at the cashier. When I opted to buy a bottle before leaving, it was the same situation. We were able to find an out of the way table to enjoy our wine before we left, but these were filling up with people as we were finishing. All in all, it felt a bit like a cattle call and was not at all personal. People who really enjoy Nascar might get the thrill of this, but we won't be back. I DO think this would be a nice place to look at for a wedding or larger corporate event if it was closed to the public.