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Biltmore Estates Winery (near Ashville NC)

I made a holiday trip with family to see the Biltmore Estates just outside of Ashville, North Carolina ... the Biltmore Estates is a European-style chateau built by the Vanderbilt's in the 1800's. It's very impressive -- unbelievable opulence for the period.

Nearby is the Biltmore Estates Winery, which I was unfamiliar with, and at first I feared that it was just a tourist operation and that the wine wouldn't be very good. But, I was surprised to find that they make some very good wine! Your tour of the Biltmore Estates also entitles you to a tasting of 8 wines from their fairly extensive list ... their Cab Sav reserve was quite nice. At the "premium" tasting bar for $3 a glass you can taste their more prestigious wines, and we tried their "Antler Hill" Cab Sav, which was really remarkable (with a price of $48 a bottle, it was out of our budget though).

If you're nearby, the general wine tasting allows a nice opportunity to taste a fairly large number of wines made from grapes grown on the estate.

Jon [Check out my winemaking homepage

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Reply to
Jon Gilliam
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Wow, I'm sitting in front of my computer having a glass of their American Cab Sav right now. It's a medium bodied Cab with a pronounced blackberry aroma & flavor.

Reply to
STEPHEN PEEK

Hmm. I guess I should give them another try - in Raleigh here, we have lots of places that sell it, I just never liked it from the tasting I had at Biltmore. Lots of folks around here give them as gifts since it's from America's Largest home. :*)

DAve

STEPHEN PEEK wrote:

Reply to
DAve Allison

Suggest you go to Shelton Winery off Hwy 77 near the North Carolina / Virginia state line if you have not been there. It is the ONLY winery that I have been to where I was able to tell the differences between Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. IMHO their wines are excellent. It is also a large winery. North Carolina is rapidly expanding in viticulture - especially the Yadkin Valley area. There are some that are even growing Sangiovese.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

I'm unreasonably partial to reds, and I only choose red wines during the tasting. At the local stores, they were selling what they called "Christmas Wine" from Biltmore, which (IMHO) was horrible stuff. It had the "cheesy" taste of a heavy ML fermentation, and was horribly sweet. Heated and spiced, it might just barely have made an acceptable Wassail.

But, if that's your experience, I wouldn't let that keep you from a weekend trip out to taste their other wines. Me and my significant other were rathing them on a 1-5 scale, as we tasted ... from their "non-premium" wines, I had a few 3's. We liked their Chateau Reserve Cab Sav and their Cardinal's Crest "signature blend" (which unfortunately didn't list the varieties in the blend). What we were really impressed with, though, was the "Antler Hill" cab sav, which they said was available only in limited quantities.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Gilliam

An update on Shelton Winery. On the below suggestion, I drove up there today. Wonderful place, reminds me of Sonoma Valley estates, however, they are out of 7 of their major wines. Currently only have the following: Syrah, Sangiovese, Merlot & their blend Madison Lee Red Chardonnay Bin #17 (stainless), Estate Chardonnay (oaky!) and their Madison Lee White (blend) They also had two table wines I didn't taste. The place has a gourmet cheese deli and gourmet restraurant (never could spell) and an outdoor theatre area for summer dances/music. Nice clean place.

IMHO - Madison Lee Red is just GREAT! My wife and I gave it a 5. We are having a bottle of that with our meal this evening! (scale 1-5) Syrah - 4, Sangiovese 3-4, Merlot (we didn't try, we are not Merlot drinkers), Chardonany Bin #17 - 2, Estate Chardonany - 4 1/2. Madison Lee White - 3 1/2.

So I also suggest , but most of the wines are not being replaced until April, they said. I can't wait to try their other wines.

Well, back to racking a Syrah, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.

DAve

Paul E. Lehmann wrote:

Reply to
DAve Allison

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