There IS good wine in Tennessee.
Posted on October 25th, 2007 in Uncategorized, wine | No Comments »
Through the magic of the Internet I learned of two wineries I could visit during my vacation to Gatlinburg, TN last week.
The first (and far more widely promoted) was the aptly named “Smokey Mountain Winery.” I had high hopes for this place, what with their faux-German facade and bottles behind the tasting counter covered with 26 years of actual dust.
My optimism was misplaced. The wine served to us in tiny plastic cups was lackluster in the extreme. The staff at the tasting table was surly at best and well advertised tours were denied. Even the impressive dust covered bottles that any cellar-dweller would love turned out to be empty. The visit lasted about 10 minutes, total.
The next stop was the Mountain Valley Winery, my last hope for libation in the Smokies.
We parked in front of square grape vats - four foot cubes - with a man balanced on the edges holding a shovel. He was ramming the shovel into the vats with great aplomb.
“Pressing down the cap?” I shouted from the parking lot, and he looked up. Pressing down the cap is wine-speak for pushing the uncrushed grapes and skins back into the juice during fermentation, which is what this intrepid fellow was in fact doing.
We chatted for a bit, and discussed, shockingly, wine and wine making. As this rubber-booted, shovel carrying guy climbed down, he announced that he was actually the Master Winemaker, and we started to draw a crowd.
Our Master Winemaker - Doug - then gave a great lecture on winemaking, grapes, and his favorite wines to all assembled. I even got to taste next year’s merlot sampled out of the vat with the shovel. (A real treat for a wine-nerd like myself.) After he sent the other tourists into the tasting room, Doug motioned us into the bottling and storage room to show us his barrels and brag on some of his favorite wines. He cracked open a bottle of an upcoming vintage with a corkscrew produced seemingly by magic and handed us glasses.
Since it was Friday Doug then proclaimed the work day to be over and the wine day to begin. I could not have agreed more, even on vacation. He was the perfect winemaker: knowledgeable about the art and science of wine, enthusiastic about his products, witty and clever with the customers and generous with the pours. (”I vote Republican, but I’m very liberal with my wine!” Doug declared with a raised glass.)
And the wine? It was spectacular. Mountain Valley produces a truly exceptional shiraz that they boldly sell for $25 a bottle, and should honestly sell for considerably more. Their merlot and chardonnay are very good and as for that upcoming vintage… well, all I am allowed to say is that it’s a truly spectacular feat of winemaking. And I would say that even if Doug had not given us a bottle to take home.
I highly recommend any wine fans check out this winery on their next trip south. Pardon the commercial but it might be the highlight of your visit, as it was for me.
