Rocky River Vineyards

I remember being on my first travel assignment in Charlotte, North Carolina and despite my previous career and all the traveling that was involved, I was feeling a little homesick. I can’t recall exactly how we [and by “we” I mean my husband Shawn, who basically travels with me everywhere, and myself] stumbled upon this beautiful little vineyard but if I was looking for something to brighten my existence, I found it!!

I would describe my first impression as magically unforgettable; I had no idea what to expect and when we made the turn up the drive and I saw all the vines… [even though they did not have grapes on them yet] it was a sight to behold!! I felt like I was "walking on sunshine, woooah and it sure felt good!!"

Rocky River Vineyards is located in Midland, NC and is family owned and operated. In 2003 they planted their first vines of muscadine grapes, and this taste is what I remember the most!! I had never heard of muscadine grapes before [or many other grapes as I was soon going to learn] and the wine tasted so sweet, perfect for a new wine drinker since it seems like that is what we all start out drinking.. sweet-white-wine!!

Side bar: I thought it was kinda funny that I actually saw muscadine grapes at Fry's [our local grocery store chain] just last week and of course I bought them.. they were nice and sweet and they gave me such a nice and sweet nostalgic moment!!

Ok, lets get back to North Carolina... it was April, so pretty early in the season and I don't remember the time for sure but since they open at 1pm on Sunday's [and I always like to be "early"] we were prolly sitting there waiting for them to open... [keep in mind that I haven't learned any wine tasting etiquette at this early stage... Haha] We basically had the place to ourselves which really just meant a more personal wine tasting for my first ever experience!! They had a charming patio setting to lounge around while we learned about and tasted their wines. It was such a pretty location, and I couldn’t believe they would just let us walk around to look at and get so close to the vines!!

I was sad when I finished my last bottle and even more so when I learned that I wouldn't be able purchase their wine online since they did not offer shipping. Now I'll admit, it’s been years [maybe even since way back in 2014] since I visited their website, but upon starting this blog I jumped back on to check it out and whoop whoop… they now have a wonderful on-line store and they also now offer shipping!!

Taking the sound advice from a friend, I contacted the winery and told them about my wine blog and the feature I was doing on them. I wanted to see if there some kind of discount code they could offer to my amazing, supportive readers, in the event y'all wanted to order something online but alas, they said [and I quote] "At this time we can't offer that. Our inventory is low. I'm sorry." No worries though, I am going to keep trying for you guys [when I can] and hopefully it will eventually pay off!!

Anyway, I was still very excited to see the variety of wines they have available for purchase online, I didn’t remember there being such a big selection, but I was just a baby wine taster visiting my very first vineyard back then and I guess it’s been roughly 10 years so I imagine some things have changed!!

I highly recommend a visit to their website and if you’re anything like me, you may even order a bottle [or three] just to try [or in my case to re-try] a different wine, from a different region that you may not have tasted before!! Also, make sure you read the very interesting article about wine and health under the “about tab.”  I have also started following them on Facebook.. I mean #winenot!?

I loved the little daily quote when I was there at bottom of their page… “You know what rhymes with Friday? WINE!” [YESSS!! HAHAHA!!]

Well guys, Wine with Wixy will be back next Wednesday as we’re heading West towards Albuquerque, NM and my next assignment!!

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!