The dry wines include Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Dry Rosé, Sangiovese and a red blend. The winery celebrated its grand opening in September, offering ten wines ranging from dry to sweet. Serre Vineyards is a boutique winery sitting on 70-acres bordering the Fisher River and overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains in Mt Airy. In addition to wine, Seven Springs also offers jams, jellies, juice, cider and BBQ sauce. The name, Seven Springs, comes from the seven natural springs located on the property. Inaugurating its tasting room doors in August of 2020, the winery produces eight varieties of muscadine wine. Seven Springs Farm & Vineyard is a small family-owned and operated farm and vineyard located in the town of Norlina in Warren County. Check its website or Facebook page for event listings from local musicians to crafts. Have a flight while experiencing the view of Pilot Mountain. Currently, Pilot Mountain winery offers two wine flight options light flight consisting of Viognier, Pinot Gris, Mountain Mist and Cranberry Delight or dry flight consisting of Unoaked (Stainless) Chardonnay, Barrel Fermented (lightly oaked) Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc Rosé and Merlot. The winery celebrated its grand opening in August 2020. Pilot Mountain Vineyards is a boutique winery located on 31 acres in Pilot Mountain. Experience a glass of wine in the rustic tasting room overlooking the North Carolina mountains. Guests here can enjoy varietals such as Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Bubbly Provençal Rosé, Meritage and Petit Verdot.

The winery celebrated its grand opening in July, specializing in Bordeaux-style varieties. Stone Ashe Vineyard is another new addition to the Crest of the Blue Ridge AVA in Hendersonville. Marked Tree is part of the Crest of the Blue Ridge AVA and has a satellite tasting room in Asheville. Enjoy a glass of wine and appreciate the picturesque surroundings. Opening in May 2020, Marked Tree offers guests ten wine varieties, including Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Grüner Veltliner, Chardonel and Vidal Blanc. Marked Tree Vineyards is Flat Rock’s first winery located at an elevation of 2,300 feet on the Eastern Continental Divide. The following are the new wineries that opened in 2020: Marked Tree Vineyard While some small businesses were forced to close their doors in 2020, North Carolina welcomed up to eight new wineries to its lineup. Everything from virtual wine tastings, wine flights, curbside pickup, additional outdoor seating, and shipping deals, the wineries in the state stepped up. Small business owners began to get creative to keep their customers interested in their product, and the wineries were no exception. With that came shut-downs of many small businesses and restrictions for all. As March rolled around, the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning to become more prevalent for us here in the U.S. The year 2020 will be the year many will never forget. We thoroughly enjoyed our tasting, and the wines were wonderful.*Editors Note: If there are any new wineries that opened in 2020 not listed, please contact us at to add them to the list. As Hannah said, a good lunch or holiday wine. It is a very smooth drinking blend and would be a great all around wine that all palates would enjoy. I got a nose of grape jelly on first sniff. It is a Bordeaux blend, and is 2% residual sugar, even though it is not noticeably sweet. I expect that this will cellar well and be even more amazing in 5 years.

The palate is still a little acidic as this is only a 2018 vintage. It has a nose of cocoa, coffee and aged leather. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Lemberger is one of our favorite varietals and we were excited to see another NC winery growing and serving it. She brought us Lemberger since we didn’t get to try it on our initial visit. Our server, Hannah, was very informative and engaging. The rosé is a Cab Franc (♥️) blend, and was very crisp and refreshing. The Otto (Vidal Blanc) with 2% residual sugar was refreshing and would be a good summer wine. I’m not a white wine fan, so I’ll reserve judgment on the Grüner. Today’s selections are Grüner Veltliner, Otto, Sweet Ellie Mae rosé, 2018 Petit Verdot and 2018 Ghost House red. Today we are doing a tasting of 5 pre selected pours, which is $15. Today we came back to Marked Tree Vineyard for our second trip.

Marked tree vineyard