Queen City Classic Wine Tour with Big Fat World Tours and NC Wine Gals

Background:
The lovely Allie of EatDrinkCLT invited the fairer half of Scallionpancake on an epic North Carolina wine tour back in late July – sorry, Jason, this trip was ladies only. Along with Allie, I joined Sarah from Charlotte Food Scene, Jess from The Sweet Seoul, Julia from CLTChomp, and Amanda who works with Visit Charlotte, a branch of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority for a relaxing Sunday of wine tasting and girl talk. 

We were accompanied by our guide Jessica, who co-runs NC Wine Gals with her partner Megan (NC Wine Gals is an offshoot of Big Fat World Tours, if you’re looking for even more opportunities for guided travel). We enjoyed the Original Food and Wine Tour which consists of five different stops with tons of wine and food along the journey. 

If you’re looking for the Cliff’s Notes, the biggest surprise of the trip was that North Carolina is home to so many nuanced, Italian-inspired wines due to our blessed location in the Piedmont region. We didn’t taste any of the super-sweet Muscadine that often gives NC wine a bad rap. The tour included a wide spectrum of rich and complex wines that I had no idea were made so close to Charlotte. Also, the scenery in Yadkin Valley is just amazing. Especially outside of Raffaldini Vineyards, you could really trick yourself into believing you’d been magically transported to Italy (like The Magic Schoolbus, but with more drunk women). It’s just a stunning part of the world that we’re so lucky to have only a short drive away from home.  

We highly recommend the tour for a mini couple’s trip or girls’ getaway (the tour bus takes a minimum of six people and a maximum of 12, so if your group is smaller you’ll be paired up with some new friends!). The tour bus leaves at 10 a.m. and returns around 6 or 6:30 p.m., making it an easy and fun day trip from Charlotte. Oh, and if you book using the code “Charlotte,” you can get $20 off your tour! Yay! Read on to see what you can expect from a daylong adventure with NC Wine Gals. 

Eat (DRINK) This: 

Assorted Table Wine Shoppe in 7th Street Market

Everyone meets at 7th Street Market in Uptown for a breakfast-inspired pairing courtesy of the Assorted Table Wine Shoppe, which is nestled in the back of the market. Here you’ll enjoy your first pairing – a Carolina Riesling with a Krispy Kreme donut! This pairing is quite surprising, because although the Riesling is sweet, the sugar in the donut actually cuts the sweetness of the wine and brings out a depth of flavor that you don’t get when you taste it on its own. So cool! This stop was a great way to get everyone’s energy up for a fun day ahead. I thought I’d be nursing my coffee until we finished our drive to wine country, but that all went out the window with a 10 a.m. glass of wine! Woohoo party time.

After we finished, we all piled into the van, which was super roomy with just six of us. It was a great chance to catch up, and the hour or so drive to the first vineyard flew by! PS, this is also when I started calling the vineyards “breweries” even though I wasn’t tipsy yet. My bad.

Jones Von Drehle Vineyards

This vineyard is a stunner, and the only stop where we enjoyed a full wine tasting. It was great to get a detailed tutorial from one of the owners on the wines we were tasting, and we also got to munch on some oyster crackers as a “palate cleanser.” But, let’s be real, a cracker connoisseur like myself considered this an epic snack above all. #oystercrackersforlife.

FUN FACT: This vineyard is owned by two couples who are also in-laws! There is also a good girl vineyard dog named Chloe you should find and pet here at JVD.

McRitchie Vineyards

This stop stands out because it’s where we ate BBQ! Heck yes, there’s BBQ on this wine tour, people, in case I haven’t convinced you to sign up yet. Jessica made a glorious tray of delicious BBQ for our lunch, and we paired it with their rich Ring of Fire red, a favorite of mine from the whole tour.

We also had their Ruby Red Port (chilled), which was a delightful surprise, as I usually find port too sweet, but I think the combination of the meat pairing and the cooler temperature of the port mellowed it out. The port was actually the only tasting that I finished its entirety! I am also a lightweight, FYI. You wouldn’t have wanted to see me finish every glass, and if you had seen it, it probably would have been on the news (“Local Woman Blacks Out for Three Days in Vineyard”).

Raffaldini Vineyards

This vineyard was my favorite, and I clearly am not alone, because this place was just packed. The grounds genuinely reminded me of Italy, there was live music, I loved their reds, and we had dessert. What else could a girl want?

We tried their famous Montepulciano Riserva (seriously famous – this wine has won awards!) with some meatballs Jessica made, and then paired a Sangiovese with some delicious homemade brownies! Are you seeing the theme here that Jessica is an awesome cook and an excellent wine spirit guide? She was our van DD, chef, and teacher! Who could ask for anything more? We spent a good amount of time here people watching and sitting on their upstairs porch listening to the band. I also bought a bottle of Montepulciano, which ended up being $32 and officially is the fanciest bottle of wine I’ve ever purchased for myself. Top dollar, baby.

Piccione Vineyards

The final stop of the trip involved goat cheese and rosé, so it’s safe to say we were all looking forward to this one all day. We paired their Montepulciano Rosé with some goat cheese, honey, and crackers, and it was a lovely ending to a fun day.

FUN FACT: this vineyard was started by a doctor with Italian heritage!

Dessert: 
Brownies, of course! I also got another brownie for the road at Raffaldini (they make their own brownies with their Sangiovese, but they also sell brownies from a Greenville bakery that I enjoyed). Brownie options abound, I tell you! PS you can also buy chocolate bars from McRitchie...not that we would know anything about that. Ahem. 

Drink This: 
Um, see above. 

Atmosphere: 
Who knew that we had such stunning vistas right in our backyard? It was such a treat to get outside of the city and breathe some fresh air with good friends. 

Wine Drunk Hospitality: 
Jessica from NC Wine Gals could not have been a better host. She was so laid back, but also kept us to a schedule so we got home at a reasonable hour, dropped all kinds of wine knowledge on us, fed us, and was simply the all-around best tour guide there is. I can’t recommend her or NC Wine Gals enough! 

Frankie’s Notes: 
I seriously had to read this three times to make sure I didn’t call a vineyard a brewery again; Also, please tell me if I missed one; Wine drunk is just a special kind of drunk, amiright?; Any wine that’s over $12 is a major splurge, and don’t let anyone tell you anything different; There are no other girls I’d rather spend a day drinking wine with! Yay for good friends, booze, and beautiful North Carolina wine country.

Piedmont Culinary Guild's Sensoria Food & Wine

Background:
We are huge fans of Kris Reid and The Piedmont Culinary Guild, which you may have heard about on this awesome episode of the Scallionpancake podcast. In recent years, PCG has partnered with Central Piedmont Community College to present a food and wine celebration at their Sensoria Art and Literature Festival. Local chefs join with local wineries to create food and wine pairings, and patrons eat, drink, and celebrate Charlotte’s culinary scene. Beyond all of the delicious food and drink, there are even culinary breakout sessions you can attend to get educated on food and wine after you fill your belly with delicious food. The event is held on a spring Sunday, and we have attended the past two years and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It’s really a great opportunity to see the up and coming chefs in the area.

The most fun part is that attendees get to vote on their favorite pairing at the end of the event. Last year, Chef Greg Collier won for his smoked trout and apple salad on cornbread toast. Who won this year? Read on to find out!

Jason couldn’t make it, so I went with good friend of the blog Nancy!

Eat This:

Santé

Chef Adam Reed

Roasted pork over pickled slaw and tropical salsa

Hello, Sailor

Chef Mike Rozycki

Spring onion rigatoni with braised pork and Parmigiano Reggiano

Zeppelin

Chef Vince Giancarlo

Piccione Nero braised Springer Mountain Farms chicken thighs, finished on the Big Green Egg with Cheerwine Korean chili BBQ sauce and kimchi pickled vegetables

Fahrenheit

Chef David Feimster

Spicy Yellowtail wonton tacos with chili oil, pickled shallots, green onions, and cilantro

Members Food Service

Chef Brandon Lopez

Gorgonzola panna cotta with pancetta, vanilla and honey popcorn, corn shoots, and lemon-basil microgreens

Stoke

Chef Chris Coleman

Smoked pork belly sweet fry bread with peanut, benne, and chili jam

Duke’s Bread

Chef David Quintana

Pork katsu with pickled cabbage, black garlic tonkatsu sauce, and potato bread

Barberry Lunchbox

Chef Majid Amoorpour

Wild mushroom and truffle-infused goat cheese crostini

Aux Bar

Chef Steven Goff

Braised rabbit with mustard whip and creamy Farm & Sparrow grits

The Fig Tree

Chef Greg Zanitsch

Smoked duck mousse profiterole with bacon fig chutney, bleu cheese butter, and pickled red onions

The Stanley

Chef Paul Verica

Beef tartare on brioche with pickled potato, truffle, yolk, and herbs

5Church

Chef Whitney Thomas

Harmony Ridge Farm duck liver mousse with pickled ramps, and huckleberry marmalade on brioche

Dessert:

Sweet Spot Studio

Chef Jossie Lukacik

Dessert of honey and lemon

Earl’s Grocery

Chef Jamie Turner

Apricot tangelo chiffon mousse cake with laurel-lime gastrique with white chocolate crumble

Who won, you ask? Okay, okay, it was none other than Scallionpancake Podcast favorite, Chris Coleman! His fry bread donut deserved all of the accolades and extra pug fairy dust to boot. That dish was definitely our personal favorite, and we also loved the pork katsu sandwich from Duke’s bread, the profiterole from The Fig Tree, and both desserts.

Drink:
Sensoria is all about the wine, but I am all about not having a hangover Monday morning. I stuck with water. Woo!

Atmosphere:
As Sensoria is presented in conjunction with CPCC, it’s held at the Philip L. Van Every Culinary Arts Building off of King’s Drive. It’s a lovely spot for an event like this with a large professional cooking space, but it does get super crowded with so many chef’s stations and people milling about. We recommend coming early to avoid peak crowds!

Also, the last two years the wonderful people of Blue Goat Dairy have been posted near the entrance sampling their wonderful selection of sweet and savory goat cheeses. They also sell delicious candied pecans!

Piedmont Region Hospitality:
Most of the chefs seem super happy to be at this event and talk to the people, which makes it a great way to get to know the faces behind your favorite restaurants and new discoveries. For restaurants who don’t have chefs who are as…uh, personable, we recommend that they send a smiley surrogate in their place. Trust us, we get it – we wouldn’t want to interface with the sweaty masses of plebeians either, but if you know making small talk isn’t your thing, send your food with an ambassador.

Frankie’s Notes:
The things that Chef Coleman can do with donuts defy logic and break the donut glass ceiling; When in doubt, put a duck on it; Everyone loves the girl drinking water at a wine event; Not all chefs are people-chefs, and that’s a-okay with Frankie; You know what doesn’t pair well with a spicy cabernet? A sweaty plebeian.