Local Vineyards and Wineries: A Great Weekend Destination

The Haw River Wine trail is a great collection of small farm wineries scattered along the rural banks of the Haw River here in Alamance County, which include Benjamin

Vineyards & Winery, GlenMarie Winery, Grove Winery and Iron Gate Winery. When most people think of wine produced in North Carolina, they think of the sweet, fruity Muscadine wines, often snubbed for dryer, more sophisticated taste experiences. The sandy

loam of the Piedmont combined with the warm Carolina climate allows for a wide variety of grapes, including French varieties and French-American hybrids, to be grown successfully. The conditions yield an array of wines sure to appeal to wine drinkers of all kinds, no matter where your preference stands on the wine flavor spectrum. All the Haw River Wineries are within an hour’s drive of Elon, each with their own distinct personality, passions, and adventures to offer.

On a fine late summer day, I set out to travel and experience The Haw River Wine Trail, hoping to learn as much as I could about local vineyards and the many approaches to the art of wine making. Here are the highlights of each one I visited.

Benjamin Vineyards & Winery, located in Saxapahaw, was my first stop on the trail, where I met Andy Zeman, who owns and runs the vineyard and winery along with his wife Nancy and their three teenagers. “Localism is a big deal here,” Zeman says, and he means it; it even says it on his local TS Designs organic cotton t-shirt printed with soy-based ink. Evolving his efforts of environmental stewardship with every passing year, he sets himself apart as the only vineyard on the Haw River Wine Trail using organic methods.

Benjamin Vineyards makes a variety of dry wines, semi-dry wines, and the region’s signature sweet wines. The vineyard has comfortable seating to compliment the great wine and the rural scenery. Beckoning each visitor to linger and enjoy the vista as well as taste the fruit of the vines, there are shaded picnic tables nestled under a cluster of towering cedar trees, enough large, wrought-iron tables on the wrap-around front porch to seat fifty or so, and a couple white rocking chairs at the forefront of it all, angled out at the rolling rows of green, grape-laden vines.

GlenMarie Winery was the second stop on my trek along the Haw River.

A small farm, with vines spread out on just over two acres, GlenMarie was the most modest of all the wineries, yet more than a dozen varieties of grapes are grown here. The past years have yielded an assortment of wines containing creative blends and flavor combinations such as their wine entitled “Summer’s Promise,” a blend of four white wines. They also make sweet wines, dessert wines like strawberry and blackberry, as well as dryer table wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Just yards outside the tasting room lays an expansive, wire fenced-in dog park. There is a separate area adjacent to the dog park that is home to two energetic, young alpacas, named Willy and Twister.

Why the need for a dog-friendly winery with a couple of adorable alpacas, you ask? Why, to give one the priceless opportunity to sit with a glass of wine and watch your pooch mingle with other pups of wine-loving owners, of course.

After a scenic drive, wandering evermore across the lush, green countryside of the Piedmont, and grabbing some lunch along the way, I arrived at my third destination, Grove Winery, situated just north of Elon. They bottle a wide selection of dry white and red wines, and semi-dry wines too, as do each of the Haw River Wineries, but their bestseller, strawberry wine, contains no grapes at all, but only locally grown strawberries.

Well suited for the social yet laid-back feel to the place, there is plenty of space inside and out for the many fun events that they hold, not to mention Adirondack chairs positioned lakeside, just down from their large, seated patio area. The owner, Max Lloyd, is a charismatic guy who likes nothing more than to bring a lot of good people together over some quality local wine and music.They bottle a wide selection of dry white and red wines, and semi-dry wines too, as do each of the Haw River Wineries, but their bestseller, strawberry wine, contains no grapes at all, but only locally grown strawberries.

As I moved on, I traveled eastward toward my final setting to taste local wine, Iron Gate Winery, located in Mebane.

The first thing in sight during the drive up to Iron Gate Winery, apart from the rolling landscape of vines in every direction, is a rustic, wooden, open-air shed extending off the front porch of the main building of the winery. Within its walls is an impressive patio space with a number of wrought iron and wooden tables, a dance floor under a large, central gazebo, and a spacious bandstand.

Toward the back of the Iron Gate property you will find a beautiful field of grazing horses and further down a hill, a large pond with chairs and tall shady trees surrounding its romantic banks. It is not surprising at all to learn that Iron Gate Winery has hosted several weddings, parties, and elegant private events. In fact, they never get bored here; there are public events scheduled year-round, including Bonfires and Bingo, Christmas at the Vineyard, Art on the Vine, and wintertime murder mystery dinners.

This fall, whether you choose to drive, cycle or paddle the winding routes to the vineyards in the peaceful, North Carolina countryside, take time to appreciate all the great local gems just a stone’s throw from the Elon bubble.