{"id":5872,"date":"2011-11-17T22:16:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T02:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hagarty-on-wine.com\/OnWineBlog\/?p=5872"},"modified":"2011-11-18T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T13:41:08","slug":"worlds-busiest-tasting-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hagarty-on-wine.com\/OnWineBlog\/worlds-busiest-tasting-room\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s Busiest Tasting Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is It Located In Napa, Burgundy, or Bordeaux?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here in Virginia a typical tasting room might host a few thousand to perhaps 40,000 tasters a year.\u00a0 A lot of sipping is occurring in the Old Dominion, indeed, but it\u2019s difficult to imagine the traffic generated by the major wineries in California who annually see hundreds of thousands of wine lovers hoist a glass at their tasting bars.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, where might the most frequently visited winery on the globe be located?<\/p>\n

Tick, tick, tick, tick.<\/p>\n

Time\u2019s up.\u00a0 The answer is\u2026North Carolina.\u00a0 Say what?\u00a0 Yep, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

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Tasting Room<\/p><\/div>\n

According to the Biltmore Estate Winery in Ashville, NC, \u201c\u2026approximately 1 million visitors stop by to sample award-winning estate wines each year.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0One million.\u00a0 How can this be?\u00a0 There are about a 100 wineries in the entire state, ranking it tenth in the Nation. \u00a0California posts the number one position with over 3,000 wineries.<\/p>\n

The secret to the Biltmore\u2019s success is a house—called simply, you guessed it, the Biltmore House. \u00a0Let\u2019s visit its web site and hear the story:<\/p>\n

The celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt modeled the house on three ch\u00e2teaux built in 16th-century France. It would feature 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement alone would house a swimming pool, gymnasium and changing rooms, bowling alley, servants’ quarters, kitchens, and more.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The chateau was finished in 1895 after several years\u2019 construction and is a bona fide wonder of the world.\u00a0 In 1985, the estate dairy barn was converted to a winery and tasting room capable of hosting over a hundred tasters simultaneously at five separate islands.\u00a0 And it is packed every day.\u00a0 It\u2019s impressive in concept and size and is in keeping with the scope of the House and the surrounding 8,000 manicured acres.<\/p>\n

Recently, my bride of many years, Jean, and I spent a week in the mountains of North Carolina at a delightful venue called Lake Lure.\u00a0 It\u2019s less than an hour\u2019s drive from the Biltmore House in Asheville.\u00a0 We devoted an entire day to touring the estate and winery.\u00a0 It was festively decorated for Christmas displaying 57 Christmas trees, four miles of fresh garlands and tens of thousands of lights and ornaments.\u00a0 Rather than describe the impressive house tour we took, simply check out this video:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.biltmore.com\/videos\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"After spending over two hours at the House, we drove three miles of scenic lanes to the winery where we tasted Biltmore wines, had lunch and shopped in Antler Hill Village, an upscale suite of shops with a petting farm of friendly goats, horses and other pastoral animals.<\/p>\n

I also had an opportunity to interview one of the senior tasting room personnel.<\/p>\n

While the web site states a million visitors a year taste the wines it\u2019s likely a bit less.\u00a0 Not every one who tours the House is going to sip the wine.\u00a0 Whatever the number, it\u2019s still impressive.\u00a0 The winery produces some 200,000 cases of wine a year. \u00a0Surprisingly, about 85% of that production comes from fruit or wine from California,Washington state and Oregon.\u00a0 Over forty different bottlings are produced annually, the majority of which are Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t visited Biltmore House, it\u2019s well worth the trip.\u00a0 The region has many quaint towns with antique shops, art galleries, beautiful golf courses and numerous other sightseeing opportunities all of which make it a memorable getaway destination.<\/p>\n

The North Carolina state motto is Esse quam videri; To be, rather than to seem. The Tar Heel state certainly seems to be all it wants to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Biltmore House<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is It Located In Napa, Burgundy, or Bordeaux? Here in Virginia a typical tasting room might host a few thousand to perhaps 40,000 tasters a year.\u00a0 A lot of sipping is occurring in the Old Dominion, indeed, but it\u2019s difficult to imagine the traffic generated by the major wineries in California who annually see hundreds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[426,427,428],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n