Old Stone Winery

The Basics:
Count: 4 of 98
City/Town: Salisbury
County: Rowan
Companions: Jonnell and Becky
Price: $5 for a sample of 8 wines (your choice of sweet or dry) and a complimentary wine glass. You could also taste 18 wines for $10 but that seemed a bit too much for us at this point.. we'd already tried 20+ wines.

This is the last stop on the Albemarle Adventure and we've brought Becky with us! Old Stone Winery is slightly deceptive. I have driven by this place plenty of times and never realized it was a "winery." Yes, it was clearly labeled on the building but it looks like a hardware store, or a scaled down version of Total Wine. This was our last stop on Sunday and we made it possibly 15 minutes before closing. Although they ask that visitors come in at least 30 minutes before closing, the staff was very accommodating and let us stay past closing. Side note: they have my favorite type of cork screws in a variety of colors!

Memorable Moments:
Becky joined us for our last tasting of the weekend. Unfortunately, she's 20 so she got to try their nonalcoholic beverages. She was not a fan of this "option", but IT'S THE LAW, BOO! haha  I actually enjoyed one of the nonalcholic juices: the Red Muscadine juice and she liked two others (possibly the cedar). The staff member there also went into detail about how the wines were made. It was a nice way to tie in all of the wines we had tried that weekend.

Favorite Wine:
Velvet Red: This is a Port Style dessert wine with Muscadine and Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a sweet wine, and the alcohol content was not overbearing.

Other Samples:

• 2010 Traminette: This was a semi sweet, white wine. It was described to have "wonderfully floral aromas with hints of pear and citrus." I didn't get much of the aroma but I agreed that it would be a nice light and cool wine for the humid summer to come. This wine replaces the Pinot and Riesling since the grapes don't grow well in NC.
• White Muscadine: This is another semi sweet, white wine. This wine reminded me of Riesling but was much better.
• Sweet Muscadine: This is their best seller. This white wine was similar to their White Muscadine but only a tad bit sweeter. I enjoyed it, but I prefer the red muscadine wines.
• Red Muscadine: This was another semi-sweet wine. It is the healtiest wine in the world thanks to all the antioxidants found in muscadine grapes. It wasn't my favorite Red Muscadine wine, but it was still good.
• Wild Horse: This was such an interesting name for a wine. It's a bit sweeter than their Red Muscadine wine. It's a sweet blush made from blending red and white muscadine.
• Blackberry: I typically like Blackberry wines, but this one was tart to me. It is made from 100% All Natural Blackberries and won the gold and double gold medals at last year's state competition.
• Peach: Peaches are making a comeback this year. There was a Peach wine at every winery I visited this weekend. However, I don't care too much for the peach wine. This wine was made from 100% All Natural White Peaches. You could really taste the peaches, which made me think I was drinking the syrup juice. However, Jonnell and I both thought this would make a wonderful slushy.

Overall Grade: C+

1. Atmosphere 20/30
2. Wine 20/30
3. Staff Friendliness 20/20
4. Staff Knowledge 10/10
5. Value 7/10

Contact Information:
www.OSVwinery.com
6245 Highway 52
Salisbury, NC
704.279.0930

Next Up:
Vineyards at Southpoint