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Ashe County Livery blog

Category: Wine Tours

Explore the finest vineyards and wineries across Yadkin Valley and the High Country with Ashe County Livery. Our luxury wine tour transportation lets you savor every tasting without worrying about the drive. From intimate couples’ tours to large group excursions, we handle the logistics so you can focus on discovering award-winning wines, scenic vineyard views, and the warm hospitality of North Carolina’s wine country. Browse our expert guides, winery spotlights, and planning tips below.

  • Stone Ashe Vineyard: Bordeaux-Style Wine on a Hendersonville, NC Bluff

    Stone Ashe Vineyard sits on a mountain bluff at roughly 2,700 feet in elevation on Green Mountain Road outside Hendersonville, NC, in the far southwestern corner of the state’s wine country. It’s a serious estate winery in a genuinely dramatic setting — rows of Bordeaux-cloned vines running down steep slopes, a modern tasting room, and long views out over the ridgelines of the Blue Ridge. This isn’t a casual roadside stop; it’s a destination people plan an afternoon around, and it rewards the trip.

    From Dentistry to a Bordeaux-Style Estate

    Stone Ashe was started by Craig and Tina Little, who shared a vision in 2010 to build an estate vineyard modeled on the great growing regions of France. After successful careers in dentistry, they spent three years searching for the right site before finding land rich in what they describe as “stony ashe” soil — providing internal drainage, steep slopes suited to high-density planting, and a micro-climate that supports efficient photosynthesis and balanced fruit. That soil is where the winery’s name comes from. Stone Ashe has since become something of a family affair, and the winery’s own site describes an ongoing evolution as they continue building out the estate. (Source: Stone Ashe’s own “About” page.)

    What to Taste

    Stone Ashe planted classic Bordeaux varietals — Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot — alongside Chardonnay and Riesling, chosen specifically for the terroir of the Crest of the Blue Ridge AVA. The winery has described its goal as producing wines meant to compete on a world stage rather than simply serving tourists passing through. As with any small-production winery, the exact pours change with vintage and season, so treat any specific bottle list as a snapshot rather than a promise — check Stone Ashe’s current offerings before you go. Visitors must be 21 or older, and the winery also runs a biannual wine club with spring and fall allocations that include early releases and wine-club exclusives.

    The Setting and the Experience

    What sets Stone Ashe apart is the site itself: a working vineyard on a steep bluff, with the tasting room built to take advantage of the elevation and the views. The winery hosts periodic events tied to new releases — recent examples on their calendar have included the debut of a crisp white blend called “Tether” alongside a lightly oaked Merlot rosé called Primrose, a hands-on Wine Blending Workshop where guests blend four estate-grown varietals into their own Bordeaux-style red, and seasonal gatherings like a Harvest Party and a Spring Wine Dinner. Groups larger than six are asked to make weekend reservations given the winery’s modest production and intentionally intimate setting, and an automatic 20% gratuity applies to parties over six. No outside food is permitted and there’s no smoking or vaping anywhere on the property.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Stone Ashe sits in Hendersonville’s wine and cider corridor, an area with a genuine concentration of small producers within a short drive of one another — part of what makes it worth building a full day around rather than a single stop. Downtown Hendersonville itself, with its historic Main Street of shops and restaurants, is a reasonable add-on before or after a tasting if your group wants to stretch the day.

    Planning Your Visit

    Be honest with your group about the drive: Hendersonville is roughly 95 miles and about 2.5 hours from Boone by car via US-221, and a similar stretch from Banner Elk or Blowing Rock — this is a full-day trip, not a quick afternoon detour, and it makes far more sense as a planned outing than a spontaneous one. Stone Ashe’s own site lists hours as Thursday, Sunday and Monday from 12 to 6pm and Friday–Saturday 11am to 6pm, though hours, tasting fees and reservation policies change, so confirm directly with the winery before you go. One detail worth knowing before you book any transportation: Stone Ashe has specifically told visitors that Uber and Lyft pickups from the property have been unreliable, and asks guests to plan accordingly — which is exactly the kind of problem a scheduled private vehicle solves, since your ride is arranged and waiting rather than hailed on the spot from a mountain bluff with patchy cell service.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Stone Ashe Vineyard

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Stone Ashe Vineyard from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Stone Ashe Vineyard trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Stone Ashe Vineyard tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards · Jeter Mountain Farm · Bold Rock Cidery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Souther Williams Vineyard: A 200-Year-Old Family Farm Growing European Wine Grapes in Fletcher, NC

    Souther Williams Vineyard: A 200-Year-Old Family Farm Growing European Wine Grapes in Fletcher, NC

    Souther Williams Vineyard sits on Hoopers Creek Road in Fletcher, NC, about 20 minutes from both Hendersonville and Asheville, on a 35-acre property that’s remained in the same family for more than 200 years. The tagline the winery uses — “where the mountains meet the vines” — is more literal than most marketing lines; the open-air pavilion tasting room looks straight out over rows of cool-climate European grape varieties with the Blue Ridge rising behind them.

    A Bicentennial Farm Becomes a Vineyard

    The land traces back to a roughly 10,000-acre 1800s property that made up much of what’s now the Hoopers Creek valley; the 35 acres that remain today form the original homeplace, and remnants from that earlier era are still visible on the property. Owners Ken Parker and Angela Adams — who spent their careers in banking and technology before turning to wine full time — named the vineyard for Ken’s grandparents, Carrie Souther and JK Williams, and opened it in 2016 after first running a wine-and-cigar venture called The Highlander Cigar Club. Their granddaughter Ashleigh has been involved in building the vineyard from the ground up and, according to the winery, plans to study fermentation science with the goal of becoming their winemaker. (Source: Souther Williams’ own “Caretakers” page.)

    What to Taste

    Souther Williams specializes in cooler-climate European vinifera not commonly seen in the Southeast — grape varieties that originate in Austria, Germany, Eastern Europe and Russia, chosen deliberately for the vineyard’s higher elevation and shorter growing season. The current planting includes three whites (Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Vidal Blanc) and five reds (Cynthiana/Norton, Blaufränkisch/Lemberger, Regent, Saperavi and Cabernet Franc), with roughly an acre of each variety across 8 of the property’s 35 acres. At full production the winery expects to make 1,500–2,000 cases a year. Because the lineup is built from these less-common grapes rather than the usual Merlot-and-Chardonnay list, it’s worth going in curious rather than expecting familiar names.

    The Setting and the Experience

    Tastings happen in an open-air pavilion overlooking the vineyard, with a few different formats: a walk-up four-wine flight with no reservation needed, a hosted five-wine flight with a private guide, a “Hike and Sip” tour that combines a roughly 75-minute walk through the hillside vines with five wines along the way ($50/person, offered Friday–Sunday at 11 a.m. or by private appointment), and an “Owner’s Tasting” hosted by Ken Parker himself on the estate farmhouse deck for four to eight people ($135/person, three days’ advance reservation required). The property also features a carved wooden sculpture called “Amara, Lady of the Vines,” created by artist Mountain Mike Ayers in a red oak tree on-site in August 2023 — the winery has built a folklore-style legend around the piece as part of its brand storytelling, which is presented explicitly as a created legend rather than local history.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Fletcher sits directly between Hendersonville and Asheville, so a Souther Williams visit pairs easily with either downtown — Hendersonville’s walkable Main Street or Asheville’s broader restaurant and gallery scene — without adding much drive time. Souther Williams itself also offers helicopter tours, luxury picnics, and hosts private events on-site, so some groups treat the vineyard as the whole afternoon rather than one stop among several.

    Planning Your Visit

    From Boone, Souther Williams is about 93 miles and roughly 2 hours and 18 minutes by car — the shortest drive of the far-western wineries in this area, but still a full-day trip once you add tasting time, a meal, and the return drive. The vineyard’s posted hours are Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (with Sunday specifically 12–6 p.m.), closed Tuesday and Wednesday — confirm current hours and reservation requirements directly with Souther Williams before you go, especially if you want the Hike and Sip tour or Owner’s Tasting, both of which need advance booking. If your group is combining the vineyard with time in Hendersonville or Asheville, having one driver for the day keeps everyone together and means nobody has to sit out the tasting to handle the drive home on mountain roads after dark.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Souther Williams Vineyard

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Souther Williams Vineyard from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Souther Williams Vineyard trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Souther Williams Vineyard tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Sawyer Springs Vineyard · Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards · Jeter Mountain Farm — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Slanted Window Tasting Station & Senamore Vineyard: Wine and Farm Life Near Franklin, NC

    Slanted Window Tasting Station & Senamore Vineyard: Wine and Farm Life Near Franklin, NC

    Slanted Window is the wine brand behind Senamore Vineyard & Farms, a vineyard tucked into the Nantahala Mountains near Franklin, NC, paired with a lively downtown tasting station and restaurant on Harrison Avenue. It’s a two-part experience: a working farm and vineyard for tours, and a full restaurant-and-bar tasting room in town for anyone who just wants a glass, a flatbread, and some live music.

    A Farmhouse Window with a View

    The winery’s name comes from a literal discovery. In 2011, while restoring an 1878 farmhouse on the property, the owners uncovered a distinctive slanted window on the second-floor porch that had been covered over with siding for years. From behind it, they found a view of the sky and the vineyard below — and built the brand’s whole framing around that idea of “a different perspective,” the same shift in view that winemaking and wine tasting ask of a person. The vineyard itself, Senamore Vineyard & Farms, sits in the Nantahala Mountains near Franklin and is described by the winery as Macon County’s only vineyard that bottles its own wine. (Source: Slanted Window’s own website.)

    What to Taste

    Slanted Window’s current list includes reds like Tahlequah (blackberry, dark cherry, oak) and Tellico Tuscan, a fruity, full-bodied red with cherry, coffee, vanilla and spice notes that has picked up medals at NC Wine competitions — the winery’s press page cites a silver medal for Tellico Tuscan plus two bronze medals in 2024. Beyond the reds, the list runs to a Sangiovese-based rosé, a Pyment (honey co-fermented with grapes), a Mele Melée made from local red gala and golden crisp apples, and a 100% Chambourcin called Mambo Chambo. Wines are sold in limited quantities at the winery and at the Tasting Station, so availability shifts — check what’s currently pouring before you plan around a specific bottle.

    Two Ways to Experience It

    The Tasting Station and Restaurant on Harrison Avenue in downtown Franklin is open Wednesday through Sunday, serving wine, beer and bourbon tastings alongside sandwiches, charcuterie boards and flatbreads, with live music Friday and Sunday evenings and occasional special sets on Saturdays. If you want the farm itself, Slanted Window offers a private vineyard tasting and tour by appointment only, with a six-person minimum, priced at $100 per person with a 50% deposit; tours run 2 to 2.5 hours and the winery asks guests to dress for farm conditions with closed-toe shoes. Both experiences are worth knowing about before you go, since they’re in different locations — the restaurant in town, the vineyard tour out at the farm.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Franklin is known regionally for gem mining, waterfalls including Cullasaja Falls, Dry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, and hiking access into the surrounding Nantahala National Forest — Southern Living named it among “The 15 Best Things To Do In Franklin, North Carolina” in a September 2024 feature. It’s an easy town to build a full day around beyond the winery itself.

    Planning Your Visit

    Franklin is roughly 152 miles from Boone, about 3 hours and 33 minutes by car — a legitimate full-day trip rather than a quick jaunt, and one that’s easiest to enjoy without anyone in the group needing to focus on the drive. If your plan includes the vineyard tour specifically, book well ahead since it’s by appointment only with a group minimum; if you’re aiming for the Tasting Station, note it’s closed Monday and Tuesday. Either way, with several hours of driving on both ends of the day, a private vehicle for the whole group means everyone can actually enjoy the tastings, the waterfalls, or the live music without worrying about who’s driving home.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Slanted Window Tasting Station-Senamore Vineyard & Farms

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Slanted Window Tasting Station-Senamore Vineyard & Farms from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Slanted Window Tasting Station-Senamore Vineyard & Farms trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Slanted Window Tasting Station-Senamore Vineyard & Farms tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Valley River Vineyards · VISUALS Wine · Nottely River Valley Vineyards — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Shooting Creek Vines: A 170-Year Vineyard Legend in Hayesville, NC

    Shooting Creek Vines: A 170-Year Vineyard Legend in Hayesville, NC

    Shooting Creek Vines is a small family-owned winery in Hayesville, NC, tucked at the foot of the Nantahala National Forest near the North Carolina–Georgia line. This is about as far west as High Country wine touring gets, and the payoff is a genuinely rural, working-vineyard experience built around one specific piece of land and a 170-year-old local legend.

    An Unremembered Englishman’s Vines

    Shooting Creek Vines was founded in 2017, when the family planted nearly 2,500 vines in four red varieties — starting with a cornerstone block of Syrah, followed by Merlot, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon planted across the creek. A block of Chardonnay and Traminette followed in 2018. The name and story go back further: while researching why several nearby geographic features carry “Vineyard” in their name, the family found a single historical account of an “unremembered” Englishman who settled in the Shooting Creek community — founded in 1849 — and planted several small vineyard plots across the mountainside sometime between 1850 and 1870, only to disappear from the historical record a few years later without success. The winery has since gone looking for any surviving original vines in the surrounding terrain, hoping to graft and reproduce them as a link back to that earlier attempt. (Source: Shooting Creek Vines’ own “Our Story” page.)

    The Land Itself

    Shooting Creek’s owners are unusually specific about their soil and geology: they describe a “tate loam” and “french fine sandy loam” mineral soil full of quartz, marble, granite, limestone, and rounded river stones, which they collect and place beneath the vines so the rocks can absorb daytime heat and radiate it back at night — a practice they say produces spicy, full-bodied reds and crisp, semi-dry whites. They note the soil composition most closely resembles that of the southern Rhône region of France near Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The winery leans into growing European vinifera rather than easier hybrid grapes, which it frames as a deliberate choice to chase a more classic wine style.

    The Setting

    The vineyard sits at the coordinates the winery proudly cites on its own homepage — 35°02’20” N, 83°39’49” W — with a view of Vineyard Mountain and Vineyard Creek running through the property. It’s a real working vineyard with over 2,500 vines rather than a large event facility, and the tasting room is sized to match: modest, unhurried, and focused on the wine itself.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Hayesville is the seat of Clay County and sits on Lake Chatuge, a Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir created in the early 1940s by the Chatuge Dam — an earthen dam that was the tallest of its kind in the world until Egypt’s Aswan Dam was completed in 1964. The dam itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Downtown Hayesville has a town square and the Peacock Playhouse, the only community theater in far-western North Carolina, founded in the 1980s. If your group is making the long drive out, building in time on the lake or around the Hayesville square rounds out the day.

    Planning Your Visit

    Be honest with yourself about the distance: Shooting Creek Vines is roughly 187 miles from Boone, about 4 hours and 20 minutes by car. This is not a spontaneous afternoon trip from the High Country — it’s a full-day (or overnight) excursion best planned well in advance, with the drive itself treated as part of the experience rather than an obstacle. The winery is open Friday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m., from March through November, and by appointment only (call ahead) December through February — confirm current hours directly with Shooting Creek before you commit to the trip. Given the distance and the narrow, winding mountain roads on the way in, having one private vehicle and driver for the whole group is less about convenience and more about making a trip this long actually feasible.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Shooting Creek Vines

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Shooting Creek Vines from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Shooting Creek Vines trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Shooting Creek Vines tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Sawyer Springs Vineyard · Nottely River Valley Vineyards · Valley River Vineyards — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Sawyer Springs Vineyard: A Six-Generation Family Farm Winery Near Hendersonville, NC

    Sawyer Springs Vineyard: A Six-Generation Family Farm Winery Near Hendersonville, NC

    Sawyer Springs Vineyard & Winery sits on Sandy Hill Lane just outside Hendersonville, NC, on land the same family has farmed for six generations. It’s a small, family-run operation with a rustic tasting barn rather than a polished event venue, and that’s the point: the wine here is made by people who grew up on this ground, not a company that bought a view.

    Six Generations on the Same Land

    Sawyer Springs describes itself as family-owned and operated, with more than six generations cultivating fruits and vegetables on this Henderson County farm before it became a vineyard. The property’s oxen yoke and hand-hewn pine barn — built from timber grown on the land — still anchor the tasting room, and the winery leans hard into that heritage with the tagline “Dusty Boots, Stained Hands, Classic Wine.” The vineyard sits within the AVA Crest of the Blue Ridge, an American Viticultural Area covering Henderson County, which the winery cites as part of what gives its grapes their character. (Source: Sawyer Springs’ own “Our Story” page.)

    What to Taste

    Sawyer Springs pours a rotating list of small-batch, hand-bottled wines built around minimal intervention — the winery says it aims to let the grapes “speak for themselves with minimum interference and additives.” The lineup spans reds like Zinfandel, a Zinfandel-Cabernet blend called Midnight Special, and a mineral-driven red called Black Rock, alongside whites and a Riesling (Lemuel), a rosé (Sandy Hill), and fruit-forward options like Sipping Sunset. The winery has also marketed several of its bottlings as award-winning, though it doesn’t post specific competition names or years on its wine pages, so treat “award-winning” as the winery’s own claim rather than something independently verified here. As with any small producer, exactly what’s pouring changes with the season — check their current wine list before you go.

    The Setting

    The farm itself is the draw as much as the wine. Sawyer Springs has preserved its farmstead specifically to keep its history visible — visitors are greeted by the original barn frame, built from pine grown and milled on-site, rather than a built-for-Instagram tasting pavilion. It’s a working farm first, and the tasting room feels like an add-on to a family operation rather than the other way around. The winery also runs a blog covering seasonal events, so if you’re the type who likes to plan around a specific weekend theme rather than just showing up, it’s worth a quick check before you lock in a date.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Sawyer Springs sits close to downtown Hendersonville, which has its own walkable Main Street of shops, restaurants and galleries, and is roughly 20–25 minutes from Asheville depending on route. Because the winery is a modest, standalone stop rather than a full destination in itself, most groups pair a Sawyer Springs tasting with a Hendersonville lunch or a stop at one or two nearby Henderson County wineries to fill out an afternoon.

    Planning Your Visit

    This is a real trip from the High Country — Sawyer Springs is roughly 95 miles and about 2.5 hours from Boone by car, more from Banner Elk or Blowing Rock depending on route and season. That distance makes it a full-day outing rather than a quick afternoon errand: plan to leave in the morning, build in time for lunch in Hendersonville, and treat the drive itself as part of the day rather than a chore to rush through. Sawyer Springs’ posted hours are Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., but hours, tasting fees and availability change seasonally, so confirm directly with the winery before you go. For a group making the trek from Boone or Banner Elk, having one driver for the whole day means nobody has to white-knuckle winding two-lane roads on the way home after a full day of tasting.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Sawyer Springs Vineyard

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Sawyer Springs Vineyard from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Sawyer Springs Vineyard trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Sawyer Springs Vineyard tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Shooting Creek Vines · Souther Williams Vineyard · Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards: Henderson County’s First Winery, Still Family-Run

    Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards: Henderson County’s First Winery, Still Family-Run

    Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards sits at 588 Chestnut Gap Road in Hendersonville, NC, on land the Ward family has farmed for generations. According to the winery’s own site, Saint Paul’s became the first vineyard and winery in Henderson County when it was established in 2008. It’s a genuine drive from the High Country — this reads as a full-day private trip rather than an afternoon stop — but it’s one of the more established, awards-decorated tasting rooms in western North Carolina wine country.

    A Farm-First Winery, Established 2008

    Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards’ own site describes itself as “A Taste of Home,” established in 2008 on farmland that has been in the Ward family for centuries. That framing matters here — this isn’t a winery built on land bought for the purpose; it’s a working farm where wine became the newest crop. The property sits within what the winery’s site and its High Country Wine Tours listing (sourced from the NC Wine & Grape Council) describe as the Crest of the Blue Ridge AVA, a federally recognized American Viticultural Area in the region.

    What to Taste: French Vinifera and Estate-Grown Wine

    Saint Paul specializes in French Vinifera grapes, and the winery’s own site says its regional growing conditions allow for a wide range of varietals grown within the area — the HCWT listing cites 14 varietals specifically. Winemaker Tim Crowe, per Saint Paul’s own “Our Wines” page, brings more than 30 years of winemaking experience across three continents and four states to the estate. The winery describes itself as an Estate Winery, meaning its wines are grown, produced and bottled on the property, and states that its wines and ciders have won awards at the state, American Wine Society, and international level, including what the winery’s own site describes as four Governor’s Cup recognitions. Saint Paul also operates Appalachian Ridge Hard Cider as a sister brand and tasting room, giving visitors a cider option alongside the estate wines. As always, specific current pours and awards should be confirmed against Saint Paul’s own site, since offerings and any award-year specifics can change.

    The Setting and the Experience

    Saint Paul’s tasting room centers on an open-air patio adjacent to the vineyard, with a stone fireplace for cooler months, according to the winery’s own site. The property runs an active, nearly year-round events calendar — the winery’s own listings show a steady rotation of live music acts and food trucks scheduled across both the Saint Paul vineyard location and the Appalachian Ridge cidery location, several nights a week during peak season. Saint Paul also operates an on-site five-bedroom farmhouse Airbnb, per its own site, for visitors who want to stay close rather than day-trip.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Saint Paul sits close enough to Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery, also in the Hendersonville area, that a single day trip could reasonably include both tasting rooms. Downtown Hendersonville’s Main Street — a walkable stretch of shops and restaurants — is a short drive from the vineyard and makes an easy add-on before or after a tasting.

    Planning Your Visit

    Hendersonville is roughly 95 miles and about 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes from Boone by car, longer from Banner Elk or Blowing Rock, and longer still with seasonal traffic on I-26 and the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor. That distance makes Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards a full-day private excursion, ideally paired with Point Lookout or another Hendersonville-area stop to make the drive worthwhile. As of this writing, the winery’s posted hours run Sunday noon–6 p.m., Monday–Thursday 11 a.m.–6 p.m., and Friday–Saturday 11 a.m.–7 p.m., but hours, tasting fees and the live-music schedule change seasonally, so confirm directly with Saint Paul before you go — and check whether a ticketed or high-traffic event is scheduled the day you plan to visit.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery · Appalachian Ridge Artisan Cidery · Biltmore Winery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery: 30-Mile Views and Mead Above Hendersonville, NC

    Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery: 30-Mile Views and Mead Above Hendersonville, NC

    Point Lookout Vineyards sits atop Point Lookout Mountain at 408 Appleola Road, less than 10 miles from downtown Hendersonville and I-26, according to the winery’s own site. It’s one of the more dramatic settings in western NC wine country — an open-air tasting room at roughly 3,000 feet with panoramic mountain views — and it doubles as home to World’s Edge Meadery, giving visitors both wine and mead under one roof.

    A Vineyard Built for the View

    Point Lookout’s own site describes the property simply: the vineyard sits atop the southeast slope of Point Lookout Mountain, with 30-mile panoramic views, where morning sun and cooling mountain breezes help the vines produce what the winery calls stunning results. The site is candid that “the vines may not appreciate the scenery” — but the tasting room certainly benefits from it, with an expansive open-air layout built to take in the mountains rather than compete with them.

    What to Taste: Wine and Mead Side by Side

    Point Lookout’s own landing page (via High Country Wine Tours, sourced from the NC Wine & Grape Council) describes a lineup of 10 dry and semi-sweet wines. What sets this stop apart is World’s Edge Meadery, based at the same property, which produces mead made from honey wine in flavors that have included wildflower and orange blossom, apple, raspberry, tropical fruit, chamomile, and chai tea, per that same description. Recent posts from the winery’s own social feed reference current mead releases like Blueberry, Carolina Belle, Calm and Sweetheart back in rotation — a sign the mead lineup rotates and sells through rather than staying static. There’s also a coffee shop on site. As always, treat any specific wine or mead as subject to change and confirm the current tasting menu with Point Lookout directly.

    The Setting and the Experience

    Beyond the views, Point Lookout runs a active events calendar — the winery’s own event listings show a steady rotation of live music acts and food trucks scheduled through the season, plus larger gatherings like a multi-day “ReUnion Weekend” event. The vibe leans toward casual, ticketed evening shows as much as daytime tastings, so it’s worth checking their events calendar for what’s happening on the date you’re planning to visit — a quiet Tuesday afternoon tasting and a Friday night ticketed concert are very different experiences. If your group is after a relaxed tasting rather than a concert crowd, a weekday afternoon visit is likely to be a calmer experience than a weekend evening with live music booked.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Because Point Lookout sits just outside Hendersonville, it pairs naturally with a broader Hendersonville-area day — downtown Hendersonville’s Main Street, with its shops and restaurants, is a short drive away, and Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards is close enough geographically to combine into the same outing if your group wants to visit two tasting rooms in one trip. Given how close the two properties sit to each other and to downtown Hendersonville, a single day trip built around this corner of Henderson County can realistically include a winery, a meadery pour, lunch or dinner downtown, and still leave time for the drive home.

    Planning Your Visit

    Hendersonville is a real drive from the High Country — roughly 95 miles and about 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes from Boone by car, more from Banner Elk or Blowing Rock, and longer still if summer or fall traffic on I-26 and the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor slows things down. That makes Point Lookout best planned as a full-day private trip rather than a quick afternoon stop — especially if you want to add Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards or another Hendersonville-area stop to the same day. As of this writing, Point Lookout’s posted hours run roughly noon to 6 or 8 p.m. depending on the day, but hours, events and tasting fees change, so confirm directly with the winery before you go, and check whether a live-music event is scheduled the evening you plan to visit.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards · Flat Rock Cider Company · Biltmore Winery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Nottely River Valley Vineyards: Family-Farmed Wine on a 200-Year-Old Farm Near Murphy, NC

    Nottely River Valley Vineyards: Family-Farmed Wine on a 200-Year-Old Farm Near Murphy, NC

    Nottely River Valley Vineyards sits at 1150 Old Culberson Road outside Murphy, NC, in the far southwestern corner of the state — closer to Georgia and Tennessee than to anywhere in the High Country. That distance is real, and worth being upfront about: this is a full-day round trip from Boone, not a casual afternoon stop. But for anyone building a longer wine excursion into far-western NC, Nottely River is a genuinely small, family-run winery growing European-style wine grapes on a working farm that’s been in the same family since 1820.

    A 93-Acre Family Farm Turned Vineyard

    According to the winery’s own site, Nottely River Valley Vineyards, LLC is family owned and operated, established in 2008. The vineyard and winery occupy 10 acres of a 93-acre farm that has been in the same family since 1820 — more than two centuries of continuous ownership. The vines were planted with high-density spacing, and the winery’s own materials describe the first harvest happening in the fall of 2011, with the 2011 vintage released on November 1, 2012 — meaning it took roughly three years from planting to a bottled wine reaching the tasting room, a normal timeline for a new vineyard finding its footing.

    What’s in the Ground: Old-World Grapes on Ancient Shale

    The vineyard’s planting list, per its own “Terroir” page, includes Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Primitivo, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and the French hybrids Chambourcin, Chardonel and Seyval Blanc — a broad mix for a small operation, spanning reds, whites and hybrid varieties bred for the Southeast’s climate. The winery describes its site in unusually specific geological detail: the vineyard sits on a terrace that was once the bed of the Nottely River, now flowing in the valley 100 feet below, filled with river rock for drainage and underlain by a layer of sedimentary shale the winery’s site describes as more than 500 million years old. Nottely River’s own description of its winemaking philosophy emphasizes “minimal intervention” and wines “fashioned after the Old World-style, hand-crafted wines of Europe,” including a below-ground, gravity-flow winery building with geo-thermal cellar cooling. One highlight the winery calls out on its own site: a 2022 Old Vine “Karen’s Block” Chardonel that, per the winery’s account, beat a $95 and a $65 California Chardonnay in a ten-person double-blind tasting. As always, treat current releases and pours as subject to change and check the winery’s own wine list before visiting.

    A Small, Seasonal Tasting Room

    This is not a large production winery with a big events calendar — it’s a small family operation with limited, seasonal hours. As of this writing, the winery’s own site lists its 2026 season opening April 24, with tasting-room hours on Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m., and notes that visitors outside those hours can call ahead for an appointment. That kind of scaled-back schedule is worth planning around directly with the winery before you commit to a date, since hours and the season’s opening/closing dates shift year to year.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Murphy sits near the Nottely and Hiwassee river valleys and is a reasonable base for a longer far-western NC excursion. The John C. Campbell Folk School, a well-known crafts and folk-arts school, is located in nearby Brasstown, NC, just a few miles from the vineyard, and could be worth combining with a visit if your group has time to build out a full day in the area rather than a single stop.

    Planning Your Visit

    Be realistic about the drive: Murphy is roughly 195 miles and about 3 hours 45 minutes to 4 hours from Boone by car — this is the farthest-flung stop in the western NC wine country, not a quick jaunt. A trip to Nottely River Valley Vineyards only makes sense as a full-day (or overnight) private excursion, ideally combined with other far-western NC stops so the long drive pays off. Given the winery’s limited Friday/Saturday hours, confirm the season and hours directly with Nottely River before locking in a date, and build the schedule around their open days rather than the other way around.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Nottely River Valley Vineyards

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Nottely River Valley Vineyards from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Nottely River Valley Vineyards trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Nottely River Valley Vineyards tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Shooting Creek Vines · Valley River Vineyards · Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Noble Cider & Mead: Asheville’s Original Hard Cider House in West Asheville, NC

    Noble Cider & Mead: Asheville’s Original Hard Cider House in West Asheville, NC

    Noble Cider & Mead sits at 356 New Leicester Highway in West Asheville — a working cidery and taproom where the same building that presses the apples also pours the pints. It’s a full-day-trip destination from the High Country, not a quick detour, but for anyone who wants dry, orchard-driven cider (and increasingly, mead) in a laid-back taproom setting, it’s worth building an Asheville day around.

    From a Homemade Press to Asheville’s First Hard Cider Company

    Noble’s founder, Lief, started the company with what the brand’s own site describes as “a simple mission and very little cash.” After cobbling together enough money to build an apple press and lining up a few connections at local orchards, the team set out to build what they call Asheville’s first hard cider company. Noble was founded in what its own site calls the new “Craft Brew Mecca” of Asheville, in North Carolina’s apple country, deliberately pairing the region’s long agricultural history with its more recent craft beverage boom. Today the small team behind the ciders includes Robin on sales and marketing, and Josh and Alivia making the ciders day to day, according to Noble’s own “About” page.

    What to Taste: Cider First, Mead Second

    Noble’s flagship lineup is built around dry, apple-forward styles: The Standard Bearer (crisp and dry, described as “straight up apple”), The Golden Arrow (ginger), The Spice Merchant (chai), and The Village Tart (tart cherry), per the cidery’s own product pages. Seasonal releases rotate through the year — The Blue Bard (blueberry, spring), The Royal Peach (peach with hops, summer), The Journeyman (cranberry orange, fall) and The Friar Fig (figgy pudding, winter) — plus an ongoing lineup of small-batch and spritzer releases. Noble has also branched into mead, which its own site calls “our newest venture,” made simply from honey and water; recent releases include a Clementine session mead and a full-strength blueberry blossom honey mead. As with any working taproom, exactly what’s pouring shifts by the week, so check Noble’s current tap list before you go.

    The Setting: A Working Cidery You Can Walk Into

    The Cidery on New Leicester Highway is Noble’s original taproom and production facility — the tanks and canning line are right there while you drink. The company’s own site invites visitors to “drink our cider and see where it is made,” and the taproom leans casual: board games, free popcorn, a fire pit and patio seating outside, and a pets-and-kids-welcome policy that keeps things low-key rather than formal. Noble also runs a second, downtown Asheville taproom with a rotating tap list of its own. Both locations post current hours and “what’s on tap” lists on Noble’s website, which is worth checking since taproom hours vary by day (as of this writing, the Cidery is closed Mondays and keeps shorter hours midweek than on weekends).

    What Else Is Nearby

    West Asheville is a walkable, low-key strip of its own — a short rideshare or drive from downtown Asheville, the River Arts District, and the rest of the city’s dense cluster of breweries and cideries. Because Noble is inside Asheville proper, it pairs naturally with other stops on a broader Asheville day: a group could reasonably combine Noble with a downtown Asheville taproom or another western NC cidery on the same loop, rather than treating it as a single, standalone stop.

    Planning Your Visit

    Asheville is a genuine drive from the High Country — roughly 86 miles and about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours from Boone by car, depending on route and traffic, more if you’re starting from Banner Elk or Blowing Rock. That distance means a trip to Noble Cider & Mead is realistically a full-day outing, not an afternoon add-on, especially if you want to pair it with other Asheville-area stops. Because the drive back involves interstate miles as well as winding mountain roads after dark, having one dedicated vehicle for the whole group is worth planning around — nobody has to be the designated driver for a three-hour round trip. Confirm current taproom hours directly with Noble before you go, since they vary by day and location.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Noble Cider & Mead

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Noble Cider & Mead from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Noble Cider & Mead trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Noble Cider & Mead tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Point Lookout Vineyards & World’s Edge Meadery · Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards · Biltmore Winery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery

  • Mashburn Branch Vineyard: A 25-Year Macon County Vineyard Building Its First Tasting Room

    Mashburn Branch Vineyard: A 25-Year Macon County Vineyard Building Its First Tasting Room

    Mashburn Branch Vineyard is a working vineyard outside Franklin, North Carolina, run by John and Nancy Cantrell since 2000 — one of the earliest vineyards in Macon County, and, by the family’s own account, the first to sell wine grapes to Biltmore Estate Winery. It’s worth knowing upfront: this isn’t yet a polished tasting-room stop. It’s a real farm in the middle of building one, and that’s part of what makes it worth watching.

    A 25-Year Vineyard Building Toward Its First Tasting Room

    John Cantrell has been growing French hybrid wine grapes and muscadines at Mashburn Branch Vineyard since 2000, and the farm has recently added cider apple and pear trees to the mix. For most of that history, winemaking happened on a small, personal scale out of Cantrell’s basement, while the muscadine harvest went to the Franklin Farmers Market. That started to change with a series of grants from WNC AgOptions, a Western North Carolina small-farm grant program funded by the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission: an $8,000 award in 2023 helped Cantrell finish insulation, wiring, drywall and climate control on a dedicated two-story winery building, and a further $10,000 award in 2026 is funding the equipment — a stainless-steel sink, fermentation tank, transfer pump, apple crusher and bottling supplies — needed to start making wine on a commercial scale. (Sources: WNC AgOptions grant recipient pages, 2023 and 2026.)

    Where the Wine Grapes Have Gone

    Mashburn Branch Vineyard’s own description, via the North Carolina Wine & Grape Council, notes that it was the first vineyard in Macon County to sell wine grapes to Biltmore Estate Winery — a notable early credential for a farm that, at 3 acres of vines on 5 total acres, has stayed intentionally small. Rather than a large commercial operation, it’s grown as a family project across two-plus decades, with the current push toward a commercial tasting room representing the vineyard’s next real chapter rather than a rebrand.

    What to Expect Right Now

    As of this writing, Mashburn Branch Vineyard does not have a public tasting room open on a regular schedule. According to the WNC AgOptions program, the winery building and tasting-room finishes were still being completed as of the 2026 grant cycle, with commercial wine production expected to follow. In the meantime, visits to pick grapes, taste what’s available, or tour the vineyard happen by calling John Cantrell directly ahead of time. If you’re planning a trip specifically to taste wine in a finished tasting room, call first and confirm current status — this is a working farm mid-build, not a venue set up for drop-in visitors.

    What Else Is Nearby

    Franklin sits in Macon County in the far-southwestern corner of North Carolina, close to the Nantahala National Forest and within reach of other small Macon County farms and vineyards that have grown alongside Mashburn Branch over the past two decades. It’s also within a reasonable drive of the Asheville-area wine and cider scene if your group wants to build a longer loop through western North Carolina’s wine country rather than a single farm stop.

    Planning Your Visit

    Franklin is a serious drive from the High Country — figure roughly 3 to 3.5 hours each way from Boone, which puts a Mashburn Branch visit firmly in full-day, private-charter territory rather than a casual afternoon out. Given the vineyard’s current by-appointment status, any trip should start with a phone call to confirm what’s actually available to see and taste that day, and to set a pickup and return window that matches whatever John Cantrell can accommodate. For a group making a 6-plus-hour round trip, a single private vehicle with a professional driver means nobody’s making that drive twice in one day, and the return leg in the dark on rural mountain roads isn’t a concern.

    Wine Tour Transportation to Mashburn Branch Vineyard

    Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Mashburn Branch Vineyard from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Mashburn Branch Vineyard trip-planning page covers drive times, visit availability, group sizes and pricing.

    Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Mashburn Branch Vineyard tour or call (336) 484-1350.

    Other High Country wineries we serve: Marked Tree Vineyard · Johnson’s Legacy Vineyard · Biltmore Winery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.

    Explore More from Ashe County Livery