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.
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- Airport shuttles by town: Boone · Blowing Rock · Banner Elk · West Jefferson · Linville · Beech Mountain
- Ashe County Livery — Premium transportation in NC’s High Country
- Request a free quote — or call (336) 484-1350
🍷 Planning a Wine Tour in the NC High Country?
Ashe County Livery offers private, luxury wine tour transportation throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. Skip the driving and let our professional chauffeurs take you from winery to winery in comfort and style.
Serving Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, Boone, and all NC High Country destinations • (336) 484-1350
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