Surry Cellars: North Carolina’s Teaching Winery
Surry Cellars is unlike any other stop on a Yadkin Valley wine tour, because it is not a family estate or a commercial winery at all — it is the wine label of Surry Community College’s Viticulture & Enology Technology program, based at the college’s main campus on South Main Street in Dobson. The wines poured and bottled under the Surry Cellars name are produced as part of the coursework that trains the next generation of North Carolina winemakers, right in the middle of the state’s most concentrated wine-growing region.
Surry Community College sits in Surry County, which is itself part of the Yadkin Valley AVA and home to one of the highest concentrations of wineries and vineyards in North Carolina. The college’s program has become a quiet but important part of the region’s wine industry — several winemakers and vineyard managers working at other wineries on this list have come up through Surry’s viticulture and enology classrooms, and a number of them mentioned that training when we talked with them about their own wines.
The Wines of Surry Cellars
Because Surry Cellars is a teaching label rather than a single estate with its own vineyard acreage, its wines come from student and faculty winemaking projects rather than one fixed vineyard site. Currently, Surry Cellar wines can be purchased at a number of locations around the region rather than exclusively from the college itself. We were not able to verify a current, detailed list of varietals, vintages, or specific retail locations at the time of writing — that information changes from year to year as new student classes come through the program — so we recommend checking with Surry Community College or the NC Wine & Grape Council directly for the current lineup before you go looking for a bottle.
Planning Your Visit
Location: South Main Street, Dobson, NC (Surry Community College’s Dobson campus)
Because Surry Cellars operates inside a college program rather than as a standalone tasting room, we were not able to confirm regular public tasting-room hours, a tasting fee, or a walk-in visiting policy in our research. If a public tasting or event is part of your group’s plan, we recommend confirming current details directly with Surry Community College before building it into your itinerary.
- Confirm before you go — call or check with the college’s viticulture and enology program for current tasting availability, hours, and where the wine is being sold locally.
- Pair it with a Dobson-area stop — Surry Cellars sits in the same small city as several other Yadkin Valley tasting rooms, so it is easy to build a route around it even on a day when the college program itself is not open to visitors.
A few practical notes we have learned from planning trips through this part of Surry County: because Surry Cellars’ schedule follows an academic calendar rather than a typical winery’s daily hours, it is the one stop on this list where we always confirm details with the college directly before a group’s tour date, rather than assuming it will operate like the family-run wineries nearby. If you are set on tasting Surry Cellars wine specifically, budget some flexibility into your day rather than counting on a fixed visiting window.
Where Surry Cellars Fits in Your Tour Route
Surry Cellars sits in Dobson, in the same small city as Stony Knoll Vineyards and several other Surry County tasting rooms, which makes it easy to fold into a Dobson-focused day even if its own hours do not line up with your visit. Surry County has one of the densest clusters of wineries anywhere in the Yadkin Valley, so this is a part of the region where you can move between stops quickly.
Plan on roughly 1.5 hours per winery plus drive time for the tasting rooms on your itinerary, and treat Surry Cellars as a bonus stop to check on the day — if the program has a tasting or event open to the public, it is worth the short detour; if not, Dobson still has plenty of family-run wineries to fill your day.
Wine Tour Transportation to Surry Cellars
Ashe County Livery provides private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Surry Cellars from Ashe County, Boone, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Surry Cellars 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. We only charge from pickup to your last drop-off, and every tour includes a complimentary cooler with ice and water. Plan your Surry Cellars tour or call (336) 484-1350.
Nearby wineries we also serve: Stony Knoll Vineyards · Shelton Vineyards · Hidden Vineyard — or browse all 54 Yadkin Valley wineries we provide transportation to.
Explore More from Ashe County Livery
- Yadkin Valley Wine Tours — Explore NC’s premier wine region
- High Country Wine Tours — Mountain winery service
- Wedding Transportation — Luxury transportation for your big day
- Airport Transfers — CLT, AVL, GSO & TRI
- 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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