Day Trip to Souther Williams Vineyard -

Taking a tour around Souther Williams Vineyard, with the warm autumn sun shining, and the freshly harvested leafy vines, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Italy or France. But no, Souther Williams is in the rolling hills near Asheville in North Carolina. That’s right, North Carolina!

I’ll admit that NC is not the first place that comes to mind when I think of quality wines and vineyards, but after this tour and tasting I would likened these wines to those I tasted in Rogue Valley, Oregon.

Souther Williams Vineyard

The Vineyard was just over a two hour drive to the west from Charlotte, NC. With a history of over 200 years, this family owned and operated boutique vineyard boasts around 35 acres, with 8 acres under vine. Planted here is 8 different grape varietals. The property was formerly a farm rich in agriculture. In 2016 the owners planted their first vines. The vineyard has been carefully design to accommodate the different varieties of grapes. Things like soil, elevation, hours of sun and temperature in the vineyard were the drivers for placement of each grape variety.

The property also has two Airbnb rental properties newly renovated.

A random bunch of blaufrankisch left over after the harvest

Why This Vineyard?

Among the many vineyards that we could have visited in NC, I was specifically drawn to this vineyard because of the varieties of grapes they grow. The vineyard has 8 different varieties of grapes planted. There are grapes from Eastern Europe, Austria , Germany and Russia. I was curious about what differences might be found in the grapes having been grown in different terrior.

The Tour

Souther Williams offers a Hike and Sip Tasting and Tour. The tour walks thru the scenic and serene vineyard for approximately 75 min and is just $50.00, which I thought was really reasonable. Tastings are poured as the tours goes along. Standing in the vineyard and enjoying the wines while being surrounded by the stems from which they came to be, is a totally different experience. Sitting in a tasting room is cool, but this tour takes tasting to another level.

Outside of the wines we also heard of the Legend of Amara, Lady of the Vines. This gorgeous statue below was carved into a beautiful red oak tree in August 2023, by Mountain Mike Ayers. As you can see the detailing in this statue is amazing and it sits just in the middle of the vineyard with the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.

Statue of Amara the legendary wine goddess of the vineyard — Statue of Amara the legendary goddess of the vineyard

The Wines

We did four wines during the tour and all of them were excellent! We started off with the Riesling, it was very refreshing with a dry finish and notes of citrus and other white fruits. Although I am not a fan of white wines I actually enjoyed the Riesling.

As we moved through the scenic vineyard, Ken poured us another gorgeous white wine made with a French hybrid, Vidal Blanc. The Vidal Blanc was also a treat to drink. Another dry wine, layered with flavors of peach and citrus fruit. Divine (it is very rare for me to talk about a white wine like this).

After we hiked over a steep ridge in the vineyard we were treated to another gorgeous wine and a magnificent view of the other side of the vineyard. A Cabernet Franc was poured for us. The color was deep and aromas of dark fruit, leather and tobacco emerged as it swirled around the glass. Another amazing wine.

Last but certainly not least we enjoyed another exceptional Souther Williams wine the BlauFrankisch. This style of wine was definitely right up my alley. Full bodied and fruity with a dry finish. Very well balanced. I’d buy this one over and over. I also had the opportunity to taste a Blaufrankisch grape right off of the vine, albeit left over from the harvest, the experience was one I won’t soon forget. As it was over ripe, it was very sweet and had no sign of acid. I had a tiny piece of the skin and it was very tart.

Ken Showing off a bottle of Cabernet Franc

A must see…

All in all, the wines are Souther Williams, where indicative of great wines found in many boutique vineyards. Their style of wine making at Souther Williams is very refreshing. All of the wines where very clean tasting, well balanced and simple, yet delicious. The scenery of the vineyard and placement of the tasting room area are perfect especially for this time of year. Souther Williams Vineyard is most definitely a must see if you are ever in NC.