Hanover Park Vineyard - Experience Southern France in Yadkin County
Help us celebrate North Carolina's Wine Month by sharing this blog with your friends. We'll be featuring a vineyard every day this month, and all of them are members of the North Carolina Fine Wines Society. Please like our Page on Facebook.
Time flies by so fast, and for Hanover Park Vineyard, this past July 1st was the 17th anniversary of their tasting room. Michael and Amy Helton, both artists who love the positive power of creating, have achieved a work of art in their vineyard and tasting room. Their adventure really started in 1996 during a long visit to France on their honeymoon, where upon their return they decided to craft a life in wine for themselves through hard work and constant learning.
As the first vineyard in Yadkin county, they planted their first vines in 1997, and had their first harvest in 1999. The tasting room is a house that was built in 1897, and it reflects the old world sentiment of hand crafted labor. As you enter the home, you'll see and feel that time honored traditions of quality and patience are awaiting you here. You'll feel at home as you are greeted by Amy or the other hosts working, but most likely will be Pearl who will come up and give you a friendly hello in exchange for a little attention.
The wines are made by Michael, who likes to keep to the time honored traditions of working the grapes and letting them show to their best potential. Sure there are easier more modern ways to process the grapes into wine, but that isn't what Hanover Park Vineyards does. As you look around the tasting room, walk along or rock on their porch, or just sit at a picnic table on the grounds, you'll see the antiques that are surrounding you aren't there for just looks. They are there as respect to the process and to the what was there before them. The 1897 House has character, and that's what Hanover Park wines are known for too.
We too have had the opportunity to tour Southern France and to stay in several small villages. Places where time has not been forgotten, but rather where time, like a sponge, has absorbed the craft, the attention to detail, and where you never feel rushed. Time doesn't stand still, it flows at a regular rate and isn't fast forwarded to have a check mark next to the day. That's how you'll feel when you buy a bottle and just relax at Hanover Park Vineyard.
There are many events that are held at the Vineyard's Studio too. Whether it is a celebration for an anniversary, wedding, or fundraiser event, you'll get to experience the vineyard in a whole new way. We always want people to try a flight at least for each vintage, and sometimes a couple of times a year for a visit. We're fans of the Mourvedre, but what matters most is what you enjoy.
So if you've gone to France and have enjoyed the French passion for fine food and wine, or if you've only been to France by enjoying a Rick Steve's episode on PBS, plan a visit to Hanover Park Vineyard and enjoy the "jeux de vivre".
