Bottling at Biltmore
America’s largest estate also hosts the nation’s most visited winery
When considering winemaking in the United States, people tend to think of California first, not North Carolina and certainly not on the grounds of the historic Biltmore Estate. Biltmore not only has a winery, but also the most visited one in the U.S., topping any in California with one million guests a year. Built in 1889 by George Vanderbilt, grandson of famed industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt, the estate covers more than 8,000 breathtaking acres of land and water in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, NC.
When Vanderbilt’s grandson, William Cecil, took over the sprawling family domain, he dreamed of planting a vineyard and building a winery. His first effort at producing wine in 1971 was dubbed “the crush of horror” because it was so bad.
Undaunted by the poor odds of successful vinification, Cecil consulted experts, moved rows of vines and hired sixth-generation French winemaster Philippe Jourdain to oversee the development of Biltmore Wines.
Four decades later, the estate produces about two million bottles of wine a year, and it’s not a gimmick. It’s good.
Sharon Fenchak is one of two winemakers bottling the magic at Biltmore. A former satellite communications expert in the U.S. Army, she fell in love with wine while stationed in Vicenza, Italy.
Fenchak pursued her passion while earning a master’s degree in food science from the University of Georgia. “I enjoyed the fact that I could eat or drink my experiments,” she says with a laugh. In the mid-90s when she graduated, the wine lover says, “There were not a lot of women yet into it (winemaking), and those who were doing it were mostly in it because of family.”
As a budding winemaker, Fenchak was challenged by not only gender, but also her location on the east coast, a region not considered a winemaking powerhouse by any means.
Although there can be hot days and cool nights at Biltmore, as in California vineyards, there is also a lot of rain. Grapes prefer drought-like conditions, not the buckets of water that fall when the occasional hurricane blows up the coast. Fenchak jokes, “We thought about putting a big umbrella over the vineyards, (pause) but it was cost prohibitive.”
Not all wine bottled at Biltmore is made with North Carolina grapes; half of the fruit comes from California and Washington. Some are crushed and juiced on the west coast, then shipped in tankers, while other grapes come in whole clusters.
For example, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon American ($17) consists of a near-equal mix of California and North Carolina grapes, topped off with a few from Washington. It is light bodied with vanilla and cherry: easy to sip and a nice accompaniment to smoky cheeses and burgers.
As a winemaker, Fenchak likes working with bicoastal grapes and figuring out what happens to their structure and flavor profile as they are being shipped. “It’s always challenging,” she says. “I have to use my brain and science. I have to really think.”
Once all of the grapes are harvested, Fenchak compares the process to cooking: combining different spices and flavors to come up with a balance. About the wine she and fellow winemaker Bernard Delille bottle, the veteran says, “I want to be true to the varietal’s character. I want you to know what grape you are drinking.”
The 2012 Biltmore Pinot American ($15.99) is full of red fruit, vanilla and spice; try it with a smoked turkey. The Pinot Grigio ($12) is dry and refreshing with crisp pear and lychee flavors, perfect for seafood.
Biltmore’s winery even offers a line of quite pleasing sparkling wines, produced using the traditional method champenoise (the way Champagne is made.)
If you haven’t tried the Biltmore wines, Fenchak says, “Get it in your mouth, give the wine a shot. It will speak for itself.” Gina Birch is a well-known Southwest Florida broadcast journalist and frequent contributor to TOTI Media. Read more of her musings at thebirchbeat.blogspot.com.
FOR MORE INFO
biltmore.com/wine