Biltmore Winery

Location & Atmosphere: Biltmore Winery is the most visited winery in America. Biltmore is located on the grounds of the famous Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800’s, which today is the largest privately owned house in the country. The winery is located on the grounds of the estate, a couple of miles from the iconic House, in the Antler Village, which is a neat collection of restaurants and wine tasting areas.

The Wines: The wines include all of the strong European varietals, and all of them are excellent, from the basic Roses to their complex Cabernets. The only negative is the price point. The wines are about 80% California wine with 20% of the wine grown on the Estate (see History below).

The Tours: Outside of the basic free tasting, which can have the feel of being shoved through a cattle chute, there are eight special tours and/or tastings of the winery- for each there is a charge, ranging from $10 to $85 per person. The offerings range from the red wine and chocolate seminar, to the champagne tasting and tour, to the candlelight tour. They also have a motor coach tour of the vineyard.

Some tours explore the art of winemaking, and whether to age the wine in French or American oak versus stainless steel, and showing you the various techniques. They are all excellent tastings and tours, if you don’t mind the price point. The Wine Bar at the Winery offers certain food items to go with your tasting, if not included in the pricier tastings and tours.

Other Amenities: There are three full service restaurants in the Antler Hill Village adjacent to the winery. The Bistro, the Village Social, and the Kitchen all have interesting menus, great food, and solid service, but they are not cheap. The Inn at Biltmore Estate is also adjacent to Antler Hill Village and the winery. While all of the amenities cost a premium price point, they do provide a great winery experience.

History: The Winery was established by George Vanderbilt’s grandson, William Cecil (whose family still lives in a portion of the Biltmore House) in the early 1970’s. He was a trailblazer at that time, betting that North Carolina could establish a serious business of growing European dry wines. The Vanderbilt heirs were a bit ahead of their time, but they were right. The problem is that these grapes need lots of sunshine, and the North Carolina mountains are generally too overcast and wet to grow them well. As a result, 20% of Biltmore wine is grown on the Estate, and 80% is from California. Biltmore has its critics, the purists who say these are not North Carolina wines.

We view great winemaking as a multi-step process: growing the grapes, and aging and fermenting the grapes, while watching the ph level, sugar and alcohol content. But while most of the grapes are not grown at Biltmore, since they are fermented, aged, and bottled in North Carolina by a world- class winemaker, we accept them as North Carolina wines. You cannot argue with the fact that the Biltmore family had a great effect on jumpstarting the wine industry in this state in the 1970’s, and that the entire Biltmore wine experience is noteworthy in its own right.

Rating: We have no doubt that Biltmore is the most visited winery in the United States in large part due to the popularity of the Biltmore House, and that the winery is the “sideshow” to the house, which is the main event. But it is a fantastic sideshow. Therefore, the winery is unquestionably a five-star experience for the sheer number of amenities, the quality of the wine, food, and other offerings, and for the first class service and atmosphere.