For those of you who attended the wine tasting featuring North Carolina’s own Childress Vineyards, you know that there are some pretty good wines produced right here in the Old North State. But as they say on TV, “Wait! There’s more!”

We drove up to Lexington, NC last week to visit Childress, and sampled a wide range of their wines…including quite a few that we did not sample in our shop. But, first things first; they say if you are going to drink all day, you have to start in the morning. We did not make it until our usual 10 a.m. wine slot before we opened the Seghesio Zinfandel. It was delicious, and we followed it with BenMarco Expresivo. There was some discussion regarding Mr. Marco’s ability to make some in the car lose their clothes, but we will leave that for another time.

After the second, we decided it would be in our best interest – and Childress’s – if we waited to drink any more wine until we actually got to the winery.

The fine folks at Childress were kind enough to treat us to lunch, during which we drank their Reserve Cab, and a bottle of the 2005 Meritage. Both could have easily been mistaken for northern Cali wines, with good fruit and excellent tannic structure. I was impressed that these were wines made right here in NC, with all North Carolina fruit.

Following lunch, we got a tour of the winery, that included another glass of the Meritage, then it was on to the tasting room, where we tasted a number of their higher end wines, including two Chards, two Merlots, the Cab and Meritage. Not a stinker in the bunch. We also tasted a late harvest Viognier that was delicious…and I’ve never been a big dessert wine fan.

We bought a few items to take home, then headed over to the hotel (also comped), where we broke into the Sebastiani Cab that Joel had brought along. He actually brought quite a few bottles, along with, believe it or not, a box of wine. I will just say this, we tried the box wine. Briefly. Right back to the Sebastiani. Decided the box wine was good for that late night, absolutely need to have one more glass of wine before passing out, moment…so you don’t have to open a decent bottle just to satisfy that compunction (and some of you out here know what I am talking about!).

Anyway, we had dinner at one of the worst restaurants I have ever been to, and the only saving grace was the fact that we brought our own wine. The corkage fee was like a buck-fifty, so it hardly made sense to drink off their minimal list. Not to mention, if the wine was anything like the food…

I think our cab driver was a mute, as the only thing he said was “ungh,” and that covered both the trip there and back. From a salad that included shredded iceberg lettuce and pickle relish, to a crabcake made with imitation crabmeat, it was not quite the way we had wanted to end an otherwise enjoyable day. But, back to hotel, and more Sebastiani…

The continental breakfast at the hotel was better than dinner, but we found true salvation in downtown Salisbury, where we found this great little restaurant called Sweet Meadow Café. The owner was cooking, the food was fantastic, and the wine was Old Vine Zinfandel. Reminded me a lot of The Treehouse Bistro…

After leaving Salisbury, we began to wind our way back east. But not before stopping at Old Stone Winery, where we tasted ten more local wines. Or was it 11? My notes are a little unclear. Could have been 12. Either way, we invited the proprietor to the beach, to taste our customers on his wine. He seemed interested, but that may have been to humor us, and, more importantly, get us out of his shop!

Either way, we finally made it back to the beach at about 9 or 10, ready for Thursday morning and our weekly tasting. We featured three Chilean wines called Mars & Venus, and all went well. The Cab and Merlot sold out by the end of the tasting, and we had about three bottles of the Chard left as I wrote this.

Jeremy returned Friday to serenade our dinner crowd, Live Bait played again Saturday, and one of the band members did our Sunday brunch as well. It was a nice brunch, and I am compelled to be nice to Lou, because he called Direct TV and harangued them until my signal was restored (as I was agitated I was going to miss Sunday afternoon football!). This coming Sunday, the long-awaited debut of Juan Garcia and Rhonda Sparks should liven up our Jazz Brunch. If you haven’t checked it out, this would be a good time.

I have no idea what this week holds, but sometimes I think it is better that way. Although, I do know we will have a costume contest Saturday night (Halloween, for those of you keeping track), and some wine and beer specials. So, come on down to The Treehouse Bistro, and let 2 Wine Guys @ The Grind pour you a glass and fix you a plate.

Shawn