Food Travel USA

On Location: Duplin Winery

updated on Leave a Comment on On Location: Duplin Winery

We visited the largest and oldest winery in the South! Duplin Winery began in the 1970s when D.J. Fussell, Sr. and his two sons, David and Dan, decided to grow Muscadine grapes and produce wine. It was and still is a family business, making this winery even more special. The staff are like family and every customer is treated with kindness.

duplin-winery-store_orig

Duplin Winery Store

We had some time to spare before our winery tour began, so we took a look around their retail store. Their store sells not only wine, but delicious jams, dips, gifts and even homemade fudge! You could also buy them online through their website.
duplin-fudge_orig
duplin-winery-store-2_orig

 

I seriously recommend the Muscadine Pineapple Habanero Salsa; mix it with cream cheese for an addictive dip! You could also find their wine at grocery and wine stores nationwide.

The Tour

The tour of their winery lasts about 30 minutes and offered every hour before closing. You will learn a lot about how they create their famous Muscadine wine. Our very informative tour guide, Angel, told us that this winery alone produces 6,000 bottles of wine on an hourly basis! Isn’t that wild?
duplin-tour-group_orig
If I remember correctly – when the Muscadine grapes are harvested, they are mashed twice, pressed, cooled, fermented, cooled again then begin the bottling process. Nothing goes to waste! They use the leftovers for making organic beauty products, vitamin supplements and much more.
duplin-barrels_orig
duplin-bottling_2_orig
The winery has a 1.5 million gallon capacity, making it the largest production facility on the East Coast. Muscadine grapes were chosen because they are native to North Carolina, which I had no idea until I took the tour!
 duplin-winery-tasting_orig
Wine Tasting
There are two wine tastings offered: Basic ($5) and Deluxe ($10). The Basic offers a sample of 10 wines on their tasting menu (rotated out every 6 weeks) and the Deluxe offers the same except at the end you will receive a glass of your favorite wine from the list, along with crackers and dip plus you could keep your Duplin Winery wine glass!
duplin-wine-tasting-table_orig
A lot of people in our group upgraded their ticket to the Deluxe (we did the same) and it was definitely worth it! I chose Carolina Red Reserve as my favorite and my husband liked Sangria White. We pretty much devoured their Pineapple Habanero dip as well, it was so good!
duplin-bistro-wall_1_orig
The Bistro
After the excitement on our tour and wine tasting we were ready for lunch! We ate at their on site restaurant, The Bistro. Sabrina was our server and she was very helpful! Anytime we had a question about the food she knew the answer. We ordered fried green tomatoes for our starter and it was the very first time we’ve eaten this Southern dish! I need this recipe!
duplin-carolina-red-drink-up_orig
Tip: If you can’t finish your glass of wine from the tasting, you are welcome to take it with you to the restaurant or while hanging out on site.
  duplin-chocolate-cake_orig
duplin-cheesecake_orig
We ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger with a side of fries as our main dish. I ordered the chocolate cake and my husband chose strawberry cheesecake for his dessert. Our entire meal was very tasty!
duplin-bistro-thanks-for-comin_orig
Great Daytrip

Duplin Winery is a nice getaway for a day trip. Not only will you get to taste wine straight from the source, but the staff and food are amazing. Thank you so much to the team at Duplin Winery for hosting us!

Although we were welcomed as guests at Duplin Winery, my opinions are always my own.