Biltmore Estate Winery Tour, Wine Tasting & Shop

2010 marks Biltmore Winery’s 25th year of winemaking, and on May 20-23, the estate will celebrate the anniversary and the opening of Antler Hill Village. Festivities include a private tour and tasting with us (sign up in advance, as space is limited), the introduction of our 25th Anniversary Release wines, bottle signings, a grape stomp, demonstrations and more.

William A. V. Cecil, the grandson of Biltmore’s original owner George Vanderbilt, started the winemaking program as part of his vision for the estate to remain self-supporting. It all began as an experimental project located under the Conservatory on the property. Eventually the dairy barn was converted into today’s modern facility and America’s Most Visited Winery.

The vineyards moved to the estate’s West Side, and through the years, Biltmore cultivated partnerships with other growers across the country to enhance its portfolio and ensure consistent availability. In 1985, Biltmore Winery produced 10 different wines totaling about 350,000 bottles. Today, Biltmore offers more than 50 different wines and produces 2 million bottles each year. The future for Biltmore® Wines includes plans to expand availability nationwide.

Learn how wine is made during your self-guided tour of the Biltmore Winery, included in your admission ticket to Biltmore. Wander through the cool cellars where wines age. Sample red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines. Learn a new recipe during a culinary demonstration. Discover gourmet foods, cooking accessories, and other treats for the palate in the Wine Shop.

Tasting Room
Visit the tasting room and enjoy complimentary samples of Biltmore's award-winning wines. Guests must be at least 21 years of age to taste wine. Please be prepared to show your ID. Children are welcome to participate with grape juice.

Wine Shop
Explore the Wine Shop with its excellent selection of Biltmore wines, glasses, wine-related items, cooking accessories, and gourmet foods.

Culinary Demonstrations & Wine Seminars
Get advice from Biltmore food and wine experts with free, afternoon presentations at the winery. Register when you arrive at the Winery.

Specialty Biltmore Wine Experiences (Additional Charge)
Winery Behind-the Scenes Guided Walking Tour: Guests are guided on a walking tour of the Winery production areas. See and learn the difference between making red wine and white wine, as well as the bottling process. The tour ends in the Champagne finishing room where guests learn how true French style sparkling wines are made. 45 minute program. Please arrive at the Winery Portal in Antler Hill Village 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled program time. Tickets must be purchased prior to event.

Red Wine and Chocolate: Guests are guided through a tasting of red wines paired with chocolate truffles. Learn about the red wine making process and why chocolate and red wine are considered a natural pairing. 45 minute program. Tickets must be purchased prior to scheduled event. Please arrive at the Winery Portal in Antler Hill Village 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled program time.

Winery Signature Tasting: Guests are guided through a tasting of red wine varietals with emphasis on the individual characteristics of each grape style. Gain an understanding of how wine and cheese interact by tasting particular types of cheese. 60 minute program. Tickets must be purchased prior to scheduled event. Please arrive at the Winery Portal in Antler Hill Village 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled program time.

Dining at the Winery
Enjoy a wonderful meal at the Bistro at the Winery. Although the dishes reflect the flavors of our Blue Ridge Mountain retreat, you could be forgiven for thinking you've stepped into a café somewhere in Provence or Tuscany. Gather around the open kitchen inside the Bistro and watch chefs at work, creating fresh dishes for you with food grown right on the estate.

Or, if you're in the mood for dining al fresco, ease into one of the outdoor tables at the Arbor Grill and order up savory appetizers, gourmet sandwiches, and entrees made with locally-grown ingredients. Note: Arbor Grill is weather dependent.

Special Happenings
There's always something special going on at the winery. Year-round activities include barrel tastings, food and wine pairing, and cooking demonstrations.

Wine Tasting Tips

• Feel free to ask your host questions about the wines and wine tasting.
• Wine tasting is a social activity, so feel free to talk about what you see, smell, and taste.
• Notice the clarity of good wines as you hold them to the light.
• Place your nose at the rim of the glass and inhale deeply to catch the wine's "bouquet."
• Hold the wine on your tongue a few seconds; then whistle in to take advantage of additional flavors released by exposure to the air.
• Notice the more full-bodied taste of red wines and the aftertaste that lingers in your mouth, a sure sign of a good wine.
• Most of all, have fun!

More About the Winery History
The most visited winery in the United States isn’t located in Napa Valley. It’s at Biltmore Estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where fine food and wine paired with elegant entertaining have been traditions since the turn of the 19th century.

The genesis for a winery at Biltmore actually began more than 75 years prior to the estate’s first vineyard plantings in 1971, with the property’s creator, George W. Vanderbilt (1862-1914). An avid world traveler, George was also a thoughtful collector of books, museum-quality art, antiques and fine wines. During his forays abroad, Mr. Vanderbilt would often purchase cases of fine wine, bringing them back to his 250-room chateau to share with guests in his own home.

His wine purveyor, Alexander Morten, was also known for his excellent palate and was a worthy advisor and provisioner for the Vanderbilt lifestyle. Knowing that George Vanderbilt collected and enjoyed fine wines in his stately home – and served them to his family, friends and guests – was the underlying inspiration decades later for the planting of vineyards and the creation of Biltmore Winery. When William A.V. Cecil, George’s grandson, first claimed his heritage, he already had an estate winery in his sights. A winery, he felt, was a natural extension of Biltmore’s agricultural legacy and mission of self sustainability. It was also a fitting homage to his grandfather’s love of wine, and his legacy for gracious hospitality.

French-American hybrids were planted initially, with vinifera plantings following a few years later and when vineyard experiments indicated a wine operation was feasible, Cecil did just as his grandfather would have done—he sought the best possible help available. He traveled to France and hired a veteran winemaker as a consultant to help get his new enterprise going.

Biltmore’s first winemaker
Selected for the job was Philippe Jourdain of Provence, a winemaker of the European school who, as a sixth generation winemaster, had been involved in the winemaking business all of his life. Not only had Jourdain operated a family vineyard, he was also a respected teacher of viticulture and oenology, having taught at the Lycee Agricole in Carcassonne.

In 1979, two years after Jourdain began working with the estate, Biltmore sold its first bottle of wine. Pleased with the results, Cecil convinced Jourdain to become the estate’s first official winemaker. Under Jourdain’s guidance, Biltmore began the serious cultivation of vinifera grapes, the finer quality European varietals, and began phasing out the French-American hybrids it previously depended upon. The original hybrids have since been replaced entirely with the European varietals.

Although the hybrids have a greater yield—averaging six tons of grapes to the acre—Cecil wanted a better quality wine than the hybrids offered. Making the switch was not without its challenges, however, and it took the combined talents of Jourdain, Winemaker Bernard Delille and vineyard staff to cultivate the sensitive vinifera in the unique climate and soils of Western North Carolina.

Biltmore’s winemakers today
When Jourdain retired in 1995, Delille was the best candidate to become Biltmore’s next winemaster. Having been winemaker at the estate since 1986, Delille recognized the challenges and opportunities as Biltmore Estate Wine Company began its next phase of maturity. Delille holds a master’s degree from the Faculty of Science in Lyon, France, and served his internship in the Bordeaux region. He received his French National Diploma of Winemaker in Dijon, Burgundy, and was winemaker in the Pyrenees Atlantiques region prior to coming to Biltmore.

While Delille and Jourdain come from different regions in France, their approach to the art of winemaking is much the same. Both were graced with the benefits of a French winemaking background to transform American grapes into Biltmore’s fine varietal wines.

A native of Pennsylvania, Winemaker Sharon Fenchak, who works closely with Delille, has been with Biltmore since 1999. In addition to wine production, Fenchak is involved with in-house research and development to help Biltmore lead the way in employing new grape-growing technology and testing grape-production methods. Before joining Biltmore, Fenchak was winemaker at Chestnut Mountain Winery in Braselton, Ga., where she oversaw the wine development process. Prior to that, she was employed as assistant winemaker at Habersham Winery in Baldwin, Ga. She holds a master's degree in food science from the University of Georgia and a bachelor's degree in food science from Penn State University.