Gregory Vineyards offers pleasant lineup of wine basics at rural location

I've written previously about visits I've made to craft breweries in the communities where I live. But my interest in visiting local wineries predates that by quite a few years.

In October 2008, almost ten years ago, my daughters got me interested in taking a drive to Bloomington, Ind., to visit Oliver Winery and Vineyards -- probably the best known winery in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. The trip was just under two months before the launch of Photo Potpourri (which means that sometime in the near future, I might have some pictures to present here from that trip in another "flashblacks" edition!)

I enjoyed the trip very much. For one, my daughters were wonderful company -- as they always are. For another, Oliver Winery has an aesthetically beautiful grounds. It is smartly landscaped with striking floral arrangements in front, and a seating area in the back that offers covered shade areas as well as open picnicking on rolling hills overlooking a modest pond.

I would return a few more times, taking along friends who hadn't been there before, and in each case, they left with the same positive impression I did. That was the first of several wineries I would visit in my latter years in Indianapolis. The list includes Mallow Run, Buck Creek, Easley, New Day Meadery, Chateau Thomas (both the original Plainfield and the former branch in Fishers), Simmons (outside Columbus) and a winery in Carmel that burned to the ground a year or so after I was there.

After last week, I've now been to three wineries in North Carolina -- Chatham Hill in Cary, Duplin in Rose Hill and, the latest, Gregory Vineyards close to the unincorporated community of McGee Crossroads (although it has a mailing address of Angier).

The tasting and sales center of most wineries are on the grounds where they also have their vineyards (that isn't/wasn't the case with Easley, Chateau Thomas, New Day, the Carmel or Chatham Hill wineries). Gregory Vineyards is in the former group, the ones on the grounds of the vineyards, and those are the more compelling to visit because of the aesthetics.

Gregory Vineyards is surrounded by rolling hills, and it has a nice-sized pond to gaze out at if you sit on one of the few seats on the porch of the main building. The main building serves not only as the wine center and office for the vineyards, but also houses Lane's Seafood and Steakhouse restaurant.

Both the tasting room and restaurant are open only four days a week -- Wednesdays through Saturdays. The restaurant serves only from 5 to 9 p.m. the first three of those days and 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. Tastings are available noon to 5 p.m. the first three days, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. All of Gregory's wines are available to enjoy at the restaurant.

Gregory's wine list features four reds -- a dry, two sweets, and a dessert; three whites -- a dry, a semisweet and a sweet; a blush; and several brandy-based wines with alcohol contents considerably higher than the wines.

I didn't dislike any of the wines I tried, but both Lee Ann and I favored the red sweet called Lee Love. Lee Ann was thrilled that the wine bearing her name was the one she liked best. When we inquired about the wine's name, Tosha, our server, told us the story of Lee Love, whom Tosha said was a real person.

Lee Love, she said, drank one or two glasses of wine a day ... and favored the red sweet that would eventually bear her name. Tosha also said Love really was Lee's last name, that she lived to be 94 and died only a few years ago. (I tried finding an obituary for her online, which usually isn't difficult to do for people who died after 2005 or thereabouts, but could find none).

After our tasting, we bought a couple bottles of Lee Love and I spent a short time taking pics of the landscape outside. It was hot and humid, so I made quick work of it. Lee Ann maintained cover in the car while I did so.

As always, click on any image to bring up a larger, sharper version. This is particularly helpful if you access the blog from a mobile device. To see a full gallery of images from this shoot, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: The outdoor images were taken with my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens. I made three exposures of each composition for later melding into a single frame using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HD) software. The interior photos were taken with the camera on my iPhone X.

Above: Don't rely on your GPS to pinpoint the access to Gregory Vineyards. The end point on our directions map was almost a quarter mile up Bowling Spring Drive from the actual access. Just be on the lookout for this sign.

Above: A second large building on the grounds, but I'm not sure what it's used for. My guess is for implement storage, but it could also be where the wine is produced.

Above: Looking back to the main building en route to the pond. 

An expansive view of some of the grounds (above), the pond and vineyards from near the parking lot at the main building, with other angles appearing in the next four below.

Above and next two below: Closeups of the newly bloomed grapes in one section of the vineyards. 

 Above and next two below: More shots of the vineyard landscape. 

The tasting room above (only one other couple was present at the time we were there), a closeup of the striking armoire in the corner (first below), an interesting (I thought) confluence of woodwork, furniture and portrait of a lion in the reception area (second below), shelves containing the vineyards' stock of wines (third below) and a closeup of Lee Love bottles (fourth below).