Blue Ridge Wine Trail Gets New Name

    The Blue Ridge Wine Trail has been given new life and a new name. It was re-branded the Mountain Road Wine Experience earlier this year to better reflect the geographic uniqueness of its five wineries in southwestern Virginia.

 

    The goal is to showcase the high-altitude nature of this trail, which has the distinction of being the only trail in Virginia that produces wine, hard cider and mead (wine made from honey).

 

    The Mountain Road Wine Experience begins 15 miles southwest of Roanoke with AmRhein Wine Cellars in Bent Mountain. From there, it continues southwest 35 miles to Villa Appalaccia Winery and Chateau Morrisette Winery, both near the town of Floyd. The final two wineries are 12 miles further southwest near Dugspur. They are Blacksnake Meadery and Foggy Ridge Cider.

 

    "We wanted to emphasize the unique experience of visiting our wineries," said Diane Flynt, of Foggy Ridge Cider in Dugspur. "We're all extremely rural. There's an average of one to two traffic lights in our counties. You're going to see bear, deer, wild turkeys and country roads. It's a real mountain experience."

 

    The wineries received a grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation to re-brand the trail, create a new website (www.mountainroadwineexperience.com), and produce new marketing materials.

 

    "We felt like Blue Ridge Wine Trail name was a little tired. It was a common name that lacked distinction," said Nora Kuper, VP of Marketing for Chateau Morrisette, "so we decided to re-brand it to reflect our mountain wineries offering a varied tasting experience."

 

    The Mountain Road Wine Experience hosts two special tasting tours per year. The first is the second weekend of June, followed by another the second weekend of September. Folks can also sample wines from each member of the trail at The Tasting Room in downtown Floyd.

 

    For more information, visit online at: www.mountainroadwineexperience.com.

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