MenaRick Vineyard & Winery

This is got to be hands down my favorite winery in all of North Carolina. I have finally found a winemaker who’s red’s do not have that «North Carolina taste». I’m not sure if you guys understand what I’m talking about, but every North Carolina red I have tried up to this point has had a specific taste no matter the varietal.
As most of the other Unilocalers have previously pointed out, the Vineyard specializes in Spanish and Portuguese varieties. This day we sampled two white wines, an Albariño $ 24 and a Vinho Branco $ 21 (a white Portuguese table blend). Of the two I prefer the Albariño. It has that nice acidity and keeps the white and stone fruit aromas.
There were six red’s that we sampled. Grenache, Merlot, Tempranillo, Rosalina (a red blend), Syrah, and Touriga Nacional (which is another Portuguese varietal). These were really nice! The only NC reds to this point that DO NOT have that same taste. I really enjoyed them as did my lady. She normally does not like Syrah at all, but she even ordered a glass of it after the tasting. I had a glass of the Grenache and Rick shared a glass with us.
You guys have to get there to see what I’m talking about, This will be a great visit and a pretty drive there too.

Love MenaRick! Laid back place Philamena (sorry if it’s spelled wrong) is Portuguese, Rick is from SoCal, together they create fantastic full-​bodied wine! Huge fans of the Syrah & Rosalina. They also have a Peach infused and a BlackBerry infused for the sweet palettes. They blackberry with a twist of lemon is addictive! Thank you Rick!

For good wines and enjoyable experience, this is a great place to stop. Owners were great hosts. We arrived with a large group (1^st tasting of a Sunday morning) and everyone got one-​on-​one attention and pleasant chats after the tasting. Rick is a knowledgeable winemaker with an easy manner in sharing his love of wines.
There was an interesting range of wines to find what you liked. The ties to Spanish and Portuguese grapes worked for me and I came home with a collection of bottles. Our favorites were the Albarino, Syrah, and the Blackberry but we honestly enjoyed them all.
I recommend a visit to MenaRick!

We were on a wine tour with a group of friends. Menarick was our second stop. We were struck by the beautiful view from their outdoor area. It happened to be their third year anniversary, so they had complimentary food from their smoker. Our group, however, brought a potluck picnic lunch.
Mena conducted our wine tasting. There were a number of wines presented with the price of only $ 8.00, and, we each received a beautiful stemless wine glass. There was not a bad wine in the bunch, although my favorites were the albarino, Syrah and tempernillo. They also offered some fruity dessert wines which were suitable for those with a sweet tooth.
Menarick featured live entertainment. We sat by the fire and listened to a talented trio that was headed by a singer/​guitarist named Luke. They played a lot of older blues based music, including my favorite, Led Zeppelin.
We had a great time and anticipate a return to this cozy mountain winery.

A charming vineyard owned by really special people, Rick & his wife Mena. They offered us some truly special wines there was a red that we all said we had never tasted anything like that before I believe it was the Touriga. Outstanding. I dont want to spoil the surprise but Rick does something amazing with lemon peel!!! I was afraid I wasnt going to like the fruit wines that they would be too sweet, but like he says «you can taste the fuzz on the peach» they were all so fresh tasting not at all sweet or cloying. Such friendly people, just lovely!!!

Best wine in the Yadkin Valley with the two best owners in the Yadkin Valley. Seriously.
When you are in the area, don’t miss this one. They have a fantastic staff who refer to themselves as «wino children» of the owners. We brought a picnic and had a nap under some trees near the vineyard.

On our recent getaway to Elkin I noticed a winery on the map we hadn’t been to the last time we were up this way which was surprisingly near some of the other places we had gone for tastings. We decided to venture out and try MenaRick.
We arrived to the owner Rick taking down the Christmas tree. He was super nice and very chatty. The wines were very good. They offer wines made with Spanish and Portugese varietals so it was nice getting to try some that were not the usual cabernet, muscadine, etc.
We had some lunch with us and had it not been super cold out would have loved to have eaten outside and enjoyed the view a bit better. Rick even went to the house nearby and brought us back some homemade bread samples which were excellent. He mentioned some events they have coming up this year which sounded fun so hopefully we can make it back up there for one of those.