United States of Wine

Biltmore Estate — Cabernet Sauvignon — Asheville, NC — 2023

Price: $22.00; www.Biltmore.com

The Biltmore Estate sits high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. Built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895, the house has been a favorite for tourists. It was in 1985, though, that they started to make wine on the 8,000-acre estate.

Though Biltmore does grow grapes on their property, it only accounts for 20% of their grapes. The other 80% is mostly from California, Oregon and Washington State. While they do have a Biltmore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon grown from North Carolina grapes, the wine we tasted was from West Coast grapes.

This medium-bodied cabernet sauvignon is opaque, a dark rust red in the glass. The immediate scents coming out of the glass were red berried. A deeper sniff revealed pomegranate and light oak. This wine was definitely fruit forward.

Tasting the wine gave more of a vanilla flavor with the pomegranate, and added raspberries. In the back end was a hint of green grass.

I enjoyed this wine more than I thought I would, though I wonder if it was because of the California grape source. I wonder what cabernet sauvignon grown in North Carolina would taste like.

Unfortunately, even after the wine was open for a considerable amount of time, there remained a hint of sourness that never went away. I could drink this wine again, but there are better cabernet sauvignons I would pick before getting this again. But if someone was looking for a wine made in North Carolina, I would definitely recommend this over anything made from Duplin Winery.

Score: 7.5