The Biltmore House & Winery

On Saturday I drove to Asheville to see the Biltmore. If you go after 3pm, your ticket is good for the entire next day, so that's what I did. I drove around Asheville and drove for awhile on the Blue Ridge Parkway until then, and it was amazing. I would recommend having 2 people though - one to drive up and one to drive down, so one person can always have their eyes on the road!

On Saturday afternoon I decided to just see one thing, and since I knew I couldn't fit the house and gardens into 2 hours, I started with the winery. It is so neat - they have a free behind-the-scenes tour that I just happened to be in time for, and it was so interesting. More below...

I made sure to be at the Biltmore house right when it opened...The gates open at 8:30, and since the house is 3 miles from the front gate (yep, it's that big of an estate!) that's when I got there. It was so awesome - I literally had every room to myself when I toured the house, and the same with the gardens and bass pond. It was amazing. If you ever visit the Biltmore, I'd highly suggest doing that. I can't imagine that it'd be the same experience, having to walk through this amazing castle of a house with screaming kids and people with cell phones (as I saw going through later). They have an Inn on the estate, and I'd recommend staying there - it isn't very expensive, and the estate is just so beautiful and relaxing to be in...It's a couple miles between each building (the house, the winery, the deerpark, etc.), and I think it's about the most beautiful drive I've been on (next to the Blue Ridge Parkway, that is!). There is a small river running along much of the drive, and there are trail riders and carriages out & about too. Some other things they have at the Biltmore estate are private fly-fishing lessons (I'm totally doing that next time) and a Land Rover Driving School, where they teach you how to drive your Land Rover sideways on hills without toppling over.

Above is the view of the house as you walk in from the parking lot, and below is a view from the esplanade (raised walkway - but that definition doesn't quite do the Vanderbilt esplanade justice!), and behind me is this enormous, beautiful hill, with a statue of Diana at the top....After 4 hours of walking, I didn't quite feel like walking to the top for a picture from there, so you'll just have to imagine it....George Washington Vanderbilt took his inspiration for the estate from a French Chateau, and you definitely feel like you're in Europe, not America while you're there.

Below is the winery. It used to be the calving barn until they turned it into a winery in the '80s. The chutes where they used to chuck waste from the stalls are now just perfect for aging wine (seriously).

Below is Rosemary, our awesome wine tour guide, pouring us samples of an unfinished wine....I was expecting it to be weird-tasting, but honestly it was better than their lower-quality wine that they had during the sampling! She taught us all about what grapes they grow and use, and taught us all about the process of making red wine, vs. white wine, vs. champagne. Anyone ever wonder how they get that giant cork into the champagne bottle? They microwave it! Apparently cork becomes quite malleable after 45 seconds in the microwave, and then they cram it in and put the wire cap on. Rosemary spoke of the importance of covering the bottle top with a towel when you open champagne...We were all kind of laughing (as in, seriously, has anyone ever poked an eye out with a champagne cork???), but then she told us how her daughter was at a party last year and someone opened a champagne bottle with improper technique, and her daughter caught the cork right between the eyes! (She was OK, but now you'll remember to use the towel, right?!?)

Below are some of the white oak barrels they age the wine in.

I have more pictures of the garden & bass pond, but I knew Blogspot wouldn't let me put them all in one post, and now my computer is running out of battery, so I'm going to finish this tomorrow!