Island Winery

On this journey I ventured outside of my usual North Carolina winery during a family vacation.  Anywhere I visit I always look for the local wineries because you never know what you’ll stumble upon.  Hilton Head Island in South Carolina is well known as one of the best vacation spots on the East Coast however it also has a really great winery! 

Island Winery is located in a business common area where you wouldn’t think of finding a winery.  However, the location alone speaks nothing of the delightfulness you’ll find inside the little off-white building with a royal blue awning.  The outside of the entrance is decorated with tropical type plants that seem to thrive in the warm, humid island climate.  When you walk into the building a charming wind chime plays a melody to let the hostess know a visitor has arrived.

Greeted within a few seconds is what I call great customer service and that’s what my husband and I received.  We were immediately both given a list of their extensive wines that included descriptions and pricing for each.  We were directed toward a chalk blackboard located right behind the wine tasting stand.  This showed popular selections such as a wine flight they offer, their award winning wine list, and a featured wine, just to name a few.

Since I did some research online ahead of time I knew we were going to share their $10 wine flight, especially since it’s notably marked as the “best kept secret on HHI”.  Now the trouble was picking only 3 wines.  I asked our barista Nancy which were the 3 most popular wines.  Without hesitation she replied the 2010 Sangiovese, Southern Passion, and Peach on the Beach.  We were sold!  She rang us up and told us to make ourselves comfortable in the seated area and she would bring our selections and nibbles shortly.  So we made our way into the sitting space.

This half of Island Winery is dedicated to wine barrel aging, production, and pub tables with stools.  It’s not a fancy area but we loved what they’ve done with it.  The wine barrels are stacked on shelves and you can see behind them where the wine production is accomplished.  There is over a handful of tall pub tables in this area that they’ve created out of wine barrels with wooden tops.  The tops of the tables are cleanly decorated with the labels they use for their wines.  A variety of wood finished stools are placed around each table.  However, everything seems to work harmoniously together. 

Within minutes of sitting Nancy came to our attention with our selections.  Our wine flight came with 3 full glasses of wine and a light snack.  And like a good hostess should, she brought our beverages first.  On the napkins placed under each glass of wine she skillfully wrote the name of each wine.  Using our wine guide provided to us earlier we were able to navigate our tasting from dry to sweet wines.  We started with our 2010 Sangiovese first because it was the only dry wine we acquired.  It was an absolutely tasty red.  No wonder its award winning!  

Before we were even half way done with the first glass Nancy was back with our cheese and cracker plate.  The food plate looked amazing!  It was enough food for 2 people to have a really nice lunch.  It included 3 different kinds of cheeses, a variety of fruit, gourmet crackers, and a Hershey Kiss a piece.  Needless to say we felt like we got our money’s worth.

Nancy stayed and chatted with us after she brought us our food.  She told us about the owners who are from, and were in, New Jersey at the time of our visit.  They had come to Hilton Head on a vacation and saw the island was lacking a winery.  The couple already had an accomplished winery in their home state and their success carried over to Island Winery.  The winery opened New Year’s Day 2006 and has kept the island hopping ever since then.

Our barista left us to enjoy our 2 other wines and we appreciated the time to sit, reflect, and talk.  Both the Southern Passion and Peach on the Beach were light, fruity, and crisp.  The Southern Passion had a hint of spice that was similar to sangria.  We didn’t find a single feature in any of the wines we didn’t like.  They were undeniably perfect!

We finished our refreshments and thanked Nancy for her hospitality before we departed.  Island Winery has so much to offer we were glad we stopped in.  If a wine flight isn’t your desire they have many additional offerings like their free tastings and other social sipping experiences available at a fee.  Bottles purchases at Island Winery start at $16 and go up to $28 a piece, their hours of operation are Monday through Saturday 12:30-5:30pm. 

Visit Island Winery online at:  www.islandwinery.com

If you have visited this or another winery here in NC and would like to share your story, or offer suggestions for my next trip, please email it to natasha3911@aol.com.

Natasha Stiles is a freelance photographer and writer who enjoys wine and travel; her additional winery trips can be found at:  www.ncwine-downweekend.blogspot.com