Lu Mil Vineyard Wines Win Awards

DUBLIN, NC. At the recent 2011 Tasters Guild International Wine Judging Competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lu Mil Vineyard’s Harmony Hall won Silver in the white varietal category and Sir Walter Raleigh won Gold in the red varietal category. These wines are made of muscadine grapes that are grown in the heart of Bladen County.

“We are very excited about this recognition seeing as nearly 2,500 wines were evaluated and ours was singled out by the judges”, says Denise Taylor Bridgers, Sec/Treasurer of Lu Mil Vineyard. Wines from over 15 countries and 30 states/provinces participated in this year’s competition held April 27-30, 2011. The judges were qualified individuals with extensive experience in tasting and judging grape variety wines. They ranged from wine writers, retailers, wholesalers, educators, restaurateurs, winemakers and experienced consumers from around the country.

Lu Mil Vineyard is located between Fayetteville and Wilmington just off Hwy 87 in Dublin, NC. Our Gift Shop is open Monday – Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday from 1pm to 6pm. We offer free wine tastings, a deli and a beautiful place to kick back and relax. Visit us soon and if you have any questions, please call 910-866-5819

D’Vine Foods Wins Award

ELIZABETHTOWN, NC – At the recent North Carolina Specialty Foods Association Products Awards Competition, the “Not From China Made In Carolina” ™ 100% Muscadine Grape Juice won the 1st place award and blue ribbon in the Beverage Category. This product is produced by D’Vine Foods in Bladen County, North Carolina where muscadine grapes have become a large agriculture industry.

D’Vine Foods is a Taylor Company with many ties to the business and agriculture community in the Southeast. The best beverage category was blind-tasted and judged on appearance, aroma, taste, texture and aftertaste. The professional judge panel was comprised of a food writer for the Raleigh News & Observer, a cookbook author and a professor from the Wake Technical Culinary School.

“We are excited about this recognition and the opportunity it presents for our company and the muscadine grape”, says Ron Taylor, President of D’Vine Foods. Start asking for this product at Lu Mil Vineyard, Han-Dee Hugo’s, Carlie C’s and other stores you may frequent. For more information, contact us at allienance@dvinefoods.com or 910-862-1000.

Sir Walter Raleigh Finally Arrives in North Carolina

DUBLIN, NC – Lu Mil Vineyard is pleased to announce its newest sweet muscadine wine, “Sir Walter Raleigh”. The name was selected to honor our newest location in Raleigh, NC at the State Farmer’s Market and after much research, we found a great deal of interest from our Outer Banks customers plus it was a perfect fit with our other wine labels that also hold historical or family meaning.

The special-edition wine is naturally sweet with an intense fruit taste that reminds one of picking fresh grapes from grandmother’s vines. Our Sir Walter Raleigh commemorates the famed 16th Century poet, privateer, courtier, and explorer who launched an expedition to establish a permanent colony in the New World. Located in present day North Carolina, his settlement is now known as the Lost Colony.

Sir Walter Raleigh himself never visited North America, but on the expedition he chartered explorers that encountered a bountiful native grape growing in wild abundance. Raleigh's explorers wrote in 1584 that the coast of North Carolina was "...so full of grapes as the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them...” Sir Walter Raleigh was also regarded as one of the finest poets of his day and often recounted the story of North Carolina's plentiful and prosperous grape. Raleigh's explorers found the sweet fruit growing "on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills as on the plains, as well as on every little shrub ... also climbing towards the tops of tall cedars ... in all the world the like abundance is not to be found." North Carolina's muscadine was said to be a grape “of such greatness, yet wild, as France, Spain, nor Italy hath no greater..."

Grown in the same sandy soil of North Carolina's Coastal Plain, the sweet and sought-after grape is still found in abundance at Lu Mil Vineyard. Lu Mil's special-edition wine, Sir Walter Raleigh, builds upon the healthy muscadine grape's tradition of excellence that began on the famed explorer's expedition. Lu Mil Vineyard has carefully crafted the same succulent fruit that Raleigh’s explorers encountered on the North Carolina coast into a fine muscadine wine. The sweet red wine embodies all the savory and beneficial qualities that made the grapes so acclaimed by Raleigh and his explorers over 400 years ago. Since 1792, the capital city of NC has been named in honor of the explorer, and in 2001 it was decided that a variety of muscadine grape should be the official state fruit. Lu Mil Vineyard's newest wine, Sir Walter Raleigh, is both a symbol and a celebration of North Carolina's long and prosperous history with its sweet native grape.

Lu Mil Vineyard is located between Fayetteville and Wilmington just off Hwy 87 in Dublin, NC. If you have any questions, please call Lu Mil Vineyard at 910-866-5819.