The Big Creek Winery Tasting Room is hosting their grand opening today (Saturday) for their new location in historic downtown Wartrace.
The tasting room allows guests to taste and …
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The Big Creek Winery Tasting Room is hosting their grand opening today (Saturday) for their new location in historic downtown Wartrace.
The tasting room allows guests to taste and purchase the winery’s locally made wines, according to tasting room owner Candy Pomeroy.
“I think what makes our wine so special is most of it is grown here,” she said.
While at college, Candy worked for a winery, Oliver Winery in Indiana, where she fell in love with the industry. “It’s always been something I wanted to do, and the opportunity just arose,” she said. “Wine itself is great, of course, but it’s fun just to meet new people.”
Big Creek Winery was started by Billy Brymer in 2016, who makes the wine locally in Pulaski in Giles County. Candy partnered with Brymer about five years ago to open up the tasting room. Before moving to Wartrace, they were located in Christiana next to Miller’s Grocery.
“With our wines, because we have such a selection, it’s almost a challenge to find something new they don’t like,” Candy said.
So how do you find a good wine, especially a good one for the upcoming holiday season?
“For each individual, it’s going to be what they like. There’s a lot of rules out there—that you’re supposed to have it a certain way—but it boils down to what the purchaser likes,” Candy explained.
First, Big Creek offers red and white muscadine wines in addition to a lot of different fruit flavors, like the cranberry wine—perfect for a holiday party. For other grape wines, they have Concord, Niagra, and Catawba wine varieties.
“Red and white muscadine is usually sweet when it comes to wine; we actually do them in dry also,” Candy explained. Tennessee is known for sweet wines—because it’s the South, explained Candy. This is why many people are surprised by the dry muscadine wine Big Creek offers.
But if you are a first-time wine taster, Candy recommends trying a sweet first. “The dry is an acquired taste usually,” which is what Candy and her husband, Daniel, prefer.
Candy said they enjoy the Milky Way Blue, a blueberry and blackberry mix, and the Miner’s Twist, a half-and-half of muscadines and concord grapes. (The wines are named for local landmarks and interests, so you get a history lesson while sipping the local Southern wine.)
Even though the main objective of the tasting room is to taste, guests are encouraged to take a bottle and enjoy it with food, like at the Iron Horse just a few steps away.
It’s one of the benefits of being in a small business-rich community like Wartrace.
“It was almost like a door just opened,” said Candy. “From the first day of being here, you can tell there’s a difference. It’s a great community.”
“We really want this to be a destination and help the town grow,” said Daniel.
For more information, visit their Facebook page @bigcreekwinerytastingroom or call 615-785-2124. They are open Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday 1 to 6 p.m., Friday 1 to 8 p.m., and Saturday 12 to 8 p.m.