A great place to go on a warm weekend afternoon is Big Creek Winery Tasting Room in Christiana. It is located just down the street from the famed Miller’s Grocery Store. Make it an afternoon of good food, good wine, and good fun, as the winery often has entertainment in the evenings during the summer.
Tasting Room owner, Candy Wence, felt that the time was right to open a small batch wine tasting room because of all of the interest in locally made products and because she felt the wine itself was unique.
“Billy Brymer, the winemaker, offers three levels of sweetness for each of his fruit wines,” said Wence. “He has a unique process that he learned from a gentleman named Sam Duncan. They met by chance at a restaurant. Sam had brought in an unlabeled bottle of wine that looked interesting to Billy, so he went over to Sam’s table and asked him about the wine. Once Sam realized Billy’s interest was deep, he offered to apprentice Billy in his winemaking process.”
Almost all of the wines are made from local berries. The sweet wines each provide the traditional flavor of the berry from which it is made, however, the medium sweet and dry wines are more reminiscent of traditional wine. The medium sweet blackberry wine has a slight nose of blackberry, but with the much richer flavor of a Merlot. The dry is close to a pinot noir.
Brymer chooses to work with sweeter grapes like Concord, Muscadine, and Catawba, as well as Peaches, Blackberries, Cherries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Apples, Cranberries, Raspberries, and Pears. Because the wines are made from fresh produce, many of the wines are seasonal.
“Our bold Sam Duncan Red Muscadine is perfect for eating with red meats, like a traditional red,” said Wence, “while the sweeter blackberry and raspberry wines are perfect to pair with dark chocolate.”
Several times a month the Tasting Room has events, offering customers a chance to have fun and taste wine.
Summer Nights is an opportunity to listen to some great music, and enjoy a meal from Miller’s Grocery Store Café paired with great wine. You can grab lunch at the Café or grab some dinner to go and bring it down to the Tasting Room to listen to live music and enjoy great wine.
Miller’s Grocery Store offers home-style Southern cooking in an old grocery store that is now filled with vintage pieces from its 75-year history. Famous for their Chicken salad and meatloaf, there are many other tasty items to choose from, like one of their veggies and sides plates. Make sure to leave room for their desserts. They are sinfully delicious.
Big Creek Tasting Room
7027 Main Street
Christiana, TN 37037
615-785-2124
bigcreekwinerytennessee.com/
Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Miller’s Grocery Store Cafe
7011 Main Street
Christiana, TN 37037
615-893-1878
millersgrocery.com/
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. buffet only
