Sweetwater RV Rally, Day Two

The scheduled events for day two began with a visit to Tsali Notch Vineyards between Sweetwater and Madisonville, TN, where they grow nothing but muscadines.  According to Wikipedia “Vitis rotundifolia, or muscadine, is a grapevine species native to the southeastern and south-central United States. The growth range extends from Florida to New Jersey Coast, and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma.”

Tsali grows six varieties, half bronze, or light, and half dark colored, which range in sweetness and nearly all are sold to wineries with just a small percentage made into wine for their own tasting room, all are made by other wineries but using Tsali”s recipes.

The vineyard manager gave us an explanation of the farming process and the muscadines themselves. 

Then we went on a little tour which included a stop at the harvester and discussion of the picking process.  With the machine, they can pick the entire 30 acres of vines in about nine days vs. many months of picking in the old days.

Nice view from the vineyard with the hazy smokies in the distance.

Following the tour, there was a tasting, where we tasted five different wines and a red juice and all were very good as evidenced by our case purchase.

And finally, our Subway picnic lunch under the shade trees with a nice breeze on a hot day.

That evening, we held our annual business meeting followed by a cookout where everyone grilled their own meat sided with baked potatoes and salad.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

09/20/22 event date