Surry County Wine Trail

The Surry County Wine Trail sits in the heart of North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley, which in 2003 became the state’s first federally recognized American Viticultural Area, and its wineries cluster in and around the towns of Dobson, Elkin, Mount Airy and Pilot Mountain (yadkinvalleync.com). Because the wineries are packed so tightly - Mount Airy alone is within 30 minutes of roughly 20 Yadkin Valley wineries (visitmayberry.com) - it plans well as either a focused day trip or a relaxed two-day weekend.

For a self-guided day, the tourism board’s Upper Yadkin Valley loop follows US 21 north out of downtown Elkin, beginning at Brushy Mountain Winery and continuing through Adagio Vineyards, Elkin Creek Vineyard and Grassy Creek Vineyard & Winery before finishing at cidermaker McRitchie Winery & Ciderworks in Thurmond - billed as “a perfect day or half-day outing” (yadkinvalleync.com). Visit Mayberry’s two-day “Very Surry” excursion instead anchors on Mount Airy: Day 1 starts at Round Peak Vineyards just off I-77 and adds downtown’s Old North State Winery, while Day 2 tours Shelton Vineyards - the largest family-owned estate winery in the state - then works through the Elkin-area wineries including Brushy Mountain, Elkin Creek, Grassy Creek and McRitchie (visitmayberry.com).

If you would rather not drive between tastings, three operators serve the area. The Elkin Vine Line runs “Winery Hopper” shuttles from a central downtown Station in Elkin on six themed Lines that each connect to about four wineries - for example the Red Line links the boutique wineries near Elkin (Carolina Heritage, Elkin Creek, Adagio and Slightly Askew), while the Silver Line reaches the Mount Airy wineries Round Peak and Serre plus Shelton (yadkinvalleync.com; elkinvineline.com). Yadkin Valley Wine Tours offers a two-person Mercedes-Benz option, a half-bus for 8-14 people and an extended shuttle for up to 30 (336-408-3394) (yadkinvalleync.com), and Parkway Wine Tours has run customized curb-to-curb tours for groups of two to 20 across Surry County and the Yadkin Valley since 2009 (336-783-4175) (yadkinvalleync.com).

Overnight, several roster wineries let you stay on the property. Elkin Creek Vineyard has four creek-side luxury cabins with stone fireplaces and soaking tubs; Grassy Creek offers historic Klondike log cabins on its 42-acre former-dairy estate; Round Peak rents two houses that sleep eight each with Blue Ridge views; Stony Knoll’s Wine Lodge is a renovated 1860s cabin; Haze Gray has a cabin among the vines; Carolina Heritage’s Olde Farmhouse sleeps four at the state’s first certified-organic vineyard; Slightly Askew offers a four-bedroom vacation home; and JOLO’s Newlywed Chateau is a romantic two-person retreat (yadkinvalleync.com). Shelton Vineyards has no rooms on the estate itself, but the Hampton Inn & Suites at Shelton Vineyards - the only Hampton Inn with a wine bar - sits about 2.5 miles up the road and runs a shuttle (and loaner bikes) to the winery (yadkinvalleync.com; visitnc.com).