MenaRick goes in the Wine Mouth history books for several reasons:
1. They had food. Dessert, to be exact.
2. The other visitors were so nice! We chatted with them for a while. They even told us what secret menu items to order from In-N-Out burger on our upcoming trip to California. (Now if we could remember those secret items...)
3. The owners were ridiculous. We literally talked to them for hours, until well after closing time.
4. They have the best wine glasses ever. Stemless. Drunkproof.
5. The winery is named for the two owners: Mena for Philomena, and Rick for...you guessed it...Rick!
So let me set the stage for you. We literally stumbled into MenaRick Vineyard and Winery after visiting four other wineries in the same day. We immediately fell in love. The quaint tasting room, the friendly staff and visitors, the WINE. All of it was perfect.
We settled in for the wine tasting, and got to taste the Spanish and Portuguese-influenced wines made from NC grapes. We appreciated their "old world" reds - the Grenache, Touriga, and Tempranillo were our favorites. As an intermission, we enjoyed some leftover homemade Valentine's treats.
At some point during our tasting, we got to be BFFs with the two winery owners - Mena and Rick themselves. Church even got to go behind the counter. Here's proof:
Average: 3.44
1. They had food. Dessert, to be exact.
2. The other visitors were so nice! We chatted with them for a while. They even told us what secret menu items to order from In-N-Out burger on our upcoming trip to California. (Now if we could remember those secret items...)
3. The owners were ridiculous. We literally talked to them for hours, until well after closing time.
4. They have the best wine glasses ever. Stemless. Drunkproof.
5. The winery is named for the two owners: Mena for Philomena, and Rick for...you guessed it...Rick!
So let me set the stage for you. We literally stumbled into MenaRick Vineyard and Winery after visiting four other wineries in the same day. We immediately fell in love. The quaint tasting room, the friendly staff and visitors, the WINE. All of it was perfect.
We settled in for the wine tasting, and got to taste the Spanish and Portuguese-influenced wines made from NC grapes. We appreciated their "old world" reds - the Grenache, Touriga, and Tempranillo were our favorites. As an intermission, we enjoyed some leftover homemade Valentine's treats.
At some point during our tasting, we got to be BFFs with the two winery owners - Mena and Rick themselves. Church even got to go behind the counter. Here's proof:
 |
| #selfie #realwinemouth #theinstagramfilterdoesntcoverupwinemouth |
- Staff: Ummm LOVE THEM. We're FaceTiming them right now. Jokes. - 5
- Indoor ambiance: The tasting room was packed with kindred spirits and fun knicknacks - 4
- Outdoor ambiance: To be honest, I don't think we remember what the outside looked like - 3?
- Regular wine tasting: They had us at "dry red" - 4
- Speciality wine tasting: They had a few fruit wines on the tasting list, but nothing too crazy - 2
- The story: We heard the whole love story of Mena and Rick. Does it get any better than that? - 5
- Amount/selection tried: We got to try all of the wines, AND got seconds. - 5
- Cost: Average - 3
Average: 3.44
In sum, we left with two new best friends, and a couple great bottles of wine. Isn't that what it's all about?