Vineyard an easy, inexpensive and tasty experience
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Tight Budget Trips | La Bell Amie Vineyard
Tight Budget Trips | La Bell Amie VineyardWhen you come to La Belle Amie Vineyard, you’ll relax, and you’ll learn something. Vicki Weigle will make sure of it.
She’s the tour guide and owner of this 38-acre chunk of land that’s been in her family for generations - land she learned to love from her mother.
La Belle Amie Vineyard
Address:
1120 St. Joseph Road, Little River, SC 29566
How to get there:
From Myrtle Beach: Take Highway 31 north to Highway 9; take Highway 9 east to Sea Mountain Highway; take Sea Mountain to Highway 90; go right on Highway 90. La Belle Amie is about a mile on the left.
From Florence: Take 501 south to Highway 22; take Highway 22 to Highway 90 (about 23 miles); take 90 east toward North Myrtle Beach; La Belle Amie is about 8 miles on the right.
Website:
http://www.labelleamie.com
Phone:
(843) 399-WINE (9463)
“She loved this place with all her heart and soul,” Weigle said of her mother. “We used to tease her and call her ‘Scarlett.’ This was her Tara.”
But there’s no cotton on this Tar. The top crop here is the grape. And that grape is the native muscadine.
“Normally, I’ll start harvesting in the second week of September,” Weigle said. “I put down a tarp and gently shake the vine so only the ripe grapes fall. That’s very important to the wine-tasting process. You want as sweet a grape as you can possibly get, so the sugar turns to alcohol. Then I’ll empty the tarp and go to the next vine.”
Weigle hopes to produce 6,000 cases of wine this year, between this vineyard and other farms near the actual winery, in Bladen County, North Carolina. She has that facility mainly to safeguard against hurricane losses.
When you come to La Belle Amie, you’ll learn a lot about the challenges Weigle and her staff face to turn a dream into a business.
You can take a self-guided tour and attend wine tastings every day except Sunday. Because of state law, there is a fee for the tastings.
Guided tours start at 11 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. All tours are free, but if you want to be a part of a guided tour, it’s a good idea to call to reserve a spot. There are also guided tours on Saturdays when there isn’t a festival on the grounds.
La Belle Amie plays host to 20 outdoor festivals a year, featuring different music themes and a lot of things for sale. The next event is an American Pie Oldies Fest on June 13. There is a modest admission price for festivals, although everyone under 18 and over 80 gets in free. These festivals are fun for the entire family.
A day at La Belle Amie can be fun and relaxing, but also very informative. And it won’t break your bankbook.
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