A Day Trip to Crown Winery in West Tennessee

At the invitation of my friend and fellow blogger Kim Thomas of KP Fusion, I headed to Crown Winery in Humboldt, TN for a taste of delicious wine and a new summer wine pairing tasting. Read on for photos and a few of the fun facts we picked up during our visit.

Kim and I are both bloggers who love learning new things, traveling, and exploring hidden gems in our city and beyond. Kim was invited to visit Crown Winery, a vineyard, and winery located in Humboldt, TN. Just a quick trip heading east on I-40 from Memphis, Crown Winery is an 18-acre vineyard that has become a lovely place to experience wine. The stunning Tuscan-style villa makes you feel as if you have been swept away to Italy for a day. The Winery hosts many events from private wine tasting, tours, Sunday brunch, and yoga at the vineyard to larger-scale weddings in the vineyard. Kim and I had the honor to experience a private tasting debuting the new summer tasting.

Crown Winery is local and family-owned and operated by Dawn and Scott Fallert and their children when they are home from college. You definitely feel the passion, love, warmth, and Southern hospitality from the moment you enter the vineyard. You all know that I am a stay-at-home-working mother and my son does everything with me. We work together and travel together. Dawn and her team made us so welcome by allowing Jasiel along on our tour and tasting. It meant so much to me but really spoke volumes about the hospitality that lies within the winery.

The moment we arrived, we were greeted by Dawn and her beautiful smile along with a glass of Tiara, a spectacular sparkling wine. Kim and I toasted up to the magic and experience we were about to witness learning about the winemaking process, the story of Crown Winery, and a highly anticipated wine pairing.

The Winery has two separate areas and many sub-areas within those, too, but our tour began in the winemaking area and bottling room. To start, while we sipped delicious sparkling white wine -- Dawn showed us around the winemaking area and explained the entire process thoroughly and without overwhelming us. After immersing myself in French culture, I’ve always felt so intimidated by wine. There is so much to learn, wine etiquette, and so much more that you can easily feel overcome.

We didn’t feel that way at all. During the tour, we learned that Crown Winery harvests 9 different varieties of grapes and is experimenting with a couple of new varieties. The vineyard was once a farm if I remember correctly a dairy farm. So, like much of the land in Tennessee, the grounds are very fertile and have led to an abundant harvest of grapes. Believe it or not, all the work is done on the vineyard right there in Humboldt. Dawn also explained that as soon as the grapes are picked they're loaded into temperature-controlled machines, fermented with an extensive science based process due to her husband’s chemical engineering background, then brought into the packaging area where they are corked, labeled, and either brought to the retail area or shipped out to vendors.

After the tour of the facility, we headed outside under a greenery adorned patio for a private wine tasting and food pairing hosted by Vicky. She is the gracious, stylish, and knowledgable owner of Sip Sip Soiree. Beginning this summer, Vicky will offer her curated tastings at Crown Winery. I will tell you now as you read this, go ahead and schedule your private tasting.

Next, with our sparkling wine glasses nearly empty, we began our tasting. We were so elated to see that we'd be trying more wines and learning what to pair with each wine. I’ve been fascinated by the elevation of both wine and food depending on what it is paired with for awhile. So, I felt so special to be able to get a more intimate lesson at Crown Winery and to be able to share the experience with Kim.

I’m for sure not a newbie to wine tastings. I’ve been to several over the last decade. Seeking ways to become more cultured and refined, I started my journey of learning wines and pairings while in pharmacy school. I have always had this idea that I would be a globe trotting business woman who needed to be impressive. I can’t think of any other way to impress someone other than knowing wines, wine etiquette, and speaking different languages over wine, lol.

However, this private tasting gave me an opportunity to ask more detailed questions without shame. We began our tasting with one of Crown Winery’s white wines, Cayuga White, which is a blend of honey, green apple, and citrus with a floral aroma. Vicky paired it with a lemon-flavored cake since it can be served as a great welcoming wine at a party or as a dessert wine. As the tasting continued, we sampled nearly five different wines along with what I honestly feel have been the best pairings.

I could not pass up the opportunity to ask for proper wine etiquette to share with you all on social media. How do you properly hold a wine glass, I asked. Vicky without hesitation taught us the proper way to hold a wine glass, how to smell the wine prior to tasting, and of course how you experience wine.

I have the words to express my gratitude, but I don’t want to inundate you with them, for experiencing this trip to Crown Winery. It was a gorgeous day and a lovely escape from my normal day to day. Taking a quick trip to a winery and vineyard with my friend Kim sitting outside and experiencing handcrafted wines at a Tuscan inspired villa is the life I’ve worked and dreamed of. And, I desire more experiences such as these.