The bucolic views impart a sense that you are far away, but George Bursick and Russ Gardiner hope their winery, with its wine, its food, its music and its art, along with its beautiful setting, will actually impart a sense that while you have escaped, you are not far from home.
Nearly three years after it was first announced, Eagle Mountain Winery opened June 20.
Bursick, director of winemaking, and Gardiner, president, have spent years now developing Eagle Mountain Winery from grape up as a place that fuses the Napa wine experience with the charm of Upstate South Carolina. Gardiner spent two years scouting 85 different properties throughout the western Carolinas, and Bursick has spent the past three years developing signature wine blends from California grown grapes.
Now, they feel they have something special.
“If you’ve had a really good time doing something then you want to continue that,” Gardiner said of the impetus to build a winery. “And I guess I’ve had enough good moments in my life where it involves food and wine and music and art that I want that to continue.”
The wine will be a hybrid of California and South Carolina grapes
When Bursick first heard of Gardiner’s plans for a winery in South Carolina, the award-winning winemaker admits, he paused. But it didn’t take long for him to find inspiration in the 54 acres just off Hwy 11, and now, he is eager to share the wines he has developed.
Eagle Mountain opens with six – a Napa Valley Cabernet, a Lodi Zinfindel, a Sonoma/Monterrey Pinot Noir, a Sierra Foothills Muscat, a Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc and a Central California coast Chardonnay - all produced from grapes grown by vineyards in California.
Bursick custom blended each to reflect what he calls Eagle Mountain’s style. That style includes full bodied wines that are balanced and delightfully drinkable.
“I’ve tried to make them so they are attractive to a wide group of consumers,” Bursick said.
The Muscat is on the sweeter side, while the Zinfindel is on the drier side.
“They all have their own little personalities.”
Over his nearly 30-year career, Bursick has gained a reputation for producing wines with distinct mouthfeel and suppleness. He became interested in the viscosity of wines as a graduate student at UC Davis, and even did his thesis on the topic.
His style has won him many accolades over the years, including No. 1 chardonnay in the world for his Ferrari-Carano chardonnay.
Once Eagle Mountain’s vineyards come to fruition, the winery will produce wines made from winery-grown grapes as well as those from California. Certain grapes like the chardonnay and the pinot noir are simply too delicate to withstand the Upstate climate, Bursick said, but cabernet and merlot grapes, with their thicker skin, will do fine.
Bursick has plans to add a rose soon and will continue to add to Eagle Mountain’s collection.
“What we’re bringing to South Carolina, a California interpretation of winemaking,” Bursick said.
The path to the Upstate
One of the things that makes Gardiner and Bursick chuckle a little is that while they lived within miles of each other and worked in the same industry for years, they never knew each other.
It wasn’t until a mutual friend decided the two needed to meet that they began talking and discovered a mutual respect for wine and a mutual vision for creating a multi-faceted winery experience.
Gardiner got his start working in politics, before moving into healthcare administration. But while both were solid careers, they didn’t move him. So, At the age of 28, he said he started an advertising agency. That agency, located in the heart of California wine country, grew a niche with vineyards, at one point representing over 100 vineyards, Gardiner said.
After selling his advertising business, Gardiner reinvented himself as a college basketball coach, before retiring and moving to the Upstate in 2011.
The retirement didn’t last long, and he took a job as assistant women’s basketball coach at UNC-Asheville, which gave him a chance to travel throughout western North and South Carolina, exploring the beauty and tasting the region’s wines.
Eagle Mountain is designed as not just about wine, but about a wine experience. The grounds are coming to life, with two miles of walking trails and a sculpture garden, all interwoven with a landscape that includes vistas, streams and wildlife.
Plans call for adding an additional tasting room that will include a restaurant called Cork & Barrel, a sculpture garden, space for lawn games and fire pits and an amphitheater that will host regular live music performances.
Cork & Barrel will come to life over the next few months, with the aim of opening late this year. While the restaurant menu is nowhere near finalized, Gardiner is set on two items, the coexistence of which lend a sense of what to expect.
“We’ll have a wood-fired pizza oven to make gourmet Neapolitan pizzas, and the other item is filet mignon steak burgers,” Gardiner said.
“I think what we want is a real casual atmosphere but with quality food. There will be no pretentiousness about it.”
The amphitheater is another central piece to the vision Gardiner and Bursick have for Eagle Mountain. The space, which will include a stage on a bridge over a creek on the property, along with lawn and formal seating for up to 1,000, will be site for the annual summer concert series Gardiner envisions. Plans for the series include seven concerts throughout the summer, featuring wider known musicians, each benefitting a different local nonprofit.
“When I started in the wine business, so many wineries were only set up for winetasting,” Gardiner said.” You would go to a winery, taste for 15 minutes and then go to another winery and taste for 15-20 minutes, but you never felt connected.
“Everything I’ve done here is to create an experience.”
Eagle Mountain Winery opened June 20. For now, reservations will be required between June 20- July 31.
A tasting reservation is $29 and includes a sampling of 5 wines, along with one full glass of wine and a charcuterie box.
Eagle Mountain also offers a wine club with specials for members and will offer catering through Husk. The winemaker dinner series will include menus from local and regional chefs.
Eagle Mountain Winery is located at 2330 Highway 11, Travelers Rest. For more call 864-747-0336 or visit https://eaglemountainwinery.com
Lillia Callum-Penso covers food for the Greenville News. She loves the stories recipes tell and finds inspiration in the people behind them. When she’s not exploring local food, she can be found running, both for pleasure and to keep up with her 5-year-old twins. Reach her at [email protected], or at 864-478-5872, or on Facebook atfacebook.com/lillia.callumpenso.
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