Carolina's Vineyards & Hops

My husband and and I relocated to the Winston area recently and were pleased to stumble onto this place.

The atmosphere is elegant but not stuffy and attention to detail was evident in the hand carved bar and tables.  We visited on a Sunday afternoon so didn't parttake  in the sampling room on this visit but we loved the wide selection of wines and beer made locally.  

Drew, our server, was very knowledgable on the beer side as also has experience as a brewmaster.

The only drawback I see is that the are open Thursday through Sunday so we would need to plan a return visit rather than pop in during business hours.  

We were treated to the famous Southern hospitality and made to feel welcome.  We will go back and maybe try artisan cheeses with wine next time.

There was plenty of room for a medium sized group. Probably not suitable for children as it is a place focused on alcohol. Looked like a nice outdoor seating area as well...if only the rain would stop.  I love the free parking nearby.

A group of 15 of us went to Carolina's Vineyards and Hops after a family friend's senior performance at UNCSA.  This was our last stop of the evening on our way back to Chapel Hill.

Carolina's Vineyards and Hops is located inside a fairly generic looking office building.  From the outside it looks like it could be a bank.  The decor inside is decent and there are TVs if you are interested in watching sports.  They have a fairly extensive beer and wine list and most options are local.  So what's the problem?  The service.  I ordered a cider which cost $7.  Typically cider is served in a pint glass.  When the server brought out the drink, it was literally 2 oz.  No exaggeration.  At first I didn't want to complain but the group consensus was that this was ridiculous (and it was!).  I went to the bar and kindly asked why there wasn't more cider.  I explained that I'd always been served cider in a pint glass.  They explained to be that at CV&H, cider is a 4 oz. pour.  Okay, fine.  A 4 oz. pour is stingy but this pour was literally 2 oz.  They made me feel extremely uncomfortable and ended up getting the manager who made me feel even more uncomfortable.   Eventually it came to light that this was the last of their bottle of cider and they didn't have 4 oz. left so instead they poured what was left and tried to pass it off as a full glass.  Eventually the manager took back the 2 oz. of cider and begrudgingly offered me another drink.  

The popcorn was great, the atmosphere is fairly generic and the concept of self-serve wine is novel.  However, after this unpleasant experience, I won't ever be returning to CV&H.