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Downtown Kingsport Concert Series has
begun! Join us on Broad Street!
Thursday, May 17 - US Air Force Starlifter Band
Friday, May 18 - Glade Hollow Band
Toast of the Town!
Winery Being Constructed at
MeadowView Resort and Convention Center
And later this summer the experience should be fully up and running with a demonstration winery operating on the MeadowView Conference Resort & Convention Center property and a wine tasting room open for the public and private parties in the executive conference center.
Reedy called the project a unique wine experience that will offer many different styles and flavors.
“This will be the first, full-scale, fully operational winery on the premise of a Marriott managed property. It’s unique and quite a big undertaking,” Reedy said. “We’ve had some challenges, but we’ve overcome them and we’re moving forward. I think it’s been a fantastic process.”
Reedy’s vineyards — Reedy Creek Cellars — is located a few miles off Interstate 81 along Highway 11W and is right at 120 acres in size. The harvest season runs from August to the end of October and each acre can produce 3.5 to 4 tons of fruit or about 65 to 70 cases of wine.
RCC sells fruit to most of the large wineries in Tennessee and on the spot market in North Carolina and Virginia. The company got its first bottling licenses in January and has since been working with Kingsport and MeadowView officials to bring a winery to the Model City.
The proposed winery will be located in the 5,400-square-foot golf maintenance building across the parking lot from the new executive conference center at M e a d o w Vi e w.
Because a permanent structure could not be built quick enough to move the project along at the desired pace, a temporary structure was built (at a cost of $25,000) to house the golf maintenance equipment. This work has caused the project to get behind schedule, said Andy King, general manager of MeadowView.
“In order to meet the timeline, there wasn’t enough time to get that site selected on the golf course and get a permanent structure built,” King said, noting the city already has offers to purchase the temporary structure.
Later this year, a permanent building for this equipment will be built near the back nine on MeadowView’s grounds (at an estimated cost of $220,000).
As for the winery itself, people can expect to see the grapes crushed behind the building, pumped into temperature controlled tanks, fermented and bottled all on site. The whole wine process will take place in the building, Reedy said, noting he and MeadowView officials are hoping the winery is up and running by July or August of this y e a r.
The official name of the winery is “Reedy Creek Cellars at MeadowView” while the wine label will be “MeadowView Wi n e s . ”
“We’re going to launch with 10 different wine styles, five whites, three reds and two blush wines. The whites and blushes will be bottled very soon, while the red’s will require more aging time,” Reedy said. “Our goal is to really create a wine experience at MeadowView that encompasses a lot of different styles and flavors.”
Reedy Creek Cellars has obtained the necessary state and federal permits for wine making, subject to final inspection of the f a c i l i t y.
“From a federal perspective, we’re a fully bonded winery. The state ABC will do its final inspection and then we’re ready to bottle, hopefully within the next four weeks,” Reedy said.
King said work is progressing on the other aspects of the project, such as the wine tasting room and adjacent foyer.
Custom cabinets for the 3,000-square-foot wine cellar room are being worked on, the flooring has been ordered and the wiring, plumbing and HVAC has been installed. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved taking $150,000 from the Visitor Enhancement Project fund to renovate the wine cellar room.
Once complete, the wine cellar room will be “warm and inviting,” King said, with stacked stone features, cocktail lighting, wine barrels, a bar and tables for wine tastings, dinner parties, meetings and receptions. People will be able to book the room like any other at MeadowView.
“It’s going to be a wine tasting room by day and part of our banquet facilities by night,” King said. “We’re counting on this room to be done in June. I don’t see any reason why we can’t get there.”
Initially, the 420-square-foot room preceding the wine cellar room was slated to be a point of sale room where people could buy Reedy’s wine by the bottle. Due to state regulations and because MeadowView is a liquor-by-the-drink facility, those transactions will not take place in that room.
Rather people will place their orders within that room via phone, then walk across the parking lot to the actual winery to receive their bottle or case of wine. At some point, Reedy and King said they would like to have a retail space in that room.
“The ABC director would need to come out and see what we’re doing and be comfortable that we’re moving the wine appropriately and within the law,” King said.
Regardless of this slight change in plan, both men are seeing and hearing a strong buzz in the community about the winery and have been brainstorming ideas on how to promote and market the project. Ultimately, Reedy hopes to create a wine trail from the vineyards in Sullivan County to Kingsport — a stretch of road with multiple wine or vineyard destinations along its route.
“We’re talking about wine getaway weekends and dinners, a destination where people can spend three days and never become bored,” Reedy said.
“It’s unique that it’s on hotel grounds and sitting on the ninth tee of a golf course. Eventually, we’ll have a seating area where you can buy a bottle of wine while watching the golfers go by or have a glass of wine and go play a round of golf,” King said. “Everybody is very excited and the first question they ask is when will it open? I think everyone sees the value of this project to the entire city.”
Kingsport Convention & Visitors Bureau
400 Clinchfield St. Suite 100
Kingsport, TN 37660
PH: 423.392.8820
FAX: 423.392.8833
TOLL FREE: 800.743.5282
400 Clinchfield St. Suite 100
Kingsport, TN 37660
PH: 423.392.8820
FAX: 423.392.8833
TOLL FREE: 800.743.5282
