By Karen Martin

Staff reporter

kamartin@elkintribune.com

Cellar 4201 held a grand opening of their tasting room on Saturday, May 23. Owners Greg Hutchins and wife Donna Carlyle Hutchins began their vineyard in 2003, and have five acres of vines planted with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Merlot and a Chardonnay, which is fermented both in stainless and oak.

“My wife’s favorite is the Sangiovese, our signature wine, which ages for 27 months,” Greg Hutchins said. “It is a sweet wine. Donna is the creative one, designing our logo and labels.

“We’re very pleased with our wines,” Hutchins said. “We were lucky with the late frost this year. We built fires around the vineyard and had blowers to help with the frost, we lost very few buds. Fortunately, we did not see much damage at all.”

“We have continued to add vines every year since the first ones planted in 2003,” he said. “The 2007 frost took out some of our vines. The buds came out early, and then the frost came on. It was a learning experience.”

Linda King has been the Cellar 4201 winemaker through 2008. Shawn McRitchie bottled the latest stainless Chardonnay and will be the winemaker for the 2009 fruits.

Hutchins sings the praises of his vineyard caretaker, Narciso.

“I’m very lucky to have Narciso working for us,” Hutchins said. “He cares about the big picture and sees it. He recognized the big picture early and paid careful attention to the pruning of the vines. After pruning, he would watch the growth for two weeks and learn from his work. His attention to detail is a real asset to us.”

“Donna is the creative one, designing our logo and labels ,” Hutchins said. “It was her idea to incorporate the arrowhead resemblence after learning about the history of the area,” Hutchins said. “Many arrowheads and Indian artifacts were found in the river bottoms that are found all throughout the area.”

“I am Cherokee on both sides of my family,” Donna Hutchins said. “The rich heritage of the area is one of the things we love. The arrowhead logo recognizes that heritage.”

During Saturday’s opening day, the band, Big Run Hunter played a variety of Blues and Jazz while visitors to Cellar 4201 enjoyed the food and wine.

The tasting room will be open on Friday’s, 1 p.m. - 6 p.m., Saturday’s, Sunday’s and Monday’s from 12 noon until 6 p.m., and other times by appointment. Tasting of the ten available wines is $6. www.cellar4201.com, 4201 Apperson Road, East Bend. 336-699-3728.