Just wanting to get back to the land was a desire that led Ann and Jim Irvin to a piece of property near Charleston, SC that is now home to Irvin~House Vineyard and the Firefly Distillery. This was one of the tour stops for the Agricultural Relations Council annual meeting crew. We spent several enjoyable hours there doing some wine tasting as well as sampling some Firefly.
I visited with Ann Irvin to learn how they got this beautiful place started. Ann says she grew up on a farm and wanted to get back to that lifestyle. At first they were just interested in having a place to go and have a garden. But they found a larger piece of property and after a drive through central Florida where they stopped at a winery they got the idea to start their own winery. They grow their own grapes and have learned along the way.
Irvin~House Vineyards is the only domestic winery in Charleston, SC. We grow the grapes, harvest them, make the wine, and bottle our wines on the property.
There is nothing quite like a stroll through our vineyards and the surrounding property. A large pond stocked with fish. Walking trails. Abundant birds and wildlife scampering about. Old oak trees with Spanish Moss shading the property. This is the true character of South Carolina’s Lowcountry hertitage.
Even the grapes we grow have Southern roots. Our wines are hand-crafted from the humble muscadine grape . This sweet grape with a fruity aroma grows practically everywhere in the South. People tell us how the taste of muscadines transport them back to their childhood.
In addition to the winery, the Irvins also work with a local tea plantation to make the first ever hand-crafted sweet tea flavored vodka called Firefly.
The Firefly Distillery is located on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, 30 miles south of Charleston. We don’t have the bright lights of the big cities. The pace is a little slower down here. We have plantations, hundred-year-old oak trees and dirt roads. Everyone is your neighbor and folks enjoy relaxing on the front porch swing, on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It’s where you can hear the crickets chirping at night and you can still see the fireflies light up the sky. It was this wonderful environment and the special ingredients found right in our own backyard that inspired us to created handcrafted vodkas unlike those made anywhere else.
Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: The Irvin~House Vineyard
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