A High Country Wine Trail for the Perfect October Getaway
There are plenty of ways to chase fall color through the High Country. This one just happens to come with libations.
October practically begs you to take the long way. The leaves are changing, the air has turned crisp, and every bend in the road seems to reveal another view worth slowing down for. Tucked among those mountains are a handful of vineyards that make for a perfect fall day of exploring.
Consider this less of an official wine trail and more of an invitation to create your own.
Start near Boone and Blowing Rock and head south along the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Linville Falls. From there, we’ll work our way back through the mountains: one vineyard, one flight, and one winding road at a time.
Pack a picnic. Check the food truck schedules. Leave some room in the afternoon for an unexpected stop. And whatever you do, don’t turn it into a race.
October in the High Country is much better when you take your time.
The Drive Is Part of the Destination
Before the first pour, there’s the Parkway.
Heading south on the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Linville Falls is one of those drives where getting there feels almost beside the point. In October, the road winds through changing hardwoods and opens to long-range views of mountains covered in red, gold, orange, and the last traces of summer green.
Stop when something catches your eye. Take a short walk. Find an overlook you’ve never visited before. If the weather is nice, roll the windows down and let the cool mountain air in.
There’ll be wine waiting when you get there.
First Pour: Linville Falls Winery
Near the Blue Ridge Parkway and just a few miles from its namesake waterfall, Linville Falls Winery makes a natural first destination.
The winery is part of the Appalachian High Country viticultural area, where higher elevations and the combination of warm days and cool evenings help shape wine growing in this part of the mountains.
It’s also an easy place to let the afternoon begin slowly. Order a flight and find a place to settle in. Live music, food trucks, and seasonal events are regular parts of the experience, and guests can bring their own food, making this a particularly good place to unpack the picnic you brought along.
If you’ve got time, don’t make the vineyard your only stop. Linville Falls and the Parkway are right there, and October isn’t the season for driving past a waterfall because you’re worried about staying on schedule.
Wine flight. Waterfall. Parkway. That’s a pretty good start to a fall afternoon.
Wind Your Way Back to Banner Elk
From Linville Falls, point yourself back toward Banner Elk and let the scenery dictate the pace. This is where we’d normally tell you the best route.
We’re not going to.
Part of the fun of exploring the High Country in October is discovering how quickly the landscape changes from one place to another. Higher ridgelines may already be glowing red and gold while lower valleys still hold onto shades of green. A road you’ve driven dozens of times can suddenly feel completely different.
Take the scenic route. Stop for the photograph. Or don’t. Sometimes it’s nice to simply enjoy the view.
A Mountain Pour at Banner Elk Winery
Set against the mountain landscape outside Banner Elk, this winery gives you another reason to slow down.
Banner Elk Winery has been part of the High Country’s growing wine scene since 2006, when it opened as one of the region’s pioneering wineries. Nestled in a mountain valley just outside downtown Banner Elk, the winery helped demonstrate that North Carolina’s higher elevations could offer more than beautiful scenery—they could also produce distinctive wines. Today, its vineyard, tasting room, and peaceful mountain setting make it a favorite stop for visitors exploring the area. With a selection of wines to discover and the surrounding Blue Ridge landscape providing the backdrop, it’s the kind of place where a simple afternoon tasting can easily become one of the highlights of your October getaway.
Set in a peaceful valley with a pond, stream, covered porch, large fire pit, and the rustic “Enchanted Barn”, the space welcomes families and pets while hosting select weekend live music.
This setting feels distinctly High Country, especially in fall, when the surrounding mountains and countryside become part of the experience. Order a tasting or flight and give yourself enough time to enjoy where you are rather than immediately thinking about where you’re going next.
That’s really the spirit of Leaves & Flights.
You don’t have to visit every winery in one afternoon. Maybe Banner Elk becomes the place where you stay longer than expected. Maybe it’s the reason you decide the trail needs a second day.
Peak Fall rewards people who leave a little room in the itinerary.
One More Stop
As the afternoon begins winding down, make your way toward Grandfather Vineyard & Winery along the Watauga River.
The vineyard climbs the hillside above the water, surrounded by the kind of mountain scenery that makes October in the High Country so memorable. Find a spot outside, order a final flight or glass, and settle in. Live music and food are regular parts of the experience, and the riverfront setting makes it particularly easy to forget whatever time you originally planned to leave.
But there’s another reason Grandfather feels like an especially fitting place to finish this trail.
Grandfather Vineyard & Winery —A Vineyard With a Story
In September 2024, Hurricane Helene sent the Watauga River rushing through Grandfather Vineyard, causing significant damage and destroying the bridge that connected the property to the road. For the family behind the winery, it was the beginning of a recovery that would require far more than simply cleaning up after a storm.
Just four weeks later, they found a way to reopen, creating temporary access and welcoming visitors back while the rebuilding continued.
Today, the bridge is back, the wine is pouring, and people are once again gathering beside the river. What could’ve simply been a story about rebuilding became something that feels especially fitting for the High Country—a story of resilience, community, and finding your way back.
There’s something meaningful about ending the afternoon here.
Find a chair along the Watauga. Order one last flight. Watch the October color move across the hillside. After everything this place has weathered, there’s something especially good about seeing it filled with people again.
Don’t Try to Do It All
Here’s where we’ll offer some advice that probably isn’t very helpful for completing a wine trail: Don’t.
Pick two vineyards. Pick three. Or find one you love and stay there longer than you intended.
Have lunch from a food truck. Pack a picnic where it’s permitted. Listen to the music. Walk around the property. Talk to the people pouring the wine. Take the road you’ve never driven before on the way back.
A great day in the High Country isn’t measured by how much ground you cover. October is far too good for that.
One Last Glass
Eventually, the afternoon light begins to change. The mountains take on that familiar shade of Blue Ridge blue, the air cools, and after a day spent wandering the High Country, there’s something especially nice about knowing you don’t have anywhere else you need to go.
For BRMC Members/Guests, that’s when the wine trail can lead right back to Blue Ridge Mountain Club.
Settle into a rocking chair. Find a place around the firepit. Or make your way to Lookout Grill, choose something from the wine list (or a bourbon pour if that’s your style), and let dinner stretch into the evening while the last light disappears beyond the mountains.
No more winding roads. No next stop. No itinerary.
Just one more glass and a front-row seat to October in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Because maybe the best part of exploring the High Country isn’t always discovering somewhere new.
Sometimes it’s having somewhere special to come back to.
