About three years ago we were driving west on I-40 on our way back to Raleigh from Wilmington, NC. We saw a sign for Duplin Winery and spontaneously decided to stop and check it out.

Duplin Winery is located in Rose Hill, NC, where a hog processing plant also exists. The minute we step out of the car, we are overwhelmed by the smell of hog waste. So we run for the door to escape the smell and are welcomed by an employee saying, "You're just in time for a tour and a tastin'!" We decided to skip the tour (which would involve walking outside and having to take in more of the horrible smell) and just do the "tastin'." We spent the next hour or two sipping sweet scuppernong wines and cleansing our palates with Cheez-its inbetween samples. I had never been to a serious wine tasting, but I doubted that Cheez-its were a good palate-cleanser.

We left Duplin Winery feeling the effects of the 20+ samples we tasted. It was a very surreal experience and well worth the stop.