This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see the terms page.

While mom was here, we took a girl’s getaway over to the Smoky Mountains. My family has made that our kind of annual family vacation, and we really enjoy spending time exploring all together. This time it was just the two of us, and we stayed closer to the touristy spots (and moonshine distilleries :)) than we typically do.

It should come as little surprise that I love wine, so one of the first things we do as soon as we get off the exit, we make a stop at the first winery, Eagle Springs. This is my favorite winery in the smokies (and also the sweetest, if you’re into sweet wines) and they’re known for their honey and fruit wines.

We continued along the wine trail hitting Hillside Winery (another favorite – I’ve raved about their Cantina Bianca before), Apple Barn Winery (if you go, you have to try the apple fritters!), then finishing the first night at Mountain Valley where we picked up some cheese and crackers to nibble on in the hotel room.

The next morning we woke up to load up on Starbucks since the hotel coffee left MUCH to be desired, and did a little shopping at the Sevierville outlet malls before heading into Gatlinburg to finish the wine trail at Sugarland Cellars and get started on the distilleries.

There were three new distilleries from the last time I was in town, and the first new one we went to was Doc Collier. I really enjoyed this one, and our pourer was great. We didn’t make it back here, but I wish I would have grabbed a bottle of their watermelon moonshine. After Doc Collier’s, we also hit Ole Smoky Distillery, Davy Crockett’s (another new-to-me place) and Sugarland Shine.

East Tennessee is such a beautiful and relaxing place and if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend checking it out for a night or two. There’s a lot to do (beyond just sampling the local flavors) and it’s a great place to unwind!

Have you ever gone on a wine trail or moonshine tour? What’s your favorite flavor?