DelMonaco Winery & Vineyard

Sometimes it’s less expensive to build a winery than to keep your wife supplied with wine. At least that’s David DelMonaco’s explanation for how a weekend hobby evolved into a premier Tennessee winery and vineyard. Barbara and David started making wine in their basement in 2002.

It was fun, challenging, & rewarding. They soon joined other wine enthusiasts as members of TVOS, Tennessee’s amateur wine-making society, and their infatuation with the grape continued to grow. They planted four varieties of grapes around their home, and the winemaking expanded. By 2006 they’d relocated to 52 beautiful acres in Putnam County, Tennessee, that were perfect for growing grapes. After planting the first 12 acres of vineyards, it was only logical that they built a winery.  So they embarked on a two-year journey through designing and constructing a building, navigating permitting and legalities and developing the DelMonaco brand.

The result? A showplace that would become a point of pride for the community and a destination for wine lovers like themselves. In addition to the wine production facility, DelMonaco Winery houses the Bella Rooms where many couples have been united as one.

Other activities have included fundraisers, showers, parties, conferences, and other events. There’s often music on the winery lawn, and Wine on the Rails brings an excursion train to the winery doors several times each year. Six more acres of vines were planted in 2011, and now a hearty vineyard is the centerpiece of a subdivision called Vineyard Estates. On most days you’ll find David working somewhere in the vineyard, content and focused. Barbara and her staff greet visitors daily in the gift shop & tasting room, where a wide range of different wines can be sampled. Two of those are Whistle Stop Red and Espiritu de Oro, which contain grapes from those original four varieties the DelMonacos planted when winemaking was something for a happy couple to experience together before they started sharing it with the world.