Downtown winery makes, bottles own wine

GREENVILLE — The Blue Armadillo Winery in downtown Greenville has made and bottled their very own wine, called Armadillo Red, using grapes from California.

“I don’t know the exact numbers; I’d have to do some research, but I bet it’s the first wine bottled here in over a hundred years,” said Friendlee, owner of Greenville’s first winery.

Milton Babb, tourism and marketing director for the Greenville Chamber of Commerce received the very first bottle of Armadillo Red.

“He requested to be one of the first to purchase the wine with a mind to give them out as Christmas gifts, but we hadn’t got it ready yet,” said Friendlee. “So, when it did become ready his was the first name on the list.”

The winery started out with the Armadillo Red, of which there are a limited number of bottles available, but is now in the process of fermenting four other wines, which should be ready sometime in late October or early November.

They are a Pinot Noir, a Pinot Grigio, a Riesling and a White Zinfandel.