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For an area renowned for making moonshine, one might be surprised to find wineries in East Tennessee instead of distilleries.

If you choose to sniff around, you can find a whole trail of wineries. Mountain Valley Winery is part of the Rocky Top Wine Trail, which includes Apple Barn Winery and Hillside Winery.

Entering Mountain Valley, which is located on Parkway in Pigeon Forge, visitors are greeted by the strong scent of wine. Jonathan Ball, an employee at Mountain Valley Winery who led our tour this day, explained each Rocky Top Trail winery offers a unique experience and visitors should try them all. For example, the Apple Barn Winery uses apples instead of grapes to make its wine.

Ball explained Mountain Valley had just finished "crush season" the weekend before this trek. The crushing of grapes, about 85 percent of which come from Tennessee, is a process:

First, the grapes are put through a "de-stemmer," which separates grapes from their stems. The grapes are then moved to the crusher where the fermentation process starts. As wine ferments in barrels, either stainless steel or oak, yeast is added until the fermentation process is complete. When the wine is ready, it is bottled and labeled on site.

As with the taste of some wines, the winemaking process is more complicated than this simple explanation, so be sure to experience it for yourself.

After the tour of the winery, it was time to participate in a wine tasting. First up were the dry wines, of which my favorite was the Chardonnay. The Cynthiana was a new type of wine for me: more spicy and with a scent of pepper.

In the semi-sweet category, the Gewurztraminer tasted a bit like a Riesling but was heavier on the tongue.

The muscadine wine was also a new experience. A friend explained how when growing up in Alabama, she and her friends used to pick muscadines and snack on the berries. She was excited to discover that Mountain Valley Winery offered muscadine wine. The muscadine had a pleasant taste, which is typically reserved for a dessert wine.

The Mountain Peach was very light, fruity and sweet, but Mountain Berry had a slight kick at first, but was still delicious. Of the berry wines, the Blackberry was an immediate favorite, reminding me of Mom's blackberry jam.

The price per bottle ranges from $11.99 to $15.99, with specials for purchasing three or six bottles.

The winery is an educational experience, especially for wine lovers.

Elizabeth Trexler likes to travel the back roads of Blount and surrounding counties. Have a place to suggest? Network with her: elizabeth.trexler@gmail.com, Twitter.com/e_trexler, facebook.com/trexy04.