If you haven’t stopped in the little storefront for Paris Winery’s new Chattanooga location, you need to drop by before your holiday entertaining begins.
Located at the intersection of Lee Highway and Shallowford Road, the local tasting room offers 31 wine flavors from which visitors may sample before they buy, wine tastings, private sip-and-savor events and more.
“I’m first-generation American, and I grew up making wine with my father and grandfather,” said Ruggero Ciarrocchi, owner and founder of Paris Winery, adding that wine has always been a part of his life. “There are more than three generations of wine makers in my family, and we’re all Italian.”
Ciarrocchi is also a pilot, who discovered the Paris, Tennessee, area while living in Florida in his retirement.
Michael Hampton Photo / Paris Winery will custom design a holiday gift for anyone on your list, such as pairing two wine glasses with a bottle of its Tower Red, a concord wine that comes in a bottle shaped like the Eiffel Tower.“Every time a hurricane would come in, my wife and I would fly out that way, and just really loved it,” he said. “We got in touch with a local Realtor and ended up buying a 165-acre farm. I decided to plant some grapes, and that’s how the winery got started.”