Duplin Winery holds a minor distinction that surprises most first-time visitors: it is the oldest and largest scuppernong winery in the United States, founded in North Carolina in 1975, and its Myrtle Beach tasting room draws more foot traffic on a rainy Tuesday than most beach bars see on a weekend. That detail says something about how seriously some locals and tourists take this place.
The tasting room sits on North Kings Highway, in a stretch of the boulevard that tends toward chain restaurants and souvenir shops, which makes the interior — polished wood, soft lighting, rows of bottles labeled with names like Hatteras Red and Mothervine — feel like a deliberate contrast. The space is not enormous, but it is calm in a way that feels intentional. No televisions. No cover band. Just wine and conversation.
Scuppernong and muscadine grapes are the house specialty, and if a visitor has never had either, a flight is the right move. The wines land sweeter than most California or European counterparts — noticeably so — and the staff tends to flag that upfront rather than let anyone be caught off guard. A standard tasting flight runs around ten to twelve dollars and covers five or six pours, moving from the drier selections toward the dessert wines. The Duplin Sweet is a perennial best-seller; the Magnolia, a blush, draws in visitors who might otherwise avoid wine altogether.
There is also a small selection of wine-based slushies that the tasting room does serious business with from late spring through summer. They are unabashedly sweet and very cold, and on a ninety-degree afternoon they make a certain kind of sense. The staff sells them to-go in clear cups, and it is not unusual to see people walking out with one in hand before noon.
Bottles are priced accessibly — most fall between twelve and twenty dollars — and the tasting room doubles as a retail shop, stocked with the full Duplin catalog plus branded merchandise, wine accessories, and a small selection of local preserves and gifts. Staff members are genuinely knowledgeable and will steer indecisive shoppers toward something specific rather than defaulting to whatever is on promotion.
The crowd skews older during weekday afternoons and shifts toward mixed groups — birthday parties, bachelorettes, couples on a slow beach day — on weekends. The mood stays even either way. Nobody is rushing anyone through a flight to turn the table.
What makes Duplin worth an hour of anyone’s time is that it is not trying to be something it is not. These are Southern wines, made from Southern grapes, in a style that the Southeast has been producing for generations before Napa entered the popular imagination. Visitors who arrive expecting something resembling a California tasting room will be mildly confused. Visitors who arrive curious about what wine looks like when it grows up along the Carolina coast will probably leave with a bottle or two.
Free tastings are occasionally offered for first-time visitors; it is worth calling ahead or checking the website to confirm before arriving. The tasting room is open daily, including Sundays, which is a practical advantage along a stretch of Kings Highway where a surprising number of businesses still go dark on the weekend.
