Lancaster wedding venue Laurel Haven Estate will be adding a vineyard and winery soon, add and it will be the first-ever in the county, owner Jenna Bice said.

The vineyard and winery will open to the public on March 28. It will operate from Thursdays to Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will be open every day in the summer. Bice recently spoke with The Herald about her plans for the site.

A long time coming

Bice first had the idea to open a vineyard and winery when she was 13.

The Blythewood native and her family took a trip to California. It was then she saw, and fell in love with, her first vineyard.

“I’ve always loved being outdoors, and I love farming and agriculture,” Bice said. “But I also love the art side of wine making. Like with any (food) or beverage, there’s a lot of art to it. It kind of blended two things that I really love: agriculture and the… creative side of it. So from being 13 on, all I’ve ever wanted was a wine vineyard.”

Well, now Bice has one, adding another feature to the 37-acre Laurel Haven Estate.

Bice purchased the property back in 2018. Since then, she’s been steadily working towards this moment. Her first step was to hire a vineyard consultant to help pick the right grape varieties for the area.

In 2021, she completed a Clemson University program aimed at helping new farmers find their footing in their local agricultural community. The first acre of grape vines, a crimson cabernet, were planted the following year.

In fact, Bice started laying the groundwork for this plan before she even owned Laurel Haven Estate.

“Before I even bought this piece of property, I took soil samples from it and sent those to a lab in Tennessee that specializes in vineyards,” Bice said. “We didn’t need to do much to the soil, luckily, because (Laurel Haven Estate) was a cattle ranch before and already had this amazing soil.”

Now, Bice has her attention centered on this Saturday for the grand opening ceremony for the vineyard and winery, an event that is sold-out.

About Laurel Haven Estate

The winery has 1,500 grape vines and spans two acres, which Bice said should produce around 10 tons of grapes this year alone. She also hopes to expand the vineyard to 10 acres.

Bice said that the wedding venue will still be active and host private events while the winery and vineyard will remain open to the public. Laurel Haven Estate is at 3341 Taxhaw Road.

South Carolina once had a rich wine history, and Bice hopes to start a trend towards bringing that back.

“Especially in the last decade, they’ve really gotten some nice varieties of grapes that will give you dry wine taste and will grow well in the region,” Bice said. “Most of it does come out of California, but North Carolina has 200 vineyards, and Virginia has 300 vineyards. For South Carolina to not have very many at all, I’d love to be sort of a pioneer but to also partake in that.”