Grinder’s Switch, a family-owned Tennessee winery that opened in 2006, serves its wines at a tasting room in Nashville’s Marathon Village. For Grinder’s Switch Winery tours, we pick you up in a private chauffeured vehicle, take you there, and bring you back afterward, so you and your guests can enjoy every pour and leave the road to us while the winery runs the tastings.
The winery takes its name from a tiny railroad switch in Hickman County, little more than a siding on an old rail line. Comedian Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon drew partly on visits to the Grinder’s depot when she created her Minnie Pearl character, and she made Grinder’s Switch famous as that character’s fictional hometown.
That background gives the Nashville location a fitting connection to Tennessee entertainment history, since Minnie Pearl became one of the best-loved acts on the Grand Ole Opry stage for more than 50 years.
Grinder’s Switch pours at 1310 Clinton Street, Suite 125, inside the former Marathon Motor Works car factory now known as Marathon Village. Guests taste at a 22-foot barnwood bar, which gives the space a warm, rustic feel in the city.
General tastings are walk-in only, so no reservation is needed, and you choose your flight at the bar:
Grinder’s Switch produces a range that moves from dry and off-dry wines, such as an unoaked Chardonnay, to sweeter fruit-forward bottles, including Muscadine and elderberry wines. The Nashville bar rotates its selection periodically, so the lineup you taste may differ from what a friend tasted a few months earlier.
A few current bottles show how wide that range goes:
That spread matters for groups. When some guests prefer sweet wines and others reach for dry ones, the lineup covers both, making Grinder’s Switch an easy first stop for mixed company.
From Thursday through Sunday, Grinder’s Switch also hosts a private pairing. Each guest tastes eight wines alongside local cheeses, chocolates, seasonal fruit, and nuts, and parties of more than 10 arrange it directly with the winery.
Unlike the walk-in bar, this pairing has a fixed reservation time, and the winery requires changes or cancellations at least 48 hours in advance for a refund. Share your confirmed time with us, and we set the pickup so everyone arrives before the first pour.
Grinder’s Switch shares Clinton Street with two distilleries. Guests who want Tennessee whiskey next can continue to a family-revived whiskey distillery at 1414 Clinton Street or sample grain-to-glass craft spirits at 1200 Clinton Street.
Since the surrounding complex also houses local shops and makers, a glass of wine can easily become part of a Nashville shopping experience. If your party likes to browse, mention it when you book, and we can move the return pickup later to give you room to shop.
A tasting can also close the drinking portion of the day. From Marathon Village, the next stop may simply be dinner, which usually makes more sense than adding another producer just because the vehicle is already booked.
Your first pickup does not need to be a downtown hotel. Some parties start at a private home or rental property elsewhere in Middle Tennessee, while others land at BNA earlier that day and want time to check in before tasting anything. The starting point mostly decides what comes before your Grinder’s Switch Winery tour and how much time to reserve for the rest of the day.
Will a case or several bottles come home with you? Factor that in when you choose a vehicle from our fleet, so there is space for the wine as well as your guests.
At Whiskey Trail Tours, we look forward to arranging the transportation for the Grinder’s Switch Winery tours, whether you stop in for a quick walk-in flight or book the Thursday-to-Sunday cheese pairing.
Call (615) 942-1033, email info@whiskeytrailtours.com, or send us your date, party size, and any reservation you have made.
Tour distilleries, wineries, breweries and the city of Nashville in a private chauffeured vehicle, for groups of 2 to 56.
