Wander into the train yard behind Old City and you’ll be met by an unexpected scent — fermenting grapes.

The renovated train station is home to Blue Slip Winery, Knoxville’s first winery. The double door entrance swings open to a passenger station turned lobby that has a modern feel and a wine-tasting bar situated in the corner.

This historic site is drastically different from Blue Slip’s first location in a basement lease in Old City.

Linn Slocum, Blue Slip Winery’s president, watched the company grow out of its birth place and helped close the deal on its new home in 2013.

“We had a building that had two ballrooms that we could host events in like weddings and parties and such, but we had to do a lot of renovations to get where we are standing today,” Slocum said.

She stood in a room with original Tennessee marble floors; two grand staircases on each side of the hall lead up to the second floor.

“The vaulted ceiling, the brick and the uncovered archway there is all original,” Slocum continued. “This building was a 1903 railway station.”

She walked to her left into the downstairs ballroom where a local band prepared for a performance. The upper ballroom was occupied by a local theater’s rehearsal.

“We are trying to get a larger variety of events right now,” Slocum said. “We started with just the music events and now we are doing comedy nights and plays.”

Katie Galyon, a winemaker, has been with the company since 2010. Her father is one of the owners of Blue Slip Winery and has his own vineyard off Middlebrook Pike.

“The events are really helping out,” Galyon said. “A lot of people didn’t know we existed in the Old City because we were underground. It was a rougher place to go to over there. Here is more welcoming, and we also get people coming in from the historical portion.”

Galyon walked across the hall from the ballroom into the wine-making section of the building where several large stainless steel tanks stood amid other equipment.

“These are used for custom crush,” Galyon explained. “We make wine for a farm winery, so they give us their fruit to make wine out of it. Then we bottle it and give it back to them, and they can sell it on their farm. We make it for ourselves also.”

Outside, several similar large containers stood under the railway overhang.

“We started outside,” Galyon said. “That’s where we made the biggest mess this past harvest. We took in a lot more than we are used to taking in … a whole lot more.”

As a consequence, the company’s wine list is quite long and hosts several unique names including Big Julie, Rocky Top Blush and LeConte Rose.

“Some of the grapes that we process are hybrids,” Slocum said. “Even though you may not recognize the name of the grape because it’s not mainstream, there are good Tennessee wines made of grapes you’ve never tried before. It’s something unique that you don’t find in the liquor store.”

The winery works with grapes from local farmers from Dandridge, Grainger, Jefferson and Knox counties.

“Most of the grapes that we do get are going to be similar to something you would get out in California or wherever but it’s gonna have a twist on it,” Galyon said. “It’ll be a happy medium between two viniferous.”

The use of local produce means the selection at Blue Slip Winery may change with the year.

“We are always changing it up. It depends on what the harvest year was like and what’s available,” Slocum said.

With this constant variation, wines made in the same year are varied as well.

“They’re not all sweet,” Slocum said. “A lot of people hear Tennessee wine and they think Tennessee wines are all sweet, but that’s not the case.”

Galyon illustrates this variation in describing which wine is her personal favorite.

“I would say ‘Whoop Ass Red’ would be the best because it’s a blend of our three best dry reds,” Galyon said. “It has Cynthiana, Touriga and Syrah, so it has a wide variety of flavors. It has spicy; it has smoky — it’s really good.”

The wines are stored in the cellar in stainless steel or oak barrels, but they don’t stay there for long.

“We try to age our red wines as long as we can, but because we are such a small winery, we’ve not had enough time to age them for the longer periods of time like we’d like to,” Galyon said. “Hopefully since we took in more fruit this year, we’ll be able to age them a little longer.”

A few months into the winery’s relocation, the employees voice optimism for continued expansion in the future.

“What we’ve already done has been huge,” Galyon said. “The attention we are getting is great, and people are getting more familiar with Tennessee wines. It has been a huge difference from where we have been.”