New wineries just a day trip away!

It is getting harder and harder to find new wineries within a day trip of home.  We were recently fortunate enough to find 3 not only new to us, but new to the Virginia wine scene. 

Grace Estate Winery opened its tasting room in April 2013.  Having supplied grapes to other wineries for several years, the owners decided to try their hand at wine making.  Nestled in the hills of Crozet, VA this is a beautiful location and I see great things for this winery.  The tasting room on our visit was in a small building where they will be making the wine during fall harvest.  They know that they will not be able to use this area at harvest time, but for temporary housing it was a comfortable location and the customer service was top notch.  We really enjoyed talking to the woman who was our server.  They know they are going to have to change their tasting room and it seems like the plans are to use part of a beautiful home sitting just up the hill from the current tasting room.  I have to go back this fall and see THAT tasting room!  

As we were driving to our next destination, Kilaurwen Winery in Standardsville, VA, we passed Moss Vineyards.  This is BIG because Moss does not post their hours of operation on the Virginia Wine map!  More on that later, on to Kilaurwen.  Kilaurwen is the type of place that makes Virginia winery visits so interesting and so much fun.  The owner was our server that day.  When you spend time with the owner and in this case also the wine maker, you learn so much more than if it is just an employee.  The owners are great at sharing their passion and their creation and that comes through in the discussions.  The tasting and the discussion were very enlightening and greatly enjoyed.  The view was nothing spectacular, but there was a great place to sit outside and enjoy a glass and on a nice, sunny day it would be a lovely, peaceful place to do just that and relax.  On this particular day, even though it was mid-April, it was cold! 

It was then time to back track and hit Moss Vineyards in Nortonsville, VA.  Once again it was the owners who were doing the serving.  They had a great story on how they came to start this winery.  I could tell you here, but go visit.  The tasting room was very nice and the view beautiful at 1000 feet above sea level.  If it had not been so late in the day, this is the place I would like to sit, have a glass and relax.  The wine prices seemed to be a bit more NOVA that Charlottesville region, but they had a lot going for them.  According to the Virginia Wine web site their hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12-5.  Check it out.  

Springtime in NOVA

What do you like in your Virginia winery?  Do you like a quaint barn for a tasting room with food pairings for each wine?  Do you like a modern tasting room with breathtaking views?  Maybe you want a large destination venue with good wines and customer service or an intimate tasting with the owner in an old house converted to a tasting room or you could have a tasting inside the room with the stainless barrels, some of the best views ever and an enlightening discussion with the owner.  We had all of these in our recent wine visits.  People are constantly asking me my favorite winery – with such diversity, how do you pick just one?  

Aspen Dale Winery at the Barn in Delaplane, VA.  The tasting room is a cool, old barn.  On the day we visited it was an old cold barn!  The temperature never got out of the 30’s that day and the barn has no insulation, but that was okay, they had some heaters going and a great fireplace with a comfy sofa snuggled up next to it.  They have a wonderful outdoor area that will be great in warmer weather.  They are having their first wedding there in April and I know it will be beautiful!  The owner did our tasting and with a food pairing for each wine, it was delightful.  After the owner went through each wine and its food pairing (yes, I ate Pheasant sausage) she brought out a flourless chocolate cake from a local baker and we ate that with a glass of wine by that lovely fireplace.  That was birthday cake #1.  It was delightful!

Our next stop was Delaplane Cellars in Delaplane, VA.  Talk about differences - the tasting room for Delaplane was new and built to take advantage of the breathtaking mountain views.  The lady doing our tasting was retired and was a complete foodie and wine enthusiast!  She was great fun and with no one else visiting, we had a great time.  It was too cold to spend time on their patio, but on a nice day, what a great place it would be to spend time.  

Friday brought us to another day of completely different tasting rooms.  First Breaux Vineyards in Purcellville, VA, which is in Loudoun County.  Did you know that there are 30 wineries in Loudoun County alone, with 14 additional coming before the end of 2013?  As we drove down the road to Breaux we saw at least 10 wineries.   It was quite hard to decide which ones to visit, but I think we made the right choices for us for that day.

So, Breaux Vineyards.  This is a destination winery.  Large venue rooms, ample parking and tables and chairs spread throughout the property.  Very nice for this time of year, but on nice days in the spring and summer it is going to be crowded.  And in the fall – forget about it!  On the day we were there it was cold and windy outside, but our server was knowledgeable and good about customer service, but as things get busy, I would see that customer service going down fast.  It would just be too busy to give a good tasting.  That is one of the reasons we go off season!

After a lovey lunch at Magnolia at the Mill in Purcellville and birthday cake #2, it was off to Hiddencroft Vineyards in Lovettsville, VA (Loudoun County)

Hiddencroft is the northern most wintery in the area.  The tasting room of Hiddencroft is in an old house looking over beautiful grounds and a creek and you walk through an old barn to get there.  While walking around the grounds we saw a wild turkey running around and on the way to the winery we saw a herd of buffalo – they were in a fence, but they were definitely a herd of buffalo!  Northern Virginia – you just never know what you are going to find!  The owner and server for our visit is a former Marine, formerly with the DOD, who retired and decided to try his hand at making wine  These are the things that make Virginia wine touring so fun!  

Vintage Ridge – when we arrived there was a small bus sitting in the parking lot, a group of people tasting, but no one around to wait on us.  I had a bad feeling about this one.  After we waited around a few minutes and I was thinking about heading out the door, the server came down from where he was waiting on the bus full of people to help us.  Sad that they only had one person waiting on that bus full and anyone else that came in, but it all worked out.  The way they do their tastings here is to bring you 2 wines at time so that you can compare.  This way we had 2 to taste while the server took care of the bus folks.  While we were enjoying our tasting, the owner came over and we had a great discussion.  He brought us some cheddar/pecan cookies and re-poured several of the wines so that we could taste with and without the cookies.  It was nice.  The tasting room was very nice, tables and serving bars around the wine tanks.  It smelled really good.  And the grounds – they were beautiful.  If it would have been slightly warmer and we would have had a bit more time, their outdoor area would be a wonderful place to sit and enjoy a glass.  

NOVA in the Fall

There are some places that just get it right.  Bluemont Vineyard in Bluemont, Virginia has a good thing going.  We arrived just after noon and when we walked in, they smiled and said take a seat on the patio, we are getting ready to start a tasting.  You have to ask yourself, ok, is this going to be a mass tasting where no one actually gets anything out of it?  Not in this case.  We grabbed the last table on the patio and spent the next hour and a half delighted!  When our server, Erin, came over and poured for us, explaining the wine and how she would be taking care of us that afternoon with great care and no rush, we knew it was not going to be one of those quick 10 minute tastings so we ordered a cheese tray, sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the visit.  The glasses used for the tastings are etched with “951” which is the elevation of the winery and from the patio you feel that you can see forever.  The good thing is we had a lovely afternoon sipping wine, eating cheese and crispy baguette overlooking a beautiful fall day.  The down side is that as we sat and enjoyed the place got really crowded with people jumping onto tables as soon as they emptied.  The trick, I guess, is to get there early.    Cool factor – well that view is incredible!

Then there are places that just don’t quite have it.  Twin Oaks Tavern Winery in Bluemont, VA had a beautiful view from the tiny parking space behind the building.  That same space that was a big challenge to get out of when the stretch limo showed up taking up most of the room needed to get out.  Wineries with really small parking areas should restrict limos.  That’s all I am saying.    While tasting, your back was to the windows so there was no chance of seeing any view that might have been out there, it was busy and there was only a single person behind the bar taking care of those at the bar and tables, people coming in from the patio for wine and cheese, etc. etc.   Maybe someone called in at the last minute leaving just one person,  but another person would have made a great deal of difference in the enjoyment of the visit.  There were some Irish musicians that started playing near the end of our visit that were quite enjoyable.  Oh, and the view from the patio was not that much.  Oh well.  Any cool factor was found in the fun music – thanks musicians!

Later afternoon found us at Veramar Vineyard in Berryville.  The view was beautiful.  A little pond with red Adirondack chairs, lots of seating outside, a beautiful October afternoon, the fall leaves in the back ground.  Nice.  Well, not as nice as I would have liked.  We went in the tasting room and it was busy, but there was someone greeting who told us, just relax and hang around, there will be some openings soon.  No worries, we were happy to sit and relax.  But then more people kept coming in, so they put us all together and took our money for the tasting fee UP FRONT.  I don’t like that.  Then after we thought we were settled in, they moved us all because a big group was coming in.  Finally the tasting started and it was fine, but there were no windows in the tasting room to take advantage of that outstanding view and did I mention the music – an accordion player – yes I said accordion in side playing really loud!  It was enough when we arrived and he was playing outside, but someone had the great idea to bring him into an already crowded tasting room.  Oh well.  It was Italian Day!  The best part was after the tasting sitting outside and looking at those beautiful trees and the music inside sounded much better when we were outside!!

Sunday morning was another beautiful day so we headed to Fox Meadow Winery in Linden.  After the crowds of yesterday it was nice to not have that.  The location was beautiful and you could see outside from the tasting room.  Our server was delightful – he gave us a great tasting.  At Fox Meadow they provide tidbits of food to enhance different wines – nice!   He explained to us why they served the different food and how it complemented out tasting.  He was very informative about the wine.   He also showed us pictures from their night camera of deer, a black bear and a bald eagle.   After our tasting we sat on the patio and relaxed before on to the next big adventure!  Very enjoyable way to start the day.  

Final stop before home BOW – Barrel Oak Winery in Dalaplane.   This is a fun place.  I had heard about it for the last several years as a place I had to go.  This is a party just off Route 66 in Delaplane, VA.  The BOW is very family friendly – all members of the family.  There were so many cute dogs there that day, inside and out  - such fun.  The BOW is, well as you might guess, very K9 themed from the 2 tasting lists, the Bow and the Wow to the Doghaus Rules!  This is a fun place and even though it was crowded when we arrived, we were well taken care of during our tasting as everyone is who cares to taste.  There is plenty of room to picnic outside and though there are lots of dogs, the Doghaus rules require they be kept on leashes – sill a good time was had by all!  Visit, take a picnic, your family and your dog!  Just don’t tell the Beagles – we did not take them this trip!