Wineries in VA

[JoeKitchen]

Hello All,

I have a two day shoot in Ashburn, VA the middle/end of the month and since it is still summer, I may bring my wife and stay for an extra day or two to visit local wineries.  Any suggestions? 

Personally, we like dry wines, nothing sweet, and will drink either white or red if it is good.  Anyone have any recommendations of wineries to visit? 

[Alan Goldhammer]

Joe,

I've never found the VA wines all that good (I was spoiled by growing up in CA and being educated about wines by my dad who wanted to own a vineyard one day).  However, I have been to Catoctin Creek distillery and found that to be fascinating:  https://catoctincreekdistilling.com/  It's not too far from Ashburn.

Alan

[Stephen Girimont]

As a resident of Loudoun County, I have to say that the beauty of the wineries exceeds the quality of the wines. I agree with Alan that the distilleries (and the breweries) are better.

But, do go to as may wineries as you can. Try for yourself!

[Patricia Sheley]

One of my last coastal motorcycle rides from CT to FL was by way of Blue Ridge Parkway and the Smokies. Stayed with "local" wines each night and actually do remember a very nice ice wine at the Peaks of Otter Lodge near Mt Marshall (highest east coast east of Mississippi). It came from I think a Peaks of Otter Winery. It truly was a dark and stormy night with floodings of the Johns River and closure of the parkway for trees down. The pleasure may have been largely to having made it inside and finding they were willing to provide a warm meal AND dry some of my gear after hours. Those were the days! Have wonderful dry (and as aged as I) wines in the cellar here on the island, but rarely drink them any longer. A pleasure though to bring them out for friends. Most survived my move to Maine. I did not dream the movers would be willing to get them here, but they did and broke only one. The gentleman who built our home was a serious wine lover and ours left a stone, dirt floored cellar which held a perfect 53-54 degrees year round to settle in to his humidity and temperature controlled cellar. (a splurge I would probably not have made had it not already been here, but a bit of serendipity that suggested this was to be home)

[JoeKitchen]

Thanks Alan, Steve, and Patricia. 

I'm not expecting great wines from VA (thats what I got in Bourgogne in April), but just something to do. Perhaps I will looking into the distilleries. 

Any places doing good sipping rums?  (I'm not a real whisky fan and you can't make Tequila outside of Mexico.) 

[cgarnerhome]

Virginia is starting to make some good wines and of course the countryside there is beautiful.  One winery you might want to visit is Barboursville Vineyards https://www.bbvwine.com/our-inn.  Some of the highly touted wines are from RdV Vineyards http://www.rdvvineyards.com/.  Wine Spectator has done several articles on Virginia wines, so you might check there.  The Virginia wine scene is very nascent and should be appreciated for what it is.  Have a great trip!