Virginia Wineries - Weekday Visit

Hi all! Despite living in Washington, D.C., area for more years than I wish to count now, I have yet to explore Virginia wines beyond a glass or two, so next Wednesday a friend/colleague and I are taking a day off and heading out there. Mostly as an easy way to get out of the city and relax a bit.

Can anyone recommend one or two places that will be worth visiting. Unfortunately, RDV doesn’t have tours on Wednesdays.

Hoping to find a place with a nice tasting room with knowledgeable staff and some pretty views. A good picnic table to sit and relax with some wine and snacks would be perfect, too.

Thanks in advance! [cheers.gif]

Linden.
Chester Gap.
Back to Linden.
Rapahannock Cellars.
Third pass through Linden.
A lot of the other, smaller wineries in that area just don’t have that much vine age or juice to have much of interest. Some are just pouring other people’s juice just to have a reason to stay open.

Glen Manor. Jeff White’s wife, Kelly, is typically pouring. Beautiful view up to the vine covered slopes. Nice patio and lawn with tables and chairs for picnic.

Barboursville is worth a visit. Nice Bdx blend called Octagon and a tasty Nebbiolo. Stinson has some interesting wines including a Tannat. Rachel Stinson is very nice as well.

I agree with this, but it’s a bit too far for a day trip from DC. In Northern Virginia, there’s Linden, then there’s everything else. If you’re less concerned with the wine and more with having a nice view, Naked Mountain is decent.

Really? 2hrs doesn’t seem that far to drive for a day trip. But that’t just me.

It’s not bad, but the Leesburg/Front Royal loop is a bit easier, and there are other smaller wineries you can pick and choose (at your own peril, but you may find 1-2 gems). B’ville is easier if you start with Charlottesville as your starting point so you can loop in other wineries closer in. If there was a winery worth the hump from NOVA, Barboursville is one of the few.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I’m obviously an outsider looking in. [cheers.gif]

I always recommend for people doing VA wine tours to hit different clusters of wineries at a time instead of humping from one area to another. Saves on time, and you are less likely to question the effort you made to get there, which helps to soften any disappointments.

Thanks everyone! A couple thoughts (forgive the bullets rather than quote replies)

  • Linden seems to only be open on the weekends… we’re heading out on a Wednesday. Boo!

  • I don’t mind the two-hour drive to Barboursville, but it looks like they only offer tours on weekends – is it worth the drive just for the tasting room and to see the grounds – or is this better saved for a weekend?

  • Brian – two hours of driving on the west coast is nothing! here on the east, it’s like going to the other side of the world (just kidding – but a bit of a different perspective, although the crazy dc traffic is starting to change that mentality)

  • Matthew - I like your logic of lumping a few places together to heed off disappointment. Any other clusters you recommend since Linden is out (or is it worth it to still go over that way without Linden?)

So far, Naked Mountain and Glen Manor look like good possibilities.

Thanks again!

Rapahannock Cellars and Chester Gap do nice things. Linden is worth altering your plans and changing it to a weekend outing. That or just make sure you get there by the end of the year; they have essentially halted retail sales, so you won’t be able to get anything to try except at the winery.

B’ville would be worthwhile as long as you made the effort to hit 1-2 more wineries back towards Charlottesville to round things out.

Wednesday is a tough day. My last visit to Naked Mtn, it was like an adult chuck e cheese but that was a Saturday and may have been before the recent change in ownership. Glen Manor is very nice but sometimes lacks wines to taste as Jeff is often sold out. Last time I was there he had only three wines for sale. Rapahannock is nice but hit or miss on the wines for my taste. Still those are what I would visit on a Wednesday.

Also, I would tackle them in that order so that I could hit element for lunch.

Last two vintages across Virginia were short, in same cases more than 50% of usual production. Do not be surprised if 2-3 things to taste per winery is the norm. To be honest, that would be at least one thing in the plus for Barboursville; most years they have too much wine…

Hmm…didn’t realize the weekday was going to cause such problems. Maybe you should just go to Barboursville - as discussed, it’s a drive, but not as crazy mid-week as it would be on a weekend. I would recommend Early Mountain (25-30 minutes north of Barboursville) on the way there or back, as you can try wines from other VA wineries in their tasting room. Prince Michel is along that route, too, if you take US-29.

all the more reason why I wished I lived an hour or two from Sonoma instead (le sigh). We might be able to switch to going out Thursday instead of Wednesday, which I think might give us a few more options … but sadly Wednesday is the better day for us.

And thanks Matthew and Brian for the added thoughts… I’ll figure out another weekend to go check out Linden.

Has anyone tasted Horton in the past few years? There was a time (a decade or so ago now) where the double stop of Horton and Barboursville was really good but I don’t think I have had a Horton wine post the 2000 vintage that made a positive impression on me. A real shame really as some of the first VA wines to open my eyes were from Horton and Dennis has done an awful lot for VA wine.

We had a nice visit at Barboursville on a Monday in February 2014 (President’s Day Weekend). No tour, just tasting room and walked the grounds, but it was well worth it and we even bought a few bottles.

Your visit will probably come down to what’s open: both Linden (case club members only on Saturday) and Delaplane Cellars (spectacular mountainside setting in a beauitful tasting room with floor to ceiling windows; '12 Williams Gap and '13 Petit Manseng are excellent) are closed on Wednesday.

Glen Manor is also spectacular and open. Sitting on a lounge chair in back of it looks and feels like the Austrian or Swiss countryside. They still have 2010 Hodder Hill available along with their '13 Petit Manseng and '11 Rapheus which is arguably VA’s best dessert wine. I am a huge fan of this winery and much prefer it to Barboursville.

Grace Estates is my favorite winery in the CV area. Literally, this is a 20,000 square foot mansion on top of a mountain west of CV with a 30-40 mile view. You’ll drive up a paved road for a mile and a half through vineyards to get to it. Their '12 Tannat is excellent and a real value at $28. King Family Estate and Veritas are actually sold out of their better reds as of a visit two weeks ago. (Although Veritas has a very good port like dessert wine.) Pollak has a nice setting but their winemaker moved to Grace which is almost unknown by most and only opened their temporary (mansion) tasting room to the public a year or so ago.

Hillsborough is beautiful but their '12 Onyx is a disappointment and this is their best red. Nearby Sunset Hills has an excellent Mosaic which was part of the recent Governor’s Case. Bluemont has a beautiful setting with literal 40 mile views. Weakness is their wine excepting the Cab Franc Reserve which was in the Governor’s Cup. Problem is that, I think, they are sold out of it.

Breaux has a new tasting room which has not opened yet but is worth a visit for a different reason: their '07 Nebbiolo ($60) is worth every penny. While very different from '09 Octagon (Barboursville’s best red ever) it is a remarkable wine for VA. It is sold ONLY at Breaux. They also have a new winemaker from Napa who arrived three months ago.

RDV is not user friendly. You can go with a resevation but it is structured. Spending $75 or 95 for a bottle and sitting out for a couple of hours is not an option. A real negative since this is a beautiful setting and botht he Roundezvous and Lost Mountain are excellent. They also have a third label which they do not sell but, as of a month ago, was available at Early Mountain which is Steve Case’s winery off of route 29. Early Mountain is beautiful and 10-15 miles this side of Barboursville. They carry a dozen or so wines from others including, depending on availability, Glen Manor, Ankida Ridge (pinot noir), Barboursville, etc.

FWIW, Jim Dolphin at Delaplane, Jeff White at Glen Manor, Rutger at RDV, the owner of the new Maggie Malick and the owner of Chester Gap (one interesting full bodied 15.5% red) all spent time at Linden. I believe Jim Law is the single most influential person in the VA wine industry.

Bottom line: go to Glen Manor and don’t leave without buying a bottle of Hodder Hill or at least trying a glass.

Last: Glen Manor makes a great petit verdot. Linden’s best wine is their '10 Boisseau which I started another thread about: Virginia Wine: The National Stage? - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

Thanks, Joe! The Nebbiolo at Breaux looks interesting and the lounge chairs at Glen Manor may be exactly what we’re after.

I should add, Alicia, that Glen Manor is literally at the base of Skyline Drive 1300-1500 feet below with their vineyard climbing the mountainside. The Austrian analogy is real. You’ll also see hang gliders coming off the mountaintop and flying"" down the side of it. Kelly, Jeff White’s wife and part owner, is as fine of an ambassador as you will find for the tasting room.

As I type this I am sipping 2010 Delaplane Left Bank which has aged nicely in the bottle. Considering the setting and the wine Glen Manor, Delaplane and Linden are my three favorite wineries in VA.