DMV
Wine Tasting in Virginia
I learned there is wine country from our Airbnb recommended activities page. It’s really not fair to compare since I went to Napa so recently but I tried to keep an open mind.
First up we headed to Bluemont Vineyard, about 30 minutes out from Winchester. They’ve got a huge patio and covered seating that overlooks a really lovely valley. The flights came with six wines, three white and three red. The tasting notes weren’t as specific as I would have expected, I’m not even sure which grapes were in each one. We got here at probably 11:30 AM or so which meant we had the whole space to ourselves, but it was already getting decently hot.
Note that if you come here on a weekend you’ll need a reservation. On a weekday it’s free-for-all.
Bluemont is conveniently right next to a brewery called Dirt Farm Brewing. The driveway to Dirt Farm is VERY steep but keep going! It’s worth it! The space is cute, the staff were nice (and local to Winchester) and the beer was pretty good. We sat on the patio out back and had a similar view to Bluemont. I tried the lager and the sours.
The only downside of wineries and this brewery is that the food options are pretty limited. Also generally small plates at a winery are ridiculously expensive. So we elected not to eat here. Instead for lunch we went into Purcellville for Monk’s BBQ. At this point in the day it was way too hot to eat outside so we sat inside. I thought the portion sizes were on the small size but the sweet tea was welcome. I got the pulled pork sandwich and mac n cheese and thought it was so-so. Seems like more Texas style BBQ with salty brisket and forgettable pulled pork.
After lunch we headed to Hillsborough Vineyards & Brewery. The drive here from Purcellville is excellent because there is a ton of empty fields and huge mansions to gawk at. It also started raining on the way over and it became a torrent when we arrived. We didn’t mind though, it was actually really cool being there under the covered patio and hearing the thunder.
I ended up getting two flights here – the Hillsborough main attraction flight and the rosé flight. Both of us generally liked the wines here the best.
Finally we ended our wine tasting trek at Breaux Vineyards. It stopped raining when we got here and got really hot all over again so we elected to sit inside again. Thankfully the space is absolutely enormous and there wasn’t anyone else there at 5 PM on a weekday. I thought the wine here was fine but the presentation was a bit lacking since it was served to us in plastic cups on a lunch tray. Considering the grandeur of the views outside I would’ve expected glass.
Note that Google says this place closes at 5 PM but their website told us 6 PM. 6 PM is correct for summer hours.
All told I had a blast wine tasting in Virginia. The valley views are so green, the wine was decent, and everyone was really nice and welcoming. For COVID I always felt safe as well and mask wearing was normal for indoor spaces. If you’re in the area I definitely recommend checking it out!