I usually drink Cabs and the few VA wines I've had were terrible. Can anyone recommend a good VA wine (and a local place that sells it)? I feel obligated having spent most of my life here.

"Any good VA wines?"

No.

You have stores full of good wine from California, Oregon, Australia and Europe. Why waste your time with shitty VA wine?


Actually, I hear the Williamsburg Cab isn't bad, but it is also more expensive than much better wine from Napa and Sonoma.

Barboursville has some decent wines....

I would like to suggest a local VA wine called "Our Dog Blue" which is available at many NoVa grocery stores.

I'm also interested in knowing which local wines are good... I rarely drink wine myself, but it is an easy gift for dinner parties, etc. Unfortunately, since I'm not a wine drinker I never know what to buy.

For example, I wanted to bring my relatives some locals wines last summer. I learned there was a Blackberry festival at Tarara so I did a few google searches to learn what others recommended from that winery. I ended up buying their Merlot Reserve, the Viognier and the Wild River Red. For all I know, the wine was undrinkable or overpriced!

So any suggestions are very welcome.

Ok, let me help you all.

Virginia wines are currently some of the best in the world. Unfortunately, some of the better ones price themselves accordingly.

The biggest name is Oasis Vineyards. They're in Hume, VA, near Front Royal. They have received numerous awards over the years. They are expensive, and I don't think they're as good as they used to be. Certainly they're not as good as they think they are, but they are still good. They also have something which is pretty awesome, which is limo wine tours of VA Wine Country. I'm sure they're expensive, but that would be a good time. A buddy of mine use to drive for them.

Rappahannock Cellars, also out by Front Royal, is really up and coming. They're better than Oasis, and they're not priced quite as high yet. They were started a few years back by a family who owned and ran California wineries for generations, but think that VA is the future. Most of their wines are amazing. They have some different selections, too. Their Vidal Blanc, and their Solara (usually only available to wine club members) are great dessert wines.

Other than those two, there are a zillion little wineries all over. Pearmund Cellars, just off 29 on the way to Warrenton has a great Chardonnay, for instance. Other than that, I'd check out the wine festival held in Front Royal every year (it's passed already this year) to find a lot of the little ones with good stuff. Or, do the one of the Oasis limo tours. Or, just start doing tastings every few weekends. They're very inexpensive (usually about $4 per person), will teach you a lot about wine and what you're supposed to look for in any given type of wine, and will give you a feel for what's available. Just look on the internet, pick one or two a weekend, and do it.

Virginia wines are currently some of the best in the world.

There was an article on WTOP a few weeks ago, apparently some national travel magazine ranked VA as one of the best new wine producing regions in the world. I'm not a big wine drinker, but that's pretty impressive.

My understanding is that to produce good wine the grapes have to grow in a region without killer frosts or snow. I see how that applies to Napa and parts of Oregon. Not sure how that works in Virginia.

http://lindenvineyards.com/linden/ has some very respectable reds and the vineyard is beautiful. Their 2004 Red is excellent.

Try this link, http://www.virginiawines.org/.

Although I have never been to Oasis, at almost every vineyard I have been to where Oasis has been brought up in conversation the comments were less then positive. The consensus was that Oasis doesn't focus on the wine. Their emphasis is on events, catering, and activities related to wine. As a result their wines are mediocre at best.

Thanks for chiming in. For the record, I did go to a wine festival once and didn't think much of it- Though I love tripping to the VA countryside and the quaint towns. No one brought out their best for obvious reasons and after awhile (if you weren't spitting it out), you'd be too tipsy to taste. Will check out some of the suggestions here. Keep them coming.

if you're in the arlington area go to the curious grape in shrilington village, they have a virginia wines section.

if you're in the arlington area go to the curious grape in shrilington village, they have a virginia wines section.

My wine-drinking friends really like that place in Shirlington. Also, Out of Site Wines in Vienna carries a good selection of VA wines. It's a newer mom-and-pop place tucked away off of Maple, the owner and his wife are usually in there and are really helpful. I was in there a few weeks ago and they seemed proud of their VA wine inventory. Like I said, I'm not a big wine drinker, but their store is nice, they have alot of stuff, and the guy is real helpful.

Rowsdower Wrote:
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> Although I have never been to Oasis, at almost
> every vineyard I have been to where Oasis has been
> brought up in conversation the comments were less
> then positive. The consensus was that Oasis
> doesn't focus on the wine. Their emphasis is on
> events, catering, and activities related to wine.
> As a result their wines are mediocre at best.

Ha! That about sums it up. They used to be a LOT better, however. There was a time when they were a real vineyard.

Interestingly enough, they're now owned by a Muslim. Not sure how he morally works that one out for himself, but hey. In any case, he's obviously not a real wine lover, and the place has suffered for that.

Go to one of the numerous VA wine festivals. Here's some
http://www.virginiawinefestival.org/

http://www.virginiawines.org/events/index.html

vaburbia.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2007 08:55AM by allivant.

I had some of the Williamsburg Cab last night. Pretty crappy. Very thin. Too fruity.

OUR DOG BLUE IS A VERY NICE WHITE TABLE WINE...EVERY "WHITE WINE" LOVER I HAVE INTRODUCED THIS TO LOVES IT!
ALL VA WINE ISNT "CRAPPY"...STOP AT ONE OR TWO AND YOU WILL NEVER DISCOVER THE GOOD WINES WE HAVE IN THIS FINE STATE.

Michaele and Tareq Salahi make excellent wine.

I am not a huge wine drinker or at least I was not when I started. My family on the other hand are huge wine drinkers. In the last 10 years I have been to several of the local NVA places. It all comes down to what your tastes are. Some of the bigger, well thought of places I thought taste like crap. My family likes them. Some of the smaller places I liked alot more.

The place I have liked the best be it their whites or reds is a place off Rt 7 past Leesburg towards Winchester. Its VERAMAR. Great wines. Great location. Great people. I even like their reds and I do not like most reds.

There are several other really good places. Get some people together and go do some tastings.

We've tried a number of Virginia wines. Some are very good, some are mediocre, some are garbage. I've found that the ones you'll see in the supermarket tend to be on the low end, probably because the Virginia wine industry isn't really established enough yet.

Someone up the thread mentioned Linden. They make some very good wines. Well worth the trip out there for a visit and a tasting. They offer two tastings, actually: the standard one upstairs and a "cellar tasting" downstairs in the cellar. The cellar tasting can include some really interesting stuff; the first time we went there, we tasted a 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon. I had no idea Linden had been around that long. It was a first-rate wine, too.

If you go to visit Linden, stop at Fox Meadow on the same trip. It's about 20 minutes in the other direction on the same road (Linden is south of I-66; Fox Meadow is north of I-66). Their Cabernet Franc Reserve is excellent stuff. My father used to turn up his nose at Virginia wine, so when he and my mom were over for dinner I decanted the Fox Meadow Cab Franc and didn't put the bottle on the table. He raved about the wine and then I produced the bottle, much to his surprise. Really nice people at Fox Meadow. We visited there this past Saturday for a tasting that involved fudge pairings. Interesting stuff.

I've had a number of wines from the Williamsburg Winery. We attended a wine-tasting dinner they sponsored at Fleming's in Tysons. I was really surprised by how good those wines were. I'd had their "Governor's White" and "Two-Shilling Red" that are sold in grocery stores and I didn't much care for them. It turns out they make some much better stuff that you have to order. At the dinner they served a Cab Franc called "Trianon" that was superb. I snagged one of the unfinished bottles off the table at the dinner and probably drank way too much of the stuff. We were able to obtain some of the wines from that dinner at the Wine Cabinet in Reston. Gave my dad a bottle of the Trianon and when they drank it he said, "You're really making me rethink my opinion of Virginia wine."

Of the other wineries, I think Barboursville makes some decent stuff; they offer a red called Octagon that is pricey but is probably their best one. Horton, located nearby, used to make some good wines but I think lately their quality hasn't been as high, and I suspect the reason is that they simply make too darn many wines. It seems like they make some of everything and they'd do better if they focused on a couple of things. Their Viognier is decent, though.

Last year we had a wine from....this is not a joke....the "Well Hung Winery" near Charlottesville. It was a blend of Merlot and Petit Verdot and it was surprisingly good.

Thing about Virginia wine is that it's a relatively young industry and a lower-volume industry compared to more established places like California and Oregon. So the prices tend to be a bit higher. I think the suggestion someone made of going to one of the wine festivals is a pretty good one if what you want is an introduction.

Two words Horton Norton.

Norton is swill. The best Norton product I've had is the port-style desert wine at Rappahannock.

I would definitely suggest the wineries off of 66 around Linden, Front Royal, and Huntly for good VA wine. An hour or less from western FFX co. and better than the Loudoun wineries off 7 IMO. Namely, check out Glen Manor, Rappahannock, Desert Rose, Chester Gap, Linden, and Fox Meadow.

As far as specific wines go, check any VA winery's Viognier and Cab Franc. If you had to pick a signature VA white and red, those would be it. If a winery can't do those two right then its best avoided.

Gadino Cellars in outside of Sperryville has an excellent Cab Franc and Cabernet Savignon. I have never had a bad wine there.

Check out Olde Dominion Wine Shoppe in Occoquan. They only sell VA wine and some craft beers and have free tastings every week.

Katy Wrote:
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> Check out Olde Dominion Wine Shoppe in Occoquan.
> They only sell VA wine and some craft beers and
> have free tastings every week.


This used to be THE place for VA wines in the area. Once the original owner left and the new group took the reigns this place has gone downhill. Half-empty shelves, began selling non-VA wines, weak-sauce for craft beers.

They don't sell VA wines as a friendly gesture to Olde Dominion, but Tastefully Yours right next door has a significatly better beer selection and their wine selection is pretty diverse.

Three fox, Mediterranean cellars, Barrel oak, Aspen Dale, Fox Meadow, Pearamund are just a few. As others have mentioned, Barboursville has very good wine. Virginia is on the map for good wine.

Gray Ghost out in Amissville makes good wine.

Cisco, Boone's Farm, Thunderbird, Nighttrain Express, MD 20/20.

I've never really had any truly great wines from VA, but I can tell you some of the absolute worst I've ever had.

Notavia, or Notaviva Winery (can't remember the name, don't care to) in Purcellville had some of the absolute worst swill I've ever consumed in my entire life. Nothing they had was worth the outrageous cost per bottle, and everything tasted as if it hadn't aged a day or wasn't corked properly. To top things off, the owner was the biggest douche I've ever met in my life, and was condescending and rude. Combine that with the concept of pairing wines with music, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Terrible, awful, cheesy shit.

Avoid that place.

Virginia wine is so much better than it was 20 years ago. The vintners have made a real effort in adjusting and blending. Some decent reds from Grey Ghost and Breaux. They need to work on the white wines; they still taste like bad German plonk...

Breaux has some very good reds, Chrysalis has some decent whites.

I've never had Grey Ghost.

boones farm. Think it out in front royal sum were. pretty goods stuff but never been to teh winnery for tasteings. Any been there be4?

Random Dude Wrote:
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> Norton is swill.

Um, no. Norton is a grape with a history of cultivation in Virginia, which is what the poster asked about. I enjoy the Linden/Front Royal wineries as well but you know what they say about opinions.

Watch u all argue 4? All wine at teh store is from Va or it would not b sold. Nuther nice choice is woodbridge. Comes from woodbridge sum where but not sure again may b near 95 and minnivlle rd. Just yahoo it and yull find it

what-ev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Watch u all argue 4? All wine at teh store is from
> Va or it would not b sold. Nuther nice choice is
> woodbridge. Comes from woodbridge sum where but
> not sure again may b near 95 and minnivlle rd.
> Just yahoo it and yull find it


You're cracking me up dude! You're right, Woodbridge is not bad!

Depends on the grape. Some, like Viognier and Chambourcin, are more tolerant of our weather conditions. The biggest threat to growing good grapes in VA is the humid summer heat that creates favorable conditions for the spread of fungal disease, not the cold.



WashingToneLocian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My understanding is that to produce good wine the
> grapes have to grow in a region without killer
> frosts or snow. I see how that applies to Napa and
> parts of Oregon. Not sure how that works in
> Virginia.

Hillsborough Vineyards in Loudoun Co Purcellville, they win easily

We enjoy Naked Mountain which is just off Rt66 in Markhan. It is sold at Wegmans and Cosco. In Jan & Feb they serve a nice lasagna lunch on the weekends. Glass of wine, basket of garlic bread and meat or veggie lasagna for a reasonable price.

The Loudoun wineries aren't anywhere close to the same class as those off 66. There are some around Charlottesville that beat both though.

Tough One Wrote:
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> Hillsborough Vineyards in Loudoun Co Purcellville,
> they win easily

You're right dude, Norton is a grape. The wine that it produces is swill.

More Complete Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Random Dude Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Norton is swill.
>
> Um, no. Norton is a grape with a history of
> cultivation in Virginia, which is what the poster
> asked about. I enjoy the Linden/Front Royal
> wineries as well but you know what they say about
> opinions.

Ha Ha Ha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You're right dude, Norton is a grape. The wine
> that it produces is swill.

Hardly.

Swill: Noun: Kitchen refuse and scraps of waste food mixed with water for feeding to pigs.

:)

Not my favorite by any means but I do enjoy it from time to time. Horton Vinyadrs' especially.

La Grange, Mediterranean, Murtadella, all good ones in Fauquier county. Great wine.

If i have to say any good VA wines, i would have to say go to the Vineyards of:
Breaux, Hillsborough, Doukanie, 3 Foxes, and Veramar. They say California is the best thing after French. I say try it for yourself. My personal favorites of VA and of all time.

Wow -- a real time capsule thread. Virginia wines have improved so much since the OP. I give high marks to Breaux and Grey Ghost; the latter's Cabernet Franc is like sex in a glass.

Any 7-11 located in Virginia has a fine assortment of wine and champagne.
They are also open 24/7 for your connivence. I have had many late night wine tastings with friends and family with their fine spirits. Pre-chilled to boot.
Late holiday shopping for that special someone.

yes go to Route 15