Virginia Wineries

During a recent trip to Massanutten, Virginia, we visited several wineries. in the area. Over the past few years we have visited dozens of Virginia wineries and even for non-drinkers like my husband, getting to the destination is half the fun. Drive through the beautiful Virginia countryside, stop at the historical Civil War towns and revel in the diverseness of each winery.

Virginia Wineries

Lunch and Tasting at Cross Keys Winery

Google maps is a fabulous tool for planning a winery day trip. Visit any Virginia tourist information centre and pick up a Virginia wine map. You can also simply perform an internet search for wineries near a certain town. Select a few near you and enter them into Google Maps (or your map of choice) and move them around to plan your route. Note interesting towns and include them in your plan. 3-4 wineries is plenty for one day as this provides time to make unscheduled stops and allows enough time to fully enjoy the winery. Make sure you have a designated driver if you plan to participate in wine tastings. I have an advantage here as my husband does not drink.

We were in the area for a few days so I spread out our winery visits. I usually plan ahead and find a winery that offers lunch, whether it is a simple charcuterie plate or something more substantial. Just adds to the day trip.

Our first stop on this trip is a familiar winery to us and the one closest to Massanutten resort, Cross keys Winery and Vineyard, Harrisonburg. We love the location which is surrounded by acres of vineyards and the outdoor patio is perfect for lunch. They have quite a large lunch menu with simple appetizers or interesting pizzas and sandwiches. If you don’t have time for lunch, just stop by the tasting room for a quick and informative tasting. We always plan a visit here when in the area.

Next stop was The Purple Wolf which is a fairly new winery located next to and is part of the White Oak Lavender Farm. We have been going to the lavender farm for years and they have done some great work to make this a lovely event space. There is a small patio and a large pavilion which would be fabulous for a small outdoor event. There is a small petting zoo for the younger crowd. At this time, they are only doing wine tastings and wine by the glass, there are no food options.

Flight tasting and lavender shopping at White Oak Lavender Farm & Purple Wolf Winery

Our final stop of the day was at the tranquil and very new Brix and Columns Vineyards near McGaheysville, overseen by the adorable Great Dane, Winston. We met the owner, Stephanie, who told us their story of starting out as farmers and with a bit of luck, a lot of hard work and some assistance from winemaker, Michael Shaps, are now the proud owners of acres of vineyards and a beautiful tasting room and event space. Their house off to the side is also stunning. Stephanie also loves horses and we had a lovely chat about my trip to Iceland. Bring a picnic and enjoy the peaceful surroundings and partake in the numerous games provided, inside and out or grab a glass of wine and relax in the armchairs by the fireplace. I encourage you to check out their website, link below, to check out Winston’s blog. Some very informative wine information can be found there. Winston is very knowledgeable.

Tranquil Brix and Columns Vineyards

Quiet informative tasting at Rockbridge Winery

A couple of days later, we made a trip to the Natural Bridge in Rockbridge county. 30 minutes up the road is Rockbridge Winery, a casual, simple, friendly winery. It was a quiet week-day which allowed me to have a lovely chat with Jane Rouse who had the time to fully explain each wine. When sharing where we had spent the day, she laughed and showed us their labels, a fabulous drawing of the Natural Bridge.

Rockbridge Winery tasting allows you to try everything they have open. In this case it was 12 wines, a mix of red and white and their interpretation of an ice wine. Virginia does not get cold enough, early enough to produce real ice wine so they cleverly decided to freeze the grapes right off the vine. The result is a really good substitute for the Niagara Ice wines I am used to. My favourite wines were the Tuscorora White and the Rose Hill Rosé. Being the end of the day, I took a glass of wine out onto the patio for a quiet reflection of the day.

The last winery we visited on this trip was ironically on a day we had planned to visit 3 or 4 wineries and a cidery. Hurricane Michael had other plans. We made a trip to Charlottesville to pick up some Amazon orders. (Amazon ship to locker is an amazing feature valuable to Canadian visitors). There are many wineries in the Charlottesville area but be sure to check opening days and times to avoid disappointment. One of our favourites is Trump winery that we actually didn’t get to on this trip but have been many times. Leave your politics at the door and enjoy the facility and grounds while enjoying their very good wines and light lunch. My favourite is their Rosé.

Our first planned stop was Wisdom Oak Winery. On our way, the rain started and quickly turned into a dangerous torrential downpour. We were heading down a gravel road when my phone started beeping loudly and displayed a flash flood warning for the local area. I have never seen this type of weather alert so it startled me. 2 minutes later, the road in front of us turned into a river. Wisdom Oak will have to wait until another visit, we thought it safer to turn around and move on. The next planned stop, Jefferson Winery, was closed. Several others were not open on Thursdays. We were about to give up but then we found Gabriele Rausse, a hidden gem in the forest. It was like finding a warm and inviting tree house at the end of a long, wet day. The winery was started by Gabriele and is now run by his sons. They used to distribute their wines at local fairs until the sons decided to build this beautiful wood and glass building that just fits perfectly in the forest.

We were greeted warmly and were promptly offered freshly baked bread and olive oil to go with my wine tasting. Visit before 1pm and you can enjoy a home made simple lunch of the day’s offerings. Every day is a surprise. Recently I have been favouring whites but I loved their reds and we sat out the storm in our cozy hideaway with a tasty glass of red.