Pack a lunch or dinner and buy a bottle of wine. It's a relaxing afternoon or evening picnic. "Not Napa Valley" but enjoyable.
We went and decided to make a decision on their chardonnay without first paying their high price for a tasting ($13). (We have an issue paying too much for tasting, as we enjoy wine... we go to wineries with the goal of enjoying a new winery and what they have to offer and buying at least one, if not more bottle(s) while there)When asking about the chardonnay, the lady wasn't very descriptive, but we bought it anyway. After pouring it, we noticed it was VERY cloudy. It was a 2011 chardonnay made with VA grapes and VA grapes in 2011 weren't very good overall since it was such a wet year. I'm sure there are wineries who made a chardonnay in 2011, but we don't recall any. We have seen lots of rosés from 2011 though and the grape worked well for rosé. In fact, the rosés we've had were even better looking than this chardonnay!So, we took it back after opening it and the lady we talked to wasn't willing to offer an exchange or do more than to say it was a "cosmetic flaw" that caused the cloudiness and they "had it tested" and it's ok to drink.I'm not sure what this means... don't know what "tests" were done, but part of enjoying wine is the nose, the clarity/looks and the taste. We can deal with sediment, but for it to look like dirty pond water is unacceptable!Anyway... We were NOT impressed. And the fact that they charge $29 for this wine and that's rather high-priced for a VA chardonnay.... I can say that no one from the party I was a part of was impressed by this wine, the answer I got nor the taste of this wine. So, we're not going back.As for the venue - it looks very historic and is beautiful!
We toured some NOVA wineries this weekend, and of the four we tried that day, these wines were by far the best, HOWEVER they were also by far more expensive (more than 2.5x as expensive in some cases!). I don't recommend this place for beginner wine tasters or those that look like they don't have money...we felt very out of place here and the gentleman who gave us our $15 wine tasting (yes, that's PER PERSON), did a horrible job. He gave us the bare minimum information, and I got more from the paper in front of me than from him. The winery itself was beautiful and you got good size tastings, but we certainly will never be going back here again. Our wine tasting for 2 cost almost as much as a bottle of GOOD wine! Ridiculous! The only reason they got 3 stars from me is because they did have good wines.
This last fall (October 2013) we visited our favorite La Grange Vineyard and was sadden by the fact it was sectioned off for members only. This crowded more people into non member section and took away from the atomsphere that we were so attrached too. I called today (04/19/14) just to see if that was a one time thing but was told that the roping off to members was a regular occurance. Looks like we will have to have another favorite place.
We wanted to enjoy a beautiful sunny fall afternoon in the country and we chose this winery. We chose well! The grounds were beautiful, the views wonderful and the old manor house was outstanding! We visited on a Friday afternoon, so we did not have a crowd to fight or compete with and the service we received was impeccable. The gentleman that served as was quite a conversationalist, friendly, personable and very knowledgeable about the wines. We felt welcomed and well taken care of...not on an assembly line like some other vineyards we have visited. They are open later than most also. If you are looking for a pleasant, memorable experience for an afternoon with your Honey..this is a place!
Beautiful grounds, excellent wine, live music...what more could you ask for on a summer afternoon. This place is a hidden treasure...and so close to the DC suburbs.
A fun place, great for a picnicGreat historyGhost storiesA great history of husband wife stresses
I wanted to plan a family get together and suggested this winery, because I visited this past May with a friend and really enjoyed it. My sister and I were excited to do a tasting and then select our favorite bottles to share with our parents and my husband. The interaction we had the with man serving the tastings at the bar was really too odd to not share. We presented our ID's before the tasting. The employee very rudely told my sister he could NOT serve her because her Virginia's drivers license was vertical not horizontal. We responded that it was valid, was no where near the expiration date and her birthday very clearly stated she was over 21. He continued to say this was a new law in Virginia and it did not matter what her birthday was, he could not serve someone with a vertical license. My sister frequents wineries in Virginia and also has purchased alcohol at stores and restaurants and we have NEVER heard of this before. However, when another employee approached the bar his story and mannerisms changed and he said oh, but I can serve you here. Weird right? He then preceded to keep talking about it and his story of what the law was and how he learned of it just kept changing. We looked up online later that night to see if there was a new Va law preventing people with valid vertical licenses from being served and could find nothing substantial. This was a great winery and fun day with family but this bizarre interaction with this specific employee really rubbed us the wrong way. Based on his changing story and lack of evidence about this "law" leads us to conclude he probably just wanted to have some sort of confrontation. As guests, we wanted to relax and enjoy wine and spend time as a family and my sister was upset because for a period of time she really thought she wouldn't get served even though she was completely legal. All that being said, this really is a nice winery and a great place to bring kids and dogs. I just wish this employee had a better ability to interact with guests.
The last time I was there they did not have there own wine there it was from some of their other winery's . Still a great place to chill with a glass and some cheese or bread.
So after hearing great things about this winery, we were quite disappointed with the visit. First of all, the price point. $13 tasting fee, and bottles as high as $58. Where are we, Napa? I realize that this area tends to have some higher income people, so perhaps they are catering to them. Frankly, I found the service to be poor, got few details on any of the wines and had to ask another staff member, and didn't find a single bottle I would have paid $20 for, never mind the more common $40 price tag.