Grape Expectations

Loudoun County vineyards prove Virginia is for (wine) lovers.

The rural two-lane roads of Loudoun County, Virginia, make for an idyllic Sunday drive. With the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop, the byways carry you past historic churches and small-town Main Streets lined with American flags and antiques stores. Quaint family farms advertise fresh vegetables, eggs and honey, grass-fed beef, and “fat sheep” for sale. But there’s one crop that seems to be sprouting faster than anything else in these parts: grapes. Around every bend you pass row upon row of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Chardonnay, Vidal Blanc, and Viognier, the official state grape.

In the past few decades, the Virginia wine industry has explodedand now boasts a whopping 356 vineyards (where grapes are grown) and some 280 wineries (where wine is made), the fifth most of any state in America. Loudoun County harbors 41 wineries, the most of any Virginia county. (Maryland, by comparison, has just about 80 wineries statewide.) The quality of Virginia wines has been improving, too. Food & Wine magazine recently compared a half-dozen Virginia vintages with wines from France, and declared the Old Dominion wines very much their equal.

Lucky for Charm City wine lovers, Loudoun County and its myriad vineyards and attractions can be reached in just an hour and 20 minutes. And while we absolutely endorse checking out Maryland’s ever expanding selection of wineries and vineyards, the following five Virginia vino ventures make for an awfully alluring weekend escape, especially since October just happens to be Virginia Wine Month.

BREAUX VINEYARDS

36888 Breaux Vineyards Lane, Purcellville, 800-492-9961