GRAPE expectations
Family-run vineyards, bucolic countrysides, Southern hospitality: In Northern Virginia, get a taste of the ‘East Coast Napa Valley’
When I step onto the porch at the Upper Crust Bakery in Middleburg, Va., I’m greeted by a smiling wooden cow, an American flag, and a red-screened door swinging open and shut as regulars stream in for breakfast pastries and pour-your-own coffee.
The place is as American as apple pie — which they also sell — but we’re here for the Cow Puddles, the bakery’s famous butterscotch-pecan cookies, which are crisp and chewy and as crinkly as an elephant’s ankles.
Still, we didn’t drive an hour from Washington, D.C., just for Cow Puddles (not to say I wouldn’t). We’ve come to Loudoun County for not only its charming towns and horse farms but also, more specifically, for its wine.
I’d heard good things. Featuring mostly family-run vineyards, Virginia is located about halfway between Europe and California, so the grape varietals and style of winemaking here reflect the Old World and the new, with an added dash of Southern hospitality.
With some 300 wineries spread over roughly 5,000 acres of vineyards, 10 winemaking regions and eight American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) across the state, today could only be an introduction. But Middleburg is a good place to start.
Though Middleburg dates back to 1728, it was only when it started welcoming visitors participating in fox hunting and steeplechasing in the early 1900s that it earned a reputation as “American’s horse and hunt capital,” attracting tourists, as well as locals like Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor.
Today, the town exudes chic equestrian style while also being a natural starting point for touring Loudoun County, a destination that pitches itself as the “East Coast’s Napa Valley” and features more than 50 wineries and tasting rooms.
“I was born in Toronto; Dad was born in Hamilton and Mom in Port Perry,” says John Kent Cooke, president of Boxwood Winery, surprising us with his Canadian-ness when he happens upon us sampling some of his winery’s best blends at our first stop.
“We came to Middleburg in the 1970s because my family owned the Washington Redskins,” he explains. (Previously, they also owned the L.A. Lakers and Kings.) “When I retired from the Redskins, I thought, we have this land, and I want to make good use of it.”
That he did. Designed by renowned architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen, Boxwood is a modern winery featuring materials rooted in 18th-century rural Middleburg (think: fieldstone). Visitors can explore the entire four-building facility, which follows the flow of winemaking: receiving hand-harvested grapes from the vineyard; fermenting the juice in 13 custom stainless-steel tanks; barrel-aging the wine in a unique circular cave; then bottling up the fruits of all that labour.
Cooke says he’s been drinking “French wines” since boyhood, so when they started planting vines, he stuck to the Bordeaux varietals he enjoyed. Today, Boxwood’s wines are pure elegance, from the Topiary (a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) to the Reserve (my favourite, representing the current vintage’s best Merlot, Cab Franc and Cab Sauv).
“I like that now people associate my name with the winery as much as sports history,” he says.
Our next stop, the boutique Greenhill Vineyards, is just a seven-minute drive away. Jed Gray, Greenhill’s general manager, tells us the gorgeous 100plus acres we’re admiring have been a working farm since 1762, though focus moved from cattle to grapes when the land was bought by Wayne and Juanita Swedenburg in the 1980s. They planted Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir, making them some of the first vines in Northern Virginia.
When David Greenhill bought the vineyard in 2013, he continued to focus on the local terroir by planting more of what grows best in Virginia. The vineyard also inherited a herd of Charolais cattle, which you may spot grazing on the vast property. “What’s inside the bottle is the most important thing, though,” says Gray as we admire the panoramic views and mountainous vistas. “The surroundings are the icing on the cake.”
The 2019 Blanc de Blancs sparkling, done in the méthode traditionnelle, is a case in point, refreshing with bright acidity, as is the 2021 Petit Manseng, which won gold this year from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. “Manseng is an up-and-coming varietal in the area with high acidity, high sugars and nice tropical fruit,” says Gray, “though some have named Viognier the grape varietal of Virginia because it grows so well here.”
Onwards! A hilariously short five-minute drive later, we arrive at Cana Vineyards and Winery, a humbler stop where there’s a lot to love, including winemaker and vineyard manager Melanie Natoli, a physical therapist by training who started working in tasting rooms part-time when she first moved to Virginia. Then, in 2015, Natoli arrived at Cana, where they produce just under 3,000 cases of wine a year.
We sit down as she guides us through a tasting, starting with their 2021 Albariño. It’s poetry in a glass. Then we try the 2021 Rosé of Cabernet Franc, which is lovely, crisp and dry.
“A big piece of who I am as a winemaker is rosé,” says Natoli. “We also do fantastic blends in Virginia, but this year bigger reds like Cab Franc were great for us.”
Based on my first tastes, I’d say you can’t go wrong with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot or Viognier from Northern Virginia. These supporting characters in Old World traditions shine in the spotlight here.
Between sips, I spot the trophy shelves, dominated by the Virginia Governor’s Cup, which Natoli won in 2022.
“In the past, the winner’s circle on stage was always a bunch of white guys in blue suits,” she says.
So last year, when she was awarded the grand prize, beating out 615 wines from over 100 Virginia wineries, she made sure to take the stage, wearing her new blue suit.
In a way, Natoli reminds me of Virginia wine country — all grace and grit and well worth rooting for.