Wintergreen’s Finest Wineries & Tours

Looking to enjoy fresh new tastes while on your trip? Overwhelmed by the options when you arrive in the Wintergreen area? Exploring the many local breweries, wineries, distilleries, and other craft beverage adventures can be a great way to pass the time on your weekend or extended visit to Wintergreen Resort.

Continue reading to see some of the area’s best wineries, breweries, and cideries. Need a place to stay while you tour the wineries? Stay at a rental big enough for the whole family or a group of friends and enjoy all that central Virginia has to offer.

Did you know there are over 80 wineries in central Virginia?

Virginia wine country stretches across the Blue Ridge Mountains and throughout the region through Charlottesville, Albemarle, Crozet, Barboursville, and Richmond. If you’re looking for a wine tour or want to visit a local wine-tasting room, central Virginia has a winery, brewery, or distillery for you. With over 80 wineries to select, your friends and family are in for a treat when you explore the wine trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

Best Virginia wineries near Wintergreen Resort

Are you mainly in the Wintergreen area for activities? Need a break to taste exotic and exquisite wines? Want to stay close to the area and see beautiful views while you drink? Here are some of the closest wineries to the resort and our two-bedroom and three-bedroom rental properties. You can enjoy outstanding chardonnay, cabernet franc, merlot, and other varieties just minutes from your lavish chalet or fully refurbished luxury condo.

Delfosse Vineyards & Winery

Delfosse Vineyards & Winery is located off the beaten path, but it is absolutely worth the drive. It features gorgeous buildings overlooking a pristine lake surrounded by stunning mountain views. They can accommodate any group size and host private wine events and weddings. Of course, the wine is as outstanding as the locale, and the staff is first-rate.

Hill Top Berry Farm Winery & Meadery

Originally a pick-your-own berry farm founded in 1998, today, Hill Top Berry Farm Winery & Meadery provides handcrafted wine and mead made in small batches. They serve 32 varieties of mead and fruit wines, all handmade and bottled right on the farm. Never tried mead? It’s a wine that uses honey as a primary sugar instead of grapes or other fruits, and it has a sweetness and flavor all its own.

Caihailian Vineyard

Caihailian Vineyard is named for the owners’ children and makes their wine from their 2.5-acre vineyard, boasting nearly two dozen five-star reviews online. Their wine is overseen by a vintner who has won best-in-show awards at the Virginia State Fair for his wine.

Veritas Vineyards and Winery

Veritas Winery is a family-owned business that began in 1999 out of a love of quality wine. Today, it is on the leading edge of the state’s wine industry with over 50 acres of vineyards, producing a wide range of wines from sparkling to sweet whites and balanced reds. Here it’s all about care, love, and immaculate attention to detail.

12 Ridges Vineyard

Located at mile 25 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, 12 Ridges Vineyard offers mountaintop wine tasting and vintages with unparalleled complexity due to the nature of high-altitude winemaking. 12 Ridges Vineyard is one of the newer wineries but has made its mark with world-class still and sparkling wines and a tasting room overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains.

No designated driver? No problem! Check out the top wine tours

Companies like the Monticello Wine Tour and Coach Co., Crozet Trolley, the Loop, Richmond Wine Tours, and many others offer the chance to check out wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries throughout the Charlottesville and central Virginia region. Sometimes you just want to relax and not worry about designating a driver. When this is the case, you can take a wine tour that lets you board shuttles to visit a pre-selected group of wineries.

Afton Mountain region tours

• Afton Mountain Vineyards offers stunning views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s located on the side of Afton Mountain, and the tasting room overlooks a serene lake. Families are welcome, and leashed pets are permitted in grassed areas. The tasting room features small snacks like cheeses, crackers, and meats. If you like, you can do a self-guided wine tasting at your table.
• Glass House Winery was founded in 2006 and offers a range of artisan wines and handcrafted chocolates designed to pair with the wines. They also offer live music every Sunday with local artists.
• Flying Fox Vineyard has a mission to honor the Virginia wine country legacy with unique varieties in an authentic locale while at the same time pushing the limits of what wine can be. They produce small batches with a sharp focus on building an outstanding portfolio, resulting in award-winning wines.
• King Family Vineyards is in a gigantic, sprawling property looking up Afton Mountain and the surrounding peaks. It’s a dog-friendly facility with astonishing wines, a fun and friendly staff, and small bites to snack on. They also offer live music and even polo matches between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
• Grace Estate Winery celebrates the Grace family that dates back a thousand years. Their wine is made completely from estate-grown grapes, and they offer a wide range of wines, live music, and the opportunity to walk through their 450 acres of vineyard and enjoy a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains.

Charlottesville-area wineries

• Jefferson Vineyards is in a country setting filled with stunning, green rolling hills. In the summer, they offer a Music in the Garden series where you can enjoy live music from local acts surrounded by vineyards and beautiful surroundings.
• Blenheim Vineyards is situated in a gorgeous main house in the craft home style of the early 20th century. The house boasts a glass panel between the floors so you can see above and below. They also offer a range of delicious wines from many different varietals.
• Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards is a stunning property offering a full food menu, making it somewhat unique among local wineries. They have plenty of seating with open views of the mountains all around. It’s a family-friendly venue where you can walk the property and explore the vineyards.
• Eastwood Farm and Winery offers a shady, beautiful escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Located in the heart of the local wine country, they offer award-winning wines with a full food menu of delicious small plates, shareable dishes, and fire-grilled entrees. They host live music and events regularly.

Lovingston-area wineries

• Mountain Cove Vineyards is one of the older vineyards in the Virginia wine country region, first planted in the mid-1970s. The same couple still owns it, and everything they produce is made with passion and love, from tinto to chardonnay, rosés and whites, and even fruit wines.
• Lovingston Winery is a small-batch winery and vineyard that uses 100% estate-grown grapes to create wine in an early 20th-century home among the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s a family and dog-friendly location, and you can bring outside food. They also host regular live entertainment events.

How long do wine tours take?

Every winery is unique, and wine tours can take anywhere from an hour to a full day. On average, however, expect to spend about five hours on your tour. This will give you ample time to explore multiple wineries across the Blue Ridge region.

What types of vehicles are used for tours?

You usually have a choice of vehicles when you book a tour along the wine trail, and it can depend on how many people take the tour, with larger groups needing bigger vehicles than smaller groups. Usually, your options are vans, luxury cars, or shuttles. Some tour companies may have buses for larger groups. Check with your tour company for more information.

Not a wine drinker? Try these breweries instead

Brewery tours offer a different kind of experience than wine tours. Many breweries offer full restaurants and bar bites to pair with their beer. Beer tours are laid-back, casual, and fun. If you are already a wine connoisseur, you may also discover a range of new flavor profiles to expand your palate after sampling the best wines around. You’ll find a great selection of breweries and cideries in the area and tours that offer a mix of all three.

Devils Backbone

Devils Backbone Brewing Company offers a full-service dining experience with indoor and outdoor dining, wood-fired smoked meats, and, of course, a full selection of delicious beers. They are known for their outdoor Meadows Bar with 20 beers on tap, many of which are award-winning brews in the European tradition. They host regular live music and entertainment events.

Blue Mountain Brewery

Blue Mountain Brewery opened in 2007 in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains as the first rural brewery in the region. Today they offer a family and pet-friendly brewpub with a full menu, full pours, and flights of tasters that let you try out all of their craft styles, from lagers to IPAs, dark beers, and more.

Pro Re Nata Brewery

Do you enjoy beer, live music, and food trucks? Pro Re Nata Brewery is the place for you. Opened in 2015, Pro Re Nata serves up beer, hard cider, and a selection of wine and canned cocktails. The beer is all made on-site, the cider is from local Virginia breweries, and the vibe is fun and casual, with live music and events almost every night. They have indoor and outdoor spaces, including a huge beer garden.

Bold Rock Cidery

Cideries are an outstanding option for those who prefer to try something between a wine and a beer. Bold Rock is nestled in a region famed for the quality of the apples it produces, and it crafts ciders from the highest-quality local ingredients for fresh, full-bodied cider varieties.

Virginia is for lovers … of wine!

Adventures in imbibing await around every corner throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. Book one of our outstanding two-bedroom or three-bedroom luxury chalets or spacious condos, plan your wine trail, and discover a world of craft brewing and distilling for yourself.