Old House Vineyards

So we went for a birthday celebration yesterday and we all had a ball. The vineyard itself is so pretty. They have a house where they do the wine tastings, only $ 7 and you get to keep a glass. They will sell you a bottle opened or closed. I had mines opened and went around back where you can order a fire brick oven pizza made fresh for $ 12-​$ 15. Mines was soo amazing. then we walked over to the pond they have and i sat and stuck my feet in the water. it was a great trip and i would definitely go again. Oh and they had a live band playing and were hosting a chili competition when we went.

This place is huge! The wine is good and it’s the largest most expansive winery I’ve been to. The tasting room can get drowned, but the grassy area is so big and they have a huge pond that kids can fish in and play on the dock. They had live music too. The pizza took an hour and really wasn’t good at all. I didn’t make it to the distillery section — was kind of discouraged by the $ 10 fee when all the DC distilleries do tastings for free.

If I were basing this ONLY on wines, I would rate this winery 3 stars. Wine only 3 stars — if you want a complete experience it raises it to 4 stars.
The house, the ambiance and outside beauty all all fantastic. Great scenery and I could imagine going in the summer and it being a fantastic place.
The distillery alone would be 5 stars. The lady knew her stuff and gave an exceptional education. The spirits were very very good! Smooth.

Love this winery! Great wine and great events. Just enjoyed a fabulous wine club member of event of Mimosa’s and a terrific continental breakfast! Thanks for starting the year off right! If you love bold reds, this is THE place.

***Distillery 5 stars, winery 4 stars***
Yes you read that right; Old House now has a distillery on the premises! Woohoo! They only do distillery tastings every few hours so call ahead and time your visit.
I’ve been to OH before and found the tastings good but not necessarily outstanding. But this time, I don’t know if the wines improved or my palate changed, but I enjoyed this better than any previous visit.
The 3-​glass distillery tasting & 7-​sip wine tasting each were $ 7 (paid separately), with an optional $ 2 extra for two desert wines. I also had a freebie sparkling tasting that day, which was a treat since they almost never bring out the sparkling. Oh, and you take home the wine glass.
The tasting room is a house built in 1890 but extensively renovated; it still has a very ‘homey’ feel to it, with different rooms great for small groups. It was a nice change from the tasting room extravaganzas I’ve seen been to lately. The property also has a man-​made pond with a island in the middle, connected by a bridge. This must be a popular wedding location because a lot of attention to detail went into it.
OH is small but not tiny; between 3000 – 5000 cases/​year, although wine production is down because of the focus on the distillery. 25 acres under vine and 100% estate.
Sparkling: Amazing! I almost never like sparkling but really enjoyed this one. I was tempted to get a bottle of this for New Years Eve.
Whites: Consistently good and refreshing. The Chardonnay didn’t have any butter; I thought it was steel but actually it was ‘old’ oak. The Pinot Grigio had a citrusy nose. The stainless Vidal was my least favorite by comparison but still pretty good.
Rose: Strawberry flavor, some sweetness but actually it was technically ‘semi-​dry’; one of the better roses I’ve had lately.
Reds: The Chambourcin was the favorite; not fruity at all, but rather it had a dark almost purple color and somewhat strong body. The Cab Franc didn’t have any ‘spicy’ pepper but rather a green pepper taste. The Mélange red blend was my least favorite; too light and young for me. As 2013 was a wet year they were unable to produce their flagship red, which I previously enjoyed.
Desert: The Chambourcin desert wine wasn’t described as a port-​style, but you could totally fool me because it was made in brandy barrels and was strong like a port. The honey colored Artic was basically an ice wine but technically they couldn’t call it that since it wasn’t harvested during the winter; it was too thick for me.
All that was good, but the distillery blew me away. They have a WW II theme going on, including sounding an air raid siren when the tasting is ready to begin. They serve 3 items; a Vodka, your choice of 1 of 2 different rums (one oak, the other steel), and a tequila (although for legal reasons they can’t call it that) which they named «Agave Nectar».
If that’s not enough, assuming you don’t drink your entire glass straight, they use the remaining portions to make mixed drinks. The Vodka straight was decent but with a cram-​apple mix was amazing. The Agave was nice on its own; it didn’t need anything to supplement it. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the rum but certainly didn’t dislike it.
Go to Old House. Just… go!

WOW! The wines were AWESOME! Someone earlier shared they liked every wine. It is the truth. I liked EVERY wine we tasted. Christine does a FABULOUS job describing the wines, how they are made, and the history of the surrounding area. I want to return in the spring or summer to enjoy the outside.

Christine was amazing! Top notch service and breathtaking vineyard with tons of games and things to do! Christine gave us lots of local recommendations and tons of local history! Highly recommended!

This has probably become my favorite vineyard in Virginia. The views are beautiful and the staff is super friendly. But, the best part of this winery is that every single one of their wines is amazing! I usually go to wineries and have a few wines that I’m not crazy about. But, at Old House, we wanted to take home every wine. :)

I’ve been to a ton of wineries in the NOVA area but this weekend was the first time I’ve been to Old House. It was honestly the longest time we’ve spent at a winery– that’s how much we liked it! It could be a tad confusing to get there for someone following gps– as gps takes you to a spot that is clearly not the winery. There’s a huge sign out front saying this is not old house winery :-) but if you go down another mile or so you will see it. The views and grounds are absolutely beautiful! Funny, but I’ve never been to a winery where you could actually still see all the grapes on all of the vines. That was pretty. They have a beautiful water area with a boardwalk type of setting around the water with chairs all around. It was so relaxing! We also came on the best day– they make pizzas in their pizza oven outside on Sundays! They were also great. The wine tasting was mostly pretty good! I really loved the wicked bottom wine so we bought a bottle of that. But, the hidden gem that we didn’t know about was that they also have a distillery there. We got there just in time to make a tour of it and do a tasting as well. The distillery is set up like a bar and is decorated in a world war II theme. My boyfriend was happy about that and bought a bottle of their rum. All in all it was a great time!

Great curb appeal. Beautiful setting with vineyard and pond with fountain. Outside bar is particularly nice. The inside rooms were a little dark and musty, but not bad. The staff seemed distracted, and a little understaffed for the number of guests and roaming around the place. The wine was excellent, and I purchased several bottles. I would love to bring my husband for a trip to their distillery.

Beautiful vineyard with some nice wines. Very pleasant tasting experience. Feels like an escape into wine country.

I love this place. The wines are the best around and the views are excellent. The only thing they need to improve is the décor inside the wine tasting room which is dusty and outdated. I haven’t tried their pizza, but I’m looking forward to! Everyone is so friendly and informative as well. The wedding venue is beautiful!

Love this place! Great pizza and music on scheduled evenings! Must see! Close to NOVA

We had a great time on Saturday. They were hosting a chili cook-​off for a charity and they were cooking their pizza’s which are generally reserved for Sunday’s. The wine was excellent and the pizza was quite good too. The only thing that could have made this vineyard better was a distillery — — oh wait, they have one! They distill rum, agave and vodka on the premise. I bought a bottle of rum to take home. On a side note, their grapes were the healthiest I have ever seen at a local vineyard. We will be back!

Awesome venue, decent wine, friendly staff. We love the sprawling lot and pond.

My family and I visited today for Mother’s Day and had a great experience. The live music was awesome, the vineyard had great pizza, affordable bottled water and an exceptional assortment of wine.
The staff, although very busy, were friendly and helpful. The kids enjoyed the sights, the chess set and beautiful landscape.
There was plenty of parking even though they were busy and we found a fantastic site to picnic in the shade of a large tree.

This winery is perfect if you want to taste a variety of wines (good portion tastings too!) and the scenery is beautiful! We also went on one of their wood oven pizza nights which was delicious! I will definitely be going back!

While some of the wines were pretty good, I did not feel welcomed here at all. I felt, from the staff, very rushed and highly encouraged to buy something and get out.
The property is very pretty and offers a nice quiet setting.

I wish there were more stars to give. Honestly the warmest, most accommodating, friendly, personal experience I’ve ever had at a winery or place of business in general for that matter. My hubs and I were on our way home from a ski trip, when I suggested stopping at a winery for lunch. We had tons of leftovers from the weekend and thought some wine tasting and a picnic lunch would be a great stop on our 8+ hour drive home. I Unilocaled this place, it was the closest, so off the route we went through the foreign farm fields of northern Virginia not knowing what to expect.
We found The Old House to be absolutely stunning from the outside and warm and cozy inside. Deb did a fantastic job of describing not only the delicious wines, but the history of The Old House Vineyard. The when I asked if we could get a couple glasses and bring in a picnic lunch, she not only agreed, but went as far as heating up our cold left over chili and serving us in the best seat in the whole house!!! So Wonderful! Couldn’t believe my old homemade chili could be presented so formally by a stranger with such a kind heart. We bought 3 bottles which I cherish and will reserve for holidays and special occasions. We plan to make a special trip to the Old House later this spring! It’s worth the 5+ hour drive!

Okay — not an update on the winery itself, but for one of their wines.
Yesterday I was making a very special meal — a roasted/​braised wild Scottish pheasant, potato & fennel gratin, & buttered green beans. And wanted a nice wine to go with.
After doing some online wine-​pairing research, more than once found mention of «Chambourcin» as being a good pairing with pheasant. And pleasantly discovered that I had a bottle of Old House Vineyards 2008 «Wicked Bottom» Chambourcin in our «cellar» (aka basement — lol!) that had been sent to us as a gift several years ago.
It was a wonderful flavorful medium-​body red & DID go perfectly with the pheasant.