Leesburg Wineries

On Sunday 27 May we decided that we need a grown-ups’ day out. Jack was away for the weekend with one of his friends and Georgia would be visiting one of her friends out near Leesburg about 20 miles to the north west of Great Falls. She needed a lift there which was ideal for us because the countryside to the north of Leesburg is full of vineyards, or wineries as the Americans tend to call them.

Bluemont Vineyard

Dropping Georgia off at her friend’s house, we were given a great tip about a nearby winery; Bluemont Vineyard. The restaurant and tasting rooms are housed in a building which sits on top of a nearby hill with the vines laid out in neat rows below. The winery was already very busy but we managed to find an empty table on the balcony.

The fabulous views down over the Virginia countryside from the Bluemont Vineyard

From this vantage point we had a superb view down over the Virginia countryside. It’s a great spot to try out some of their wine. They had excellent 6 glass holders, each with a different one of some wines produced on site. Testing was great fun and a good accompaniment to the really nice wood-fired oven pizza we ordered to keep hunger pangs at bay.

However, this was a grown-ups’ day out [Ed: not lunch out], so visiting just one vineyard was not enough. We pored over the map and some internet sites and picked our next venue, Stone Tower Winery.

Stone Tower Winery

This was close by but had a completely different feel to it. The large outdoor terrace was busy but inside the bar area was crammed. You could enjoy a tasting with commentary from one of the bar staff but, instead, we decided to buy a bottle to enjoy on the terrace. We picked out 4 wines that we thought might be nice and found whittling the list down to the one to buy was made much easier when the barman poured us a taster of each of them.

Reassured that we had made a choice that we would all enjoy, we relaxed on sofas out on the terrace. There was a wedding and reception going on in the rooms and terrace below us and we saw that another building out to the west was used for whisky tasting. From the balcony there was a pleasant view over the winery but it wasn’t in the same league as the one at Bluemont. Nevertheless, it was a most excellent way to spend the afternoon and it gave us ample time to continue our conversation with Phil and Lesley about how they found living in the USA. And of course, the conversation frequently returned to how President Trump’s recent actions on the diplomatic stage seem to be polarizing American views in a ‘love him or hate him’ fashion.

Returning to Great Falls it was time for a traditional English roast dinner. During our travels we had missed that culinary pleasure and so it was a delight to be spoilt with a beautifully cooked roast chicken and all the trimmings produced by Phil.

Leesburg Wineries, VA, USA