Stone Tower Winery

[genericeric]

We stumbled across Stone Tower Winery a year or two ago after receiving a promo coupon from Belfort (Huber family owns both).  Well, who am I kidding, no one 'stumbles' across Stone Tower which is accessible via a gravel road in need of some TLC a few miles south of Leesburg.  Side note - most of the people driving on this road don't seem to have a good sense of how to drive on gravel... or maybe they've had too much wine.

Stone Tower has two main areas - the Harvest Barn for those of us with dogs and kids, and what I can only refer to as the grown up section, as I've never had a chance to get over there.  In between is a hillside with lovely views of the Virginia countryside and cutthroat competition for seats on weekends (bring a lawn chair - problem solved).  They also have some of the nicer restrooms in an outbuilding I've come across - even better that they remain relatively clean after a busy Saturday.  It does get quite busy but the property is also large - it doesn't often feel as swamped as some other nearby options.

Bottom line is, it is a nice place to spend an afternoon.

Stone Tower has two labels - the estate label from fruit grown on-site, and the Wild Boar label using fruit shipped in while they continue to expand the growing output of the vineyard.  If I have quibbles with the wine (which I do), it is because I tend to view their product in a higher tier than many other NoVA wineries.  They produce two very serviceable Bordeaux blends (left and right) and a nice blend.  Their Cabernet is pleasant - Pinot in general isn't my jam but friends have enjoyed it.  The Malbec was the real star of the previous release, but I feel they did themselves a disservice by including the latest Malbec in the wine club too early - it is definitely too young.  And while I'm not normally a big sparkling rose fan, their Rose Cuvee has a nice balance of not being too sweet and a little complex, while still being a good drinker on a warm day.

Their club is quite flexible - you're charged by the discounted bottle price that quarter, and can swap in and out as you want with the price difference charged or refunded.

Edit: They ran out of the Rose Cuvee last Saturday, so going to be a few months before available.  They do seem consistently behind in production, but so far I haven't seen them double clubs, reduce the count for tastings, etc.