Valley Road Vineyards in the Rockfish Valley
by James A, Bacon
Congress just passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, but I’ll tell you who needs some stimulus after a year of COVID-19 shutdown — it’s the Bacon family. Laura and I recently got vaccination shots (one each), so we figure we’re at reduced risk of catching the virus and as long as we practiced proper mask wearing and social distancing, we’d be OK. So, we hit the road this afternoon with the goal of pumping a little stimulus of our own into Virginia’s wine industry.
First stop: Thatch Winery, which is located about halfway between Charlottesville and Scottsville. We both sampled flights of wine (pretty much the whole point of our expedition), which were quite good. What struck my fancy, though, was how cool it was that Virginia has a building with a thatched roof (hence the name of the vineyard).
There’s the main building above. But what’s super cool about thatched roofs is not that they’re made of straw (which is awesome in itself) but that you can do such creative things with straw. Take a look at this close-up:
Look at the detail. That’s artisanship. Try doing that with asphalt shingles!
Next stop was the Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards, several miles west of Thatch. Pippin Hill seems not to have suffered any hardship during the COVID epidemic. The parking lot was full, and there were so many happy wine bibbers that they filled all the socially distanced tables indoors and spilled onto the lawn where they could enjoy the scenery.
Third stop was the Valley Road Vineyard, aptly named, as it is located right off the main road through the Rockfish Valley. Of the three vineyards, I would describe it as the best place to have fun. There were clusters of brightly colored chairs arranged around metal firepits giving off just the right amount of aromatic smoke. This is the place to come if you’re in a group of people and want to drink and chatter with friends.
Ideally, Laura and I would have visited these wineries in May when the trees had all turned green and all the colors were bright and intense. These photos don’t do them justice. But it felt mighty fine getting out of the house. And we can always go back!
