capitol vineyard

Your first impression will be to drive on by, and you won't regret it if you do. But if you're on that country road anyway, ignore the appearance of the "tasting room" (which is a run down old house right by the road) and stop for a tasting. They had a decent variety, and the wines actually were pretty good.

Although the web site is still there, the recording on the phone makes no mention, and the sign on the front of the building still posts its hours, the little tasting room at Capitol Vineyards is locked up tighter than a drum. Emails sent to the listed address are returned as being unable to be delivered because the mailbox is full (?). Upon returning home after a disappointing drive out to Sage Road, I did find 3600 Sage Road as a ReMax listing!

Visited Capital Vineyard Sept 2013. The directions on the Virginia Winery Guide was misleading and confusing; appears to try to fool the drivers into taking this arduous winding path for 10-miles into cow-poop country before they release nothing out here worth the effort. There were no Grapes or vines growing anywhere; everything barren. The gravel road leading to the Vineyard appears to be purposely grated such that drivers must feel Rumble-Strips shaking the car (and occupants) violently for some miles so much that had to drive that distance at about 2-5 mph on dusty road. Road so narrow that constantly needed to drive into the muddy ditch so that oncoming traffic (too rude to wait, or even slow down) could get by; road was a bit less than 1-lane wide. There was no lodge (farm-house viewed in distance); tiny parking area. View was of cow-pasture hillside of barren land. Obviously, the Vineyard owner lied in the Virginia Wine Guide when they said it was romantic, good for picnics, or other Sales-Points, etc.. No one in their right mind would ever suffer this effort to come all the way out here again. Avoid at all costs.

Read the other reviews for what they are - yuppie coupon users who want the Rockefeller treatment, super paved winery parking lots, granite counters, and lobster and filet for the price of a cheese sandwich and complain when they don’t get it and just write bad reviews (like its way out in the country and the road was windy). And now for the truth. As I always say, whether the wine is great, good or bad is YOUR taste. I found all their wines to be flavorful, rich and the varieties base taste as they should and for my taste ALL were very good and at a very reasonable cost, especially for a small new winery (3 years). The wine tasting room is in an old small building that was a general store for many years. Their home page makes no claims of some million dollar tasting facility, just a place to taste their wines. Its one simple room with a large u shaped counter that dates back to the general store days with stools. Sorry, no wine themed trivets, dried flowers, olive oils, wooden eggs, postcards, cider mixes, or other stuff to buy. Just wine for sale. JUST a nice small place to taste the wine with your server probably being one of the two owners. Both sill work full time on the Hill in DC and are striving to help all of us with another winery. The owner who served me was very pleasant, gave just enough information about each wine to help me enjoy it without the usual BS most pourers try to give you. There were 4 other people there when I was there and she was polite and friendly to all. Based on their comments about the wine they were tasting she made suggestions about what else they might like and gladly gave additional pours and even other vintages of the same wine on the list so we could taste the differences before what we might want to purchase. I wound up getting two bottles of different vintages and was pleased that the tasting was then free. Unfortunately most wineries in the Northern Virginia or Shenandoah Valley area do take your tasting off it you make a purchase. So if you want to try some good wines from a small start up make sure you take a few minutes and come by. If you need the place with the 20 passenger wine tour bus, 30-40 dollar bottles of wine, the place selling the 4 dollar wedge of brie for 16 dollars and the crackers are extra, then pass Capitol Vineyards up and head to DC to the wine shop, Oh and yes the state hasn’t put up a wine tour sign for them yet but all you do is turn off of Route 55 and head for the winery.

Stopped here on the way from one winery to another. No one else was there which is unusual for wineries in the area. One of the owners was doing the tasting but seemed bored with the whole session. The wines were okay but did not take any home with us. The tasting room building was in disrepair. Generally a lackluster tasting. Hopefully as they become more successful most of these issues will change.

We live near Leesburg and have visited nearly every winery in NoVA. Capitol is one of the few to which we've made a return visit. They are a bit further afield than most, and have worked the coupon sites to generate more traffic. But there are three reasons we went back: the wine is really good, the owners are really great, and they serve wine in the cutest little glasses (which we use mostly for juice). This is probably one of the smallest wineries in Virginia. They make 1/10th of the amount of other local places. But their Viognier and Merlot are among the best we've tasted. The Merlot in particular is a standout. Great body and flavor. They also have the coolest labels. Lauren and Matt are young entrepreneurs who really love what they do. The started a good thing here, and will continue to improve and grow it. Yes, there are more comfortable tasting rooms, but this is a wonderful little place down a winding country road, and if you keep your sense of adventure and humor about you, you will enjoy it. Capitol is near Cobbler Mountain and Aspen Dale, both of which are worth a visit, esp Aspen Dale.

We invited our best friends for an afternoon out and boy were we embarrassed. I can not believe they are trying to sell themselves as a winery. We were worried that the floor of the shack was going to collapse. The staff was not friendly nor knowledgeable. A huge waste of money and time. I would never recommend this to anyone. Travelzoo should really check out places they sell tickets for because this was a disgrace.

Remember the old adage "getting there is half the fun", well it's an interesting voyage to Capitol Vineyards (where there really isn't a vineyard). If you exit off of I-66 you have 5 miles of winding one lane roads ahead of you but if you exit at 18 you have about 2 miles of windy roads. The winery is a small building at the bottom (off of exit 18) of a hill or before you ascend the hill (exit 23). You'd miss it if you blink. There is no signage half mile away denoting you're almost there. The parking only has enough spaces for approximately 15 cars and it's quite interesting as it's grassy, uneven and the driveway is gravel. Also there is no restrooms in the "tasting room" so there is one port a jon right next to the building. Like many people who were there today, I had a Groupon for a free tasting, 2 glasses and wine/cheese plate. The Groupon as well as their website stated you had to make a reservation which we did. However, the majority of people did not and they seemed to get waited on a lot quicker than those of us who had the reservations. That was beyond annoying because we were pushed to the side and made to wait a half hour past our reservations at 2:00. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem but I had a babysitter and the clock was running. So we were finally waited on and rushed through. The Viognier was just okay but the Traminette was decent enough for a "porch sipping wine" so I picked up two. The Merlot was just okay, the Cabs were okay but nothing to write home about. The Meritage was decent and I purchased one of those. Approximately $76 later I was wondering what possessed me to purchase these over priced wines. I believe they are only open on weekends and seem to do a lot of "Groupon" type business. Their glasses are stemless and the cheese plates aren't that spectacular. They only had a few seats on the "porch" of the old building, not enough for all the people who were there. There is an old house in the back but we didn't go back that far as it was raining.They also do not grow any of the grapes they use for their wines on the property. The girl who had very little time for us told me that they have some land near Charlottesville where some grapes are grown and they get their grapes from other wineries through a Co-op. My biggest complaint about this place is they say on their website anyway that you need reservations, yet when you make them you get the shaft and those without get all the service. I was wondering if the Fire Marshall showed up if they'd be shut down. I have another one that I bought that expires sometime in Oct but I think I'll just eat that as their wines are pricey, it's hard to get to, terrible parking situation and a dinky wine tasting room. I would not recommend this place although it does have potential.

A couple months ago, I found a Groupon or Travelzoo (can't recall which) voucher for Capitol Vineyards, and we were in the area yesterday having a great time and thought we'd try it out. When we pulled up, we were confused and almost didn't stop. The 'winery' appeared to be a small building by the road (which we later realized was their tasting room) and then an old farmhouse set back on the property. No lush green vines that we're used to seeing surrounding the house and outbuildings, but we're kind of adventurous, I was curious and we had a groupon for free cheese, so we pulled in. Parking was interesting at best. The parking area is uneven and grassy, and you walk across the gravel driveway into their garden area, which is basically just exactly like your Uncle Waylon's backyard with 15 wrought iron tables sitting in the uneven grass that he was too lazy to get up that morning and mow. There were umbrellas on some tables, and someone had gone to Lowe's and purchased potted flowers or bushes or something, but I couldn't tell what they were because they were still in the black Lowe's pots, tipped over and dead. There is a fire pit thing that is all rusted and sitting to one side. The dead flower/bushes are on either side of that, presumably for kindling. Every table was full, and I for one couldn't figure it out. We had two servers, one of whom was fairly knowledgeable, the other said things like "this is Cab Franc, it's peppery" and walked away. I was actually surprised at the wines. They were pretty tasty, and we ended up buying a bottle of Merlot. Anyway, my opinion is that the wine was ridiculously expensive for the way it was presented. The least expensive bottle was $23... and I've paid less than that for better wine and nicer venues.ok, here's where I get nasty. I don't like being mean, but I'm going to break this down for you. I asked to use the restroom and was directed to go into the house. The house is clearly being lived in, which made the whole potty experience kind of ooky for me. I am admittedly OCD and a little weird about bathroom time. Anyway, they were out of toilet paper, there was nothing under the sink and then only thing to dry my hands after washing them were three regular hand towels. They didn't LOOK dirty, but I was scared because of the lack of toilet paper what the people sitting in the sun pounding wine might think was a good substitute for it, and I left the bathroom drip drying all over. Yeah I know, pretty, right? I realize people need to make a living, and I completely understand the need to start small. The product is pretty good... but they don't grow grapes on site yet and as far as I know, they don't produce the wine there... so you're really honestly just sitting in their backyard drinking overpriced wine. To me, a winery is a destination. A respite. NOT a reminder that I need to tell my son to mow the lawn and water the plants or that my toilet could use another Clorox tab. Presentation is EVERYTHING in this kind of business, and they get an F- for it. One of our servers, while very nice, had filthy fingernails. She served our cheese. Again, presentation. And where is their ABC permit or health department certificate? After my bathroom adventure, I was looking. It's possible that a visit to the tasting room would be a completely different experience... but with amazing wineries right in that area, we're likely never going back to try it out. It's a shame, because as I said earlier, the product they're selling isn't bad. The 'winery' is nestled into a beautiful area and with a little effort, it COULD be one of those great, small, destination wineries. Unfortunately for us, it was just a disappointment.

Good Afternoon,My boyfriend and I bought a voucher from travel zoo to go to the Capitol Vineyard in Delaplane Va for a nice weekend away. When we arrived at the vineyard it was nasty and run down. It was nothing like the pictures or what the write up said it would be. It was false advertisement from the Capitol Vineyard. We were suppose to take a tour of the tasting room and do our tasting inside but we didnt. They had us sit outside in the heat with the bugs flying around you while you were trying to eat a cheese tray, plus they served us hot wine to drink and they gave us dirty wine glasses at first. All in all it was a very bad expirence. So I would recommend if you bought a voucher to this vineyard to get your money back because it is not worth your time and money to go there.