the winery at la grange

We went and decided to make a decision on their chardonnay without first paying their high price for a tasting ($13). (We have an issue paying too much for tasting, as we enjoy wine... we go to wineries with the goal of enjoying a new winery and what they have to offer and buying at least one, if not more bottle(s) while there)When asking about the chardonnay, the lady wasn't very descriptive, but we bought it anyway. After pouring it, we noticed it was VERY cloudy. It was a 2011 chardonnay made with VA grapes and VA grapes in 2011 weren't very good overall since it was such a wet year. I'm sure there are wineries who made a chardonnay in 2011, but we don't recall any. We have seen lots of rosés from 2011 though and the grape worked well for rosé. In fact, the rosés we've had were even better looking than this chardonnay!So, we took it back after opening it and the lady we talked to wasn't willing to offer an exchange or do more than to say it was a "cosmetic flaw" that caused the cloudiness and they "had it tested" and it's ok to drink.I'm not sure what this means... don't know what "tests" were done, but part of enjoying wine is the nose, the clarity/looks and the taste. We can deal with sediment, but for it to look like dirty pond water is unacceptable!Anyway... We were NOT impressed. And the fact that they charge $29 for this wine and that's rather high-priced for a VA chardonnay.... I can say that no one from the party I was a part of was impressed by this wine, the answer I got nor the taste of this wine. So, we're not going back.As for the venue - it looks very historic and is beautiful!

Stopped in after hiking all day at Bull Run Mountain. We arrived in the dark so couldn't tell how the grounds or vineyard looked but the tasting room was quaint and offered several areas to sit the socialize with a group. It's worth checking out all of the areas on the porch past the tasting area, the two lounge areas on the second floor and the basement/cellar seating areas. Be careful though, the ceiling is low for tall people. (it's in the basement:-) As for the wines, the tasting is $13 for 3 whites and 3 reds. They also had warm red cider (made from a house wine, cider and spices). Quite frankly, the cider was the best of all we tasted and it's not for sale. Unfortunately, they do not have any of the their full bodied REDs on the tasting so you're out of luck there if you're looking for those kinds of Reds. We bought a bottle of Cab Franc which was pretty pricey for a VA wine but thought we'd indulge.It probably way over priced for VA wines and not sure they really match up to CA wines if you are wine club member of any of the CA wineries in Napa or Sonoma. We are, so we didn't expect much but did enjoy ourselves anyway. It was nice to stop in after hiking all day and would probably go back during the Spring or Fall when out there again to enjoy the grounds and place to chill and maybe have a glass of wine. We kept comparing to our tasting experiences of CA wine country and you can't. Just enjoy it for a decent VA wine and neat little tasting room/area.

A fun place, great for a picnicGreat historyGhost storiesA great history of husband wife stresses

So after hearing great things about this winery, we were quite disappointed with the visit. First of all, the price point. $13 tasting fee, and bottles as high as $58. Where are we, Napa? I realize that this area tends to have some higher income people, so perhaps they are catering to them. Frankly, I found the service to be poor, got few details on any of the wines and had to ask another staff member, and didn't find a single bottle I would have paid $20 for, never mind the more common $40 price tag.

We recently joined the Wine Club at La Grange and this was our first Wine Club member event. They closed off the back yard for the Wine Club Member event this past Sunday, Father's Day. It was so festive and fun!!!! There were lots of families, the kids enjoyed the afternoon as much as the grown ups. There were several special wines available for tasting and purchase, ones that are not usually available, so that was a special treat. And there was delicious sangria, cool and refreshing, sold by the glass or mason jar. They had live music on the "Crush Pad". There were plenty of picnic tables, and some folks brought their own chairs and picnic blankets. Lots of people had beautiful picnic baskets brimming with yummy food, all good with the great La Grange wines. The Po Boy food truck served up Cajun fare, and "Cakes by Shelby" was there as well with her cake pops, push up cupcakes, and fresh strawberry shortcake, sweeeeeet!!! We had such a good time that we decided to hold my 50th birthday party there this Summer. So glad we joined the Club, and we're looking forward to many more wonderful events.

I used to love to go to this beautiful winery whenever I have free time to go to Haymarket area. I love this winery so much that I even signed up and spent $1,000 plus taxes when the former marketing manager asked me to become their winery's private Barrel Club member in 2012. Since a brand new French oak barrel cost around $900 to $1,000, the winery can save the cost of purchasing the new oak barrel and produce about 300 bottles of wine each year. After four years, the new barrel will lost most of it's oak flavor and not suitable for aging wine that required the oak integration. At the mean time, the Barrel Club member will receive 12 bottles of wine in each November for four years, plus free tastings when they visit the winery. This is one of ways for a winery to pass the production cot to their customers since they will be able to sell 288 bottles of wine without spending on the cost of expensive new oak barrel each year. When I visited the La Grange again with my friends in July, 2013, I was approached by the new marketing manager and asked me to sign up for the Wine Club member with one year commitment of spending about $160 for six mixed bottles of wine they selected for us every three months, which is scheduled to be picked up on every September, November. February and May. I decided to join the wine club and become their "double-club" member because I have enjoyed going to their winery through out the years. Since I live in Maryland, it's quite a distance to the winery and I had to drive about one hour each way to pick up the Wine Club wines. Therefore, I asked the winery to pre-charged my first quarterly shipment, for example September shipment and pick up the second shipment all together when I visit their winery since they do not have the license to ship wines to Maryland.Everything went well for the first two shipments when I picked up my September and November's shipments in La Grange last October. However, the nightmare started right after that since they charged me twice for November shipment to my credit card on file by signing up the Wine Club member. I sent an email with several follow-up emails to the winery and finally got the billing part straight by having the double-charge amount applied to next shipment, which is this February.As everyone who lives in DC area that suffered a worse cold winter during the last decade, I emailed the winery in early February and advised them I will go to the winery to pick up the February and May shipment together just as what I did with previous shipment last October. In addition, I will relocate to west coast in June so I sent two follow-up emails, 30 days and a week in advanced form my visit date just to be sure these wines are ready for me to pick up. When I arrived at the La Grange on April 27, I have noticed something different since last visit in October, 2013. It seems that grass was quite long for a professional business and also found mostly new faces for their staff members. I was surprised when they told me the shipment for May wines weren't ready to pick up, despite the number of email communications I have had with the winery and just only a few more days to May. The staff worked in the front desk told me to come back again to pick up the wines sometime in May. Later a gentleman named Kevin, who seems to be the manager of Wine Club came and told me that he will personally deliver the shipment for May to my home on following Tuesday(April29). He asked me to pay for the May shipment and we settled the charge by credit card on the spot on April 27.I waited all day for Kevin to show up in my home on April 29. However, Kevin has never showed up or called me to inform his status that day. I called the winery around 3:30pm and spoke to a lady inquired about the delivery status with Kevin. She simply told me their winery is having the staff shortage problem and asked me to solve this issue with Kevin since he was having the day off that day. I emailed the winery that evening and asked them to get in touch with me and also told them this is not the right way to treat their loyal customer who is both a Barrel and Wine Club member. It has been more than two weeks already since I last contacted the winery by phone and email, sadly no one has yet contacted me from the La Grange as of today.In addition, please pay attention on the cork taint issue with their Chardonnay. I found two bottles of their chardonnay were infected by the cork taint in last two shipments that I received from the winery. Although cork taint is not harmful to the health, it will caused the unpleasant flavors in wine.It's really sad to post a negative review on the winery I've enjoyed going there through the years. Hope this review will bring their attention and get their management back on track in time. At the same time, also share my experience with other consumers so they are aware the potential risk by joining their Wine Club.

This last fall (October 2013) we visited our favorite La Grange Vineyard and was sadden by the fact it was sectioned off for members only. This crowded more people into non member section and took away from the atomsphere that we were so attrached too. I called today (04/19/14) just to see if that was a one time thing but was told that the roping off to members was a regular occurance. Looks like we will have to have another favorite place.

The last time I was there they did not have there own wine there it was from some of their other winery's . Still a great place to chill with a glass and some cheese or bread.

We toured some NOVA wineries this weekend, and of the four we tried that day, these wines were by far the best, HOWEVER they were also by far more expensive (more than 2.5x as expensive in some cases!). I don't recommend this place for beginner wine tasters or those that look like they don't have money...we felt very out of place here and the gentleman who gave us our $15 wine tasting (yes, that's PER PERSON), did a horrible job. He gave us the bare minimum information, and I got more from the paper in front of me than from him. The winery itself was beautiful and you got good size tastings, but we certainly will never be going back here again. Our wine tasting for 2 cost almost as much as a bottle of GOOD wine! Ridiculous! The only reason they got 3 stars from me is because they did have good wines.

We have always liked visiting La Grange for some down time and a glass of wine on the weekends. Over the last three years we have seen change in management and owners and most importantly a change in price. In the last two years they have increased some wines over 52%. Now, I don’t mind paying for quality but the fact if they are now well outside of my QPR (Quality Price Ratio). There are dozens of wineries in the area that offer comparable wines at a much more reasonable price point than La Grange. I’m not sure if they are trying to capitalize on their recent success, but I would warn them not to effectively price themselves out of the market.

We wanted to enjoy a beautiful sunny fall afternoon in the country and we chose this winery. We chose well! The grounds were beautiful, the views wonderful and the old manor house was outstanding! We visited on a Friday afternoon, so we did not have a crowd to fight or compete with and the service we received was impeccable. The gentleman that served as was quite a conversationalist, friendly, personable and very knowledgeable about the wines. We felt welcomed and well taken care of...not on an assembly line like some other vineyards we have visited. They are open later than most also. If you are looking for a pleasant, memorable experience for an afternoon with your Honey..this is a place!

Visited with friends today on this hot 90+degree first day of September. Vineyard celebrating their 7th anniversary. Many, many people. Initially thought this spoke highly of the vineyards.. not sure at this point. Pros: Beautiful grounds, view, manor house. Festive atmosphere, great music (two guitarists out front were great!) picnic tables, front porch tables, very nice area to be outside. Vineyards are beautiful. Cons: Inside wine tasting/ Acknowledge that this was a busy day for them. Still, when you are charging $15 for a tasting of 10 wines, it would be nice to have the pourer a bit more interested in sharing his knowledge of each wine to a degree that exceeds name, rank, and serial number. I have never felt as rushed through a tasting as I did here. Again, understand that they were slammed, but this is a WINE tasting - not java. it was obvious after the second minimal pour (very small amounts of wine were poured) that we were being served with the Bum's rush in this pourer's mind. When you consider that a bottle of wine here is $22-42 dollars, plus a glass of wine is $9.00, add to that two $15 tastings, and we "Bums" that were being rushed through were about to spend $100 after a rush tasting that may have lasted 5 minutes. As I type this, I wish the wine had not been as good as it was! Truth be told, the price sticker on this winery is too much for the knowledge you don't gain, and the time not spent sharing their joy for what they do for a living... making wine! Sharing the joys of your great wine should be job one, right? We all have bad days, I guess. Hope the pourer we had has a better one tomorrow. To be clear, this is a beautiful vineyard, growing in popularity, and reach, as it is now owned by an investor from China... The wine is very good---- The owner and workers would do well to remember that they are not the only vineyard in Virginia.. Share some of your joy with us, that is why we make the trip to see you... to learn from you.

I wanted to plan a family get together and suggested this winery, because I visited this past May with a friend and really enjoyed it. My sister and I were excited to do a tasting and then select our favorite bottles to share with our parents and my husband. The interaction we had the with man serving the tastings at the bar was really too odd to not share. We presented our ID's before the tasting. The employee very rudely told my sister he could NOT serve her because her Virginia's drivers license was vertical not horizontal. We responded that it was valid, was no where near the expiration date and her birthday very clearly stated she was over 21. He continued to say this was a new law in Virginia and it did not matter what her birthday was, he could not serve someone with a vertical license. My sister frequents wineries in Virginia and also has purchased alcohol at stores and restaurants and we have NEVER heard of this before. However, when another employee approached the bar his story and mannerisms changed and he said oh, but I can serve you here. Weird right? He then preceded to keep talking about it and his story of what the law was and how he learned of it just kept changing. We looked up online later that night to see if there was a new Va law preventing people with valid vertical licenses from being served and could find nothing substantial. This was a great winery and fun day with family but this bizarre interaction with this specific employee really rubbed us the wrong way. Based on his changing story and lack of evidence about this "law" leads us to conclude he probably just wanted to have some sort of confrontation. As guests, we wanted to relax and enjoy wine and spend time as a family and my sister was upset because for a period of time she really thought she wouldn't get served even though she was completely legal. All that being said, this really is a nice winery and a great place to bring kids and dogs. I just wish this employee had a better ability to interact with guests.

Pack a lunch or dinner and buy a bottle of wine. It's a relaxing afternoon or evening picnic. "Not Napa Valley" but enjoyable.

Beautiful grounds, excellent wine, live music...what more could you ask for on a summer afternoon. This place is a hidden treasure...and so close to the DC suburbs.