Paradise Springs Winery: The New Tasting Room

My first visit to Paradise Springs Winery was a year and half before. I've heard a lot of praise for their new tasting room and wanted to see for myself what the hype was about. We made it our second and what we thought would be our final stop for the day.

The tasting room was huge, beautiful and luxurious. As the closest winery to DC it was packed, very packed. All of the tables, stools & outdoor couches were occupied. We stepped up to the bar, but there was a wait. Unlike some other wineries there was no host, no server also greeting folks. We stood there unacknowledged for 15 to 20 minutes, to worried that if we left our spot we would miss our turn for the tasting. First of this irritated us, second I hated the feeling of hovering over the other guests who were trying to enjoy their tasting. This tasting was not off to a great start, but we hadn't had the wine yet.

We got up to the bar and our server was very nice, but mentioned nothing of our wait or their busy day. or $7 we tried 7 wines. Most of us did enjoy the 2009 Reserve Cab Sav and the 2009 Meritage. The price points for their wines are higher by the glass and bottle than other vineyards. It seems as though Paradise Springs has geared themselves toward the city crowds who want to visit the vineyards, but not get too far from the Beltway. Unfortunately this experience was less than mediocre, instead of sitting and enjoying their wines like we originally intended we quickly left and searched for the next closest option.

Original TJ from the 1870s