Colonial Winery: Williamsburg Winery

Historically housed winery

As my journey continued south to North Carolina I was hoping to make it to The Williamsburg Winery before closing as it was well after 4pm after my New Kent stop. I checked my 2011 VA Wine map it gave one closing time, my new 2012 map gave another set of hours as did their website and the VA Wine in My Pocket app. Seriously? So I called old-fashioned style and found they were open until 6pm, excellent! I arrived and found that a tasting had just started so they let me join the group. What I didn't realize is that everyone else had a tour before hand.

A Winery Resident

I learned in the tasting that Williamsburg has more guests annually than any other Virginia winery, I suppose that makes sense given the town is a tourist destination. What I also found is because of that they are definitely prepared for folks new to wine tasting. This was evident when our server swirled each taster's glass after pouring the wine. There were probably about 12 people in on this tasting so by the time he got to me I was just ready for him to pour and let me swirl my own glass. The tasting included 7 wines for $6 and I think they gave everyone a corkscrew when they took the tour.  My favorite wine on the tasting was the 2006 Gabriel Archer Reserve which is close to a Meritage since it blends Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, Merlot & Petit Verdot.

It all worked out when we finished up the tasting I was chatting with another staff member and he graciously gave me an impromptu tour and some additional tastings including the amazing 2008 Adagio ($65 a bottle or I would have picked it up), and the 2010 Susan Constant Red a Syrah. He also told me about the Reserve Tasting for $36 per person which sounded like something I'd enjoy on my next trip down. Since I was traveling solo this wine stop was rather impromtu, next time I'll stick to my regular recon before the trek.