Long Weekend Escapes: Your Guide to Tasting Virginia's Wine Country

In our series on long weekend getaways, we’re helping you maximize your summer Fridays, school breaks, and the season's extended daylight. Check back weekly for inspiring itineraries and simple city retreats.

No need to travel all the way to Napa and Sonoma for exceptional wine. If you're in the DC metro area, you're just a 90-minute drive (traffic permitting) from expansive, pristine vineyards cultivating top-quality grapes.

Virginia's Piedmont region spans a vast, picturesque rural area perfect for grape cultivation. It’s vibrant, peaceful, and filled with wonderful dining and drinking experiences. (For those who prefer, there are also local breweries and distilleries producing beer and whiskey.)

Charlottesville, the largest city nearby and home to the University of Virginia, is worth a visit. However, we suggest exploring the surrounding countryside, which offers much more than just culinary delights (though we won’t judge if that’s your sole focus). Here are five ways to enjoy a delightful long summer weekend in Virginia's wine country.

Experience the Inn at Little Washington

For those with a generous budget, the Inn at Little Washington is an absolute essential. Under the guidance of owner and chef Patrick O'Connell, the Inn is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and boasts one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the nation. Be sure to make your dinner reservations in advance, choose the wine pairing, and don’t skip the cheese course (you'll thank us later). After such a sumptuous meal, you may find it hard to venture far, so why not stay overnight in one of the Inn’s charming, French countryside-style rooms?

Use your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to book through Hotels.com and rack up 10x miles on your stay until January 31, 2020. Plus, you can benefit from the Hotels.com Rewards program, which offers a complimentary night for every 10 nights booked, effectively doubling your return to 20% when using the Venture card.

Special Feature: During summer and fall Saturdays, the Inn hosts a local makers market featuring products from nearby artisans, including offerings from the Farm at Sunnyside and Bread & Water.

Embark on a winery tour

The region boasts numerous wineries, making it easy to discover them by simply driving around and following the signs. For a more curated experience, we highly recommend Barboursville Vineyard, set in a historic stone structure dating back to the 1800s. Its signature red Bordeaux blend, Octagon, has earned well-deserved accolades, and if you're lucky, you might be able to forage for black walnuts and hen of the woods mushrooms on the sprawling grounds.

To sample a comprehensive selection of Virginia wines, visit Early Mountain Vineyards, which is owned by AOL founder Steve Case. In addition to crafting their own delightful wines (don’t miss the newly released 2017 rosé), they offer a broad spectrum of Virginia wines in their tasting room, allowing you to savor selections from various local vineyards all in one visit. Other notable stops include Rappahannock Cellars, Michael Shaps Wineworks, and Glen Manor Vineyards.

Make sure to save some appetite for local beer, whiskey, and delicious food.

Not everyone enjoys wine. (Or perhaps you have an open palate and want to experience everything.) The charming town of Sperryville, located just over an hour from Charlottesville, is home to two craft breweries, a distillery, and a refined tasting menu. Hopkins Ordinary is a quaint B&B in Sperryville that brews its own beer in-house, using just one barrel and local barley sourced from neighbors Copper Fox Distillery. It features a cozy three-seat tasting room and a patio that transforms into a relaxed bar during the warmer weekends.

Nearby is Penn Druid, an innovative small-batch brewery that incorporates wild yeast into their exceptional beers, along with Copper Fox Distillery, renowned for its bourbon, rye, and single malt whiskey. They provide complimentary tours daily, and tastings are available for a modest fee. With all that alcohol, you might work up an appetite—be sure to secure a reservation at the newly established Three Blacksmiths, a tasting menu-only restaurant showcasing handcrafted dishes sourced from Rappahannock County and its vicinity, serving only 16 guests each night.

Embark on a wellness retreat

For those seeking a more health-focused escape, the Piedmont region nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains offers fantastic hiking options suitable for all skill levels. Shenandoah National Park is an excellent starting point, featuring 200,000 acres of forest, trails, and waterfalls waiting to be discovered. For a comprehensive wellness retreat, consider visiting the newly opened Eupepsia Wellness Center located on 256 acres near the Jefferson National Forest. The only other Eupepsia facility is in Dubai. At the Virginia site, guests can partake in retreats aimed at stress relief, relaxation, fitness, and weight management. The spa boasts a hydrotherapy section, a salt cave, hot stone chairs, and flotation therapy pools. Additionally, there's a modern fitness center, yoga and meditation sessions, and horseback riding opportunities.

Discover US history

This area is rich in history and is home to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate and plantation, which welcomes visitors. A variety of tours are available, including one that focuses on the Hemings family—enslaved individuals of the Jefferson household—and another inspired by the popular Broadway musical, "Hamilton: An American Musical." Additionally, President James Madison's estate, Montpelier, is nearby and features an extensive multimedia exhibit on slavery, a tour centered on the Constitution, and a tour that highlights First Lady Dolley Madison and other notable women from the estate.