Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours, LLC
by
Terry Sullivan
It is often easier to leave the driving to someone else. When touring wineries this is a relief from following maps or GPS directions. Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours, LLC offers tours to wineries in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. They will pick guests up at local Charlottesville hotels and bed and breakfast facilities to visit local wineries. Tourists will soon discover this is not the ordinary tour company.
Erika and Chris Goodell created Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours. They own a one-acre vineyard and bed and breakfast in Charlottesville. We were guests at the bed and breakfast and Chris took us on a tour of three wineries. Our tour went a bit further away from Charlottesville, since we had already visited many of the wineries closer to town. While in the van, Chris spoke of the area and we talked about wine. Many of the guests on the wine tours are new to wine. Chris provides a packet with information about the wineries, wine definitions and a quiz. The novice can learn a great deal about wine while riding in the van, while experienced wine enthusiasts can test their knowledge. If the wineries visited are crowded, which can occur on some weekends, Chris doubles as the tasting consultant and will conduct the tasting. Personal attention to the guests and building on their wine knowledge are important goals of the wine tour experience.
Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours provides a gourmet lunch or appetizer tray at one of the wineries. Erika and Chris believe that guests need to have something to eat while spending the day tasting wines. They also have plenty of water in the van.
The first winery visited was Lovingston Winery, a small boutique winery south of Charlottesville. This family-run winery is making quality wines and has reasonable prices. They were some of the best wines tasted in the Charlottesville area. The winery facility was designed to take advantage of gravity flow. Grapes are delivered to the winery at the upper level and eventually will age on the bottom level. A small tasting room area is built between the two levels and guests have views of the winery. During our early December visit, wine in barrels was undergoing the malolactic fermentation.
Our second winery visit took us to Sugarleaf Vineyards located in a pastoral setting south of Charlottesville. What began as a hobby turned into a full-setting, south of Charlottesville. The vineyard and winery enterprise is owned by Jerry and Lauren Maillian Bias. Visitors can experience a sense of calm wile sampling wines in the tasting room that overlooks the vineyard and countryside. A doorway off the tasting room provides an area to view the winery below.
For the last stop we visited Blenheim Vineyards in Charlottesville. The tasting room is located on the second level of a large facility and the winery is located on the first level. A glass floor provides views with an unusual perspective of the winery below. The tasting counters are at an end of the room in front of windows overlooking the vineyards. Blenheim Vineyards is owned by Dave Matthews. The celebrity owner has given winemaker, Kirsty Harmon, reign over the winemaking requiring her to make the best wines she can.
Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours provides a casual and relaxing visit to three or four wineries in the Charlottesville area. Personal attention to their guests and gentle wine education make this wine tour stand out from others. Consider staying at the Arcady Vineyards Bed and Breakfast where you can spend the night in luxury. Wine is a theme of your stay and the gourmet breakfast will prepare you for a day of wine tasting.
Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours, LLC
Website
1376 Sutlers Rd
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-872-9475
Cell: 434-960-0820
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