In 2015-ish I decided I wanted to visit every winery in the state. Since this effort required a lot of note-taking, I made an excel spreadsheet of every winery, cidery, and meadery in the state.
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As of May 2023, I count 271 wineries, 33 cideries, and 13 meaderies, plus 25 wineries, cideries & meaderies that lack tasting rooms. I rename the spreadsheet according to the current date every time I update it. Because of this, check back periodically as I make new edits all the time.
Also, deciding what qualifies as a ‘Virginia winery’ is harder than it seems. Some wineries don’t have tasting rooms; others are so rarely open that it makes visiting them nearly impossible. Some ‘wineries’ are really just tasting rooms for wine made elsewhere in the state. Others are companies that only sell retail. A few businesses make wine but don’t use Virginia grapes, leading to me to wonder if they even qualify as a ‘Virginia winery’.
For the sake of maximum accuracy, I listed every winery, cidery, and meadery I could find in Virginia, even those which lack tasting rooms or are more of a wine distribution company.
- If a location had wine using Virginia fruit under their own label, I listed them as a winery.
- If a location had cider and/or mead as well as wine using Virginia fruit under their own label, I annotated that they have cider/mead but for tracking purposes I still list them primarily as a winery.
- If a location had mead and cider (but not wine), I listed them as a cidery.
- There is also a row for wine distribution companies or wineries or wine labels that lack tasting room, such as R.A.H or Turk Mountain wines.