I typically only review wineries…but I’ll make an exception here, because this is very much a stop for Virginia wine lovers.

First of all, Curio is operated by Rogers Ford Farm Winery, which was actually my very first wine club and still a favorite to visit. Not coincidentally, Rogers Ford was also the first winery to introduce me to one of my all-time favorite grapes, petit verdot.

Second, you can find a lot of Virginia wine here, and not just from Rogers Ford. Of course they sell Rogers Ford here, but when I visited they had Old House on tap, and owner Johnny Puckett is interested in adding more.

Curio is located in downtown Fredericksburg. I’ve often visited this town to tour the local history sites, but this was the first time I’ve visited the town for wine (although I may have to visit for mead as well, since I noticed Haley’s Honey Meadery is up the street).

Johnny recently retired from his full-time job as an IT guy, although the words ‘retirement’ and ‘winery owner’ rarely go together. So it wasn’t a coincidence that Curio opened only a few weeks later.

Curio is a wine bar, but it’s also something of a satellite tasting room for Rogers Ford wine. Club members can find all their wines here (and still receive their club discounts). But it’s not *just* Rogers Ford; you will find a wide assortment of wines from across the world.

One thing that makes this place different from a traditional ‘wine bar’ is they use WineStations to pour your wine. The way the system operates is you buy a debit card that you charge up, then insert the card in the machine. You then select the size of your pour (1 ounce, 3 ounces, 6 ounces) from the wine you want. The machine debits your card the appropriate amount, and automatically pours your wine.

If I had one complaint…is this system makes it almost *too* easy to sample a lot. You’d think 1 ounce isn’t a lot. But when are curious and have a dozen samples to choose from, it goes fast!

I visited the second weekend after their grand opening and Johnny was there serving flatbreads and chatting up new visitors. He explained that ‘Curio’ was selected because he wanted guests to be curious about both wine and people. You can sample a wide assortment of wines, but he was also intent that you chat-up your neighbors.

I charged my card with $30, and between a guests and I we sampled a wide assortment of wine. Being a fan of Rogers Ford I started with his orange wine, but as soon as that was gone I moved to his petit verdot then a few other international wines.

For this visit I went through samples of Johnny’s orange wine, PV, and cab franc, plus several other wines. Make sure to visit the patio outside.

Apologies if the photos have bad lighting; I was more worried about eating the flatbreads than photography.