Little Washington Winery and Brewery

December 13, 2024.. We’ll start this post with a little mystery that we shall answer as we go.  The mystery has to do with Little Washington Winery and Brewery having three locations in and around the town of Washington, in Rappahannock County.

The first location is on Clark Street which is poorly marked driveway directly off a four-lane divided highway next to the Shell station.  We tried to get there as soon after their posted opening time of 11 AM to get the best access to management and staff.  We climbed up a mountain to the top of the hill where sits an impressive mansion that reminded me of the hacienda in the old Falcon Crest TV show.   

Unfortunately, the hacienda was closed, and we seemed to be the only ones not aware of this fact in advance.  Nevertheless, after failing to reach the winery by phone and after calling down imprecations, we amended our itinerary and continued on our adventures.

The next day on a whim, we called Little Washington Winery and they answered that they were open for business – but at a second location on Christmas Tree Lane.  Christmas Tree Lane is another sharp turn off the highway and another climb to the tasting room.

Little Washington Winrey and Brewery is owned by Carl and Donna Hendrickson who moved to Virginia in 2010 and had their first planting in 2011.  Carl is one of Jim Law's students at Linden.  According to their website and other sources, they have around 55 acres under vine.  I believe that most of their wine is estate-grown.  The owners have not responded to my questions about acreage, case production, or whether production is on the property or contracted out.  If we receive this data, we might revise this post.  Little Washington Winery does not appear to have won any medal at the Virginia Governor’s Cup since 2019.  But they have been rated well in Savor Virginia magazine.  So far as I can tell, the winery has no connection to the famous Inn at Little Washington. 

The tasting room is a converted red barn enclosing some 10,000 square feet upstairs and down.  You park below the barn and climb up to the tasting room entrance.  This may be a difficult climb for disabled people. 

 

Once in the tasting room, we met Tracy, our server, and had a pleasant conversation about the wine, the facilities, and her life experiences.  Tracy’s husband is a world recognized expert in horses and travels the globe to horse conferences with Tracy along for the ride.  Kim and Tracy seemed quite simpatico.  The tasting room bar combines to serve Skyline Brewing Company and has plenty of light and comfy seating arranged near a stove.  An elevated deck is just off the tasting room with eastward views of the valley.  A nice “board room” is available for small events and meetings.  The wine club may also meet here. 

 

The Wine Club routinely features wines from around the world.  According to their website (and commented on by Tracy herself), Little Washington employs a sommelier to find wines from all over the globe to offer wine club members.  Consequently, many of the wines in the tasting room were not estate wines or even Virginia products.

Families, children and pets are allowed at the winery.  I did not see outdoor heaters to warm customers during the colder months. 

Little Washington Winery hosts weddings and other events at the hacienda, what Tracy called “the Big House.”  They have an oyster fest in February and a blowout in June called “Winestock.” 

Here are some answers to the mystery: One reason for the hacienda not being open the day before was that the employee for that location had been sick.  We could have gone to the wrong location all along.  The other reason for the closure is that the hacienda is not so much of a tasting room as the home of the Dirt Road Wine Academy and Foodie U Wine School.  Little Washington offers classes on weekends in various wine topics including blending, aroma, Alsatian, South African wines, wine pairing, and so forth.  The classes take place at the hacienda for a cost of $60.00 for a 1.5 to 2-hour class.  After 24 classes you get a Dirt Road Wine Academy “degree” certificate suitable for framing.  One on-line review says that the classes “will make you quickly into an international wine expert eager for more.”  It’s not clear, however, whether this degree can count in any way toward even a WSET Level One. 

For your reference, the third winery location is on Main Street in the town of Washington.  Its specialty is pairing wine and chocolate.

Now let’s get to the wines, shall we? 

Old World Oak Chardonnay NV.  Kim rated this an average B.  Supposedly it underwent malo which Kim prefers. 

Meet Virginia Viognier NV.  The wine seemed in the C+ range for me.  Floral yes, but also a little yeasty in back taste.  Vanilla?

2017 Shenando Merlot.  The Hendrickson’s wanted something to rhyme with Merlot, thus the name.  A little grassy on the nose.  Cocoa.  Medium bodied and controlled tannin.  B

Constitution Cabernet Franc NV.  Full-bodied, some leather and strong tannin.  B+ 

George 2019.  This is the winery’s Bordeaux blend, a Meritage® favoring Cabernet Sauvignon.  Full-bodied.  I wrote “a blast.”  Named #1 Red Wine in Virginia (I believe that is by Savor Virginia magazine.)  I gave it a B.