Vint Hill Craft Winery

February 1, 2025.  Mitchell Harrison knew he was hearing something unusual.  A dairy farmer in rural Fauquier County, Harrison was listening to his HAM radio in the early 1940’s and overheard police radio transmissions – from Berlin, Germany. 

Harrison informed the Government.  Shortly after war broke out, he got one of those offers you can't  refuse and sold the whole 700 acres of his Vint Hill Farm to the U.S. Army.  Rumor has it that Vint Hill Farm sat on top of a massive deposit of iron ore that acted as a natural antenna for broadcast reception.  By 1942, the Army established a major signals intelligence site at Vint Hill from which they could intercept Axis radio traffic.  Supposedly one such transmission detailed the Nazi’s Normandy fortifications and proved useful to the Allied Invasion on D-Day. 

Through the next decades, Vint Hill continued in the spook world as an intelligence station until its functions were transferred out and the Government sold off parcels of the installation beginning in 1999.

In 2009, Chris Pearmund and investors bought the property of what was once Mr. Harrison’s dairy barn and once was “Monitoring Station #1” and converted it into Vint Hill Craft Winery.  Along with Pearmund Cellars and Effingham Manor Winery, Vint Hill is part of the Pearmund group of wineries.  (See our blog posts dated June 16, 2021 and June 12, 2022.)

Chris serves as the president and registered agent at Vint Hill.  Ashley Stone manages the winery and Mark Ward is the winemaker.  We were able to spend a little time with Ashley on a very busy Saturday. 

Vint Hill Craft Winery began as a teaching facility.  Mark Ward runs basic home winemaking classes ($500 for two) that takes students through harvest and sorting, to blending and bottling.  The winery maintains a small patch of grape vines mostly for teaching purposes.  Mark also runs more advanced “vintner” programs that include an “adopt a barrel” program ($6,000 for approximately 300 bottles plus classes), and a program that allows you to select a varietal for Vint Hill to source and bottle for you. 

The winery website claims they are “the Washington DC Area’s Only ‘Urban Winery.”  Ashley could not explain what that means.  Vint Hill sits in a rural corner of Fauquier County about 10 miles south of Gainesville.  It has a Warrenton address.

Except for the small patch of grapes on property, all of the wine is produced from grapes sourced elsewhere.  This is not an “Estate Winery.”  All of the wine is produced at Vint Hill.  Ashley said they source whole grapes and not juice, but they source 75% of the grapes from vineyards in Virginia (in keeping with their Farm Winery status) and 25% from California.  Of the sixteen wines available for purchase, eight are labeled “Virginia” and the rest “American.”  See the note on “Enigma” below.  I could not get figures on the number of cases produced for commercial sale, but I reckon it is less than 3,000. 

 

The converted dairy barn has two seating areas.  The tasting room on the main level is small and dingy, probably for classes.  If you can climb the steep steps upstairs, you will find a long tongue-and-groove paneled seating area overlooking the production facility of the winery.  Unfortunately, there is no elevator.  And this area gets filled quickly.  I think Ashley had some trainees when we visited.  They seemed overwhelmed.

 

  

Outside food is allowed. The winery has a very limited menu itself, but you can order food delivered from the Covert Café across the parking lot from the winery.  There is a small area for outside seating in warmer months, but if you want a scenic view while you drink, Vint Hill is not for you.

Even with the crowd, Ashley managed to walk us through a standard tasting of six wines (plus a couple of freebies).  I don’t usually comment on wine labels, but Vint Hill has embraced its past as a World War II listening post.  Many of its wines are labeled “Covert Wineworks” and sport one of the pin-up girls of the 1940’s.  Sounds like the workers at Vint Hill refer to the wines by their girls – as in “Give me a bottle of Charlotte.”  Here’s what we had:

2023 Viognier “Vivian.”  Being aged in acacia and neutral French oak offsets some of the floral – honeysuckle of this Viognier.  High acid with a little fizz.  I rate it a B.

2021 Chardonnay “Charlotte.”  Ashley’s favorite, the Charlotte Chardonnay was aged 10 months in French oak and underwent malolactic fermentation.  It was a nice balance of creaminess and apple tartness.  Still, Kim rated it a B- at $34.00 a bottle.

2023 Cuvee Blanc “Misty.”  The Misty blend is mostly Traminette and Vidal Blanc, with Petit Manseng and Chardonnay added.  It is off-day with 1.5% residual sugar.  Might be good with spicy food.  I found it a little flat.  B.

2021 Cabernet Franc “Bebe LeFranc.”  Moving to the reds, the “Bebe LeFranc” has strawberry notes in the front and tobacco/mocha notes at the back.  A short finish.  Not much tannin.  I rate it a B.

2020 Merlot.  The Vint Hill Merlot is middle of the road all the way.  Medium bodied, subdued fruit, low tannin.  Doesn’t even have its own pinup girl.  A somewhat forgettable B rating.

2021 “Enigma.”  Every year Mark Ward produces a mystery Bordeaux blend called “Enigma” after the old code machine.  A prize awaits the person who can identify the parts of the blend.  For the 2021, Ashley said the parts are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot.  We finally encounter tannins with “Enigma.” Dark cherry, some finish.  I rate it a B.  (Note: the Vint Hill website states that Enigma” is “American,” while the tasting notes from the winery say it is “Virginia” wine.)

Ashley added two more wines for us that were not on the standard tasting:

2020 “The Bombe.”  Vint Hill’s Rhȏne style wine is called “The Bombe.”  It is a GSM blend made with grapes imported from California.  It tasted typically Rhone-ish, brash and brambly.  Another B from me.

2021 Cabernet Sauvignon “the Bombshell.”  Another California sourced wine, Bombshell is supposed to be full-bodied, but I found it weak and light with not much character.  I rated it a B-.

Even with all of the B’s and B-‘s in our review, Vint Hill Craft Winery is much improved from our last visit in 2015.  Prices are still elevated but the quality of the Virginia product is coming along.

Before leaving Vint Hill, we suggest stopping by the Cold War Museum on the other side of the parking lot.  Begun by the son of Francis Gary Powers of U-2 fame (the aircraft – not the band), this small private museum highlights an often-forgotten part of our history, which with today’s Russian and Chinese expansionism has never been more relevant.  By the way, the guys at the museum could not confirm the Vint Hill iron ore story.

On another corner of the parking lot you’ll find the Covert Café for good food that can be delivered on the property.  Finally, we should mention that around the corner from the museum and winery is Old Bust Head Brewing Company to keep the hop-heads happy.