Keswick Vineyards
October 24, 2025. Originally, our plans to visit eastern Albermarle County did not include Keswick Vineyards. Instead, we were going to visit the Southern Living Idea House nearby. But when Kim saw the abundance of chintz, floral curtains, throw pillows, and your grandmother’s formal furniture, passing as ideas, Kim opted out. She is a Frank Lloyd Wright girl and digs that aesthetic. To fill the hole in our itinerary, we decided to return to Keswick Vineyards.
When we last visited Keswick, we watched the rain come down beneath a covered porch on a slow mid-week afternoon in July 2022. All of the seating had been moved out of doors because of COVID, leaving the old tasting room forlorn and hollow.
Since 2022, owners Cindy and Al Schornberg added an innovative new glass Pavilion tasting room that fully converts from open air Summer to cozy Winter with the flick of a switch. It being October, the glass walls were closed and the roof deployed, but in the Summer, the roof retracts and the glass walls can be folded away.
Keswick has also added a new “Barrel and Board” Kitchen serving lite fare. You are still welcome to bring your own food to eat in the tasting room or on the slope that runs down to their lake. Note that the restrooms are in a fancy port-a-potty trailer that you have to climb up to enter.
Cindy Schornberg is a trim blonde with more energy than you can imagine – running the winery and, when we met her, serving as event manager for a wedding at the Keswick Vineyards’ adjacent venue. They do around 55 weddings a year. She and Al bought Keswick in 2000. Their winemaker, Stephen Barnard came in 2006. The Pavilion opened in 2024. Today, according to Cindy, Keswick has around 60 acres under vine from which they coax around 7,000 cases of wine per year. Most of their wines are estate-grown with some additional fruit purchased from Carter Mountain and Trump Winery. They carried a Norton wine until the 2021 frost killed it all.
The Pavilion is bare-bones with seating is on metal chairs at veneered tables. No fireplace is needed. A big-screen television showed miscellaneous programming with no sound. Not fancy. The Pavilion is dog-friendly and kid-friendly. In fact, the Schornbergs installed a wine-themed miniature golf course next to the Pavilion. The course plays out under the scent of tall pine trees with a view of the lake framed by the vineyards.
2022 Viognier Reserve. This is 100% Estate-grown Viognier. Tart pineapple and slight floral nose. Kim gave it a B rating.
2023 Chardonnay. Kim gave this 100% Chardonnay a B- rating. She found it very average and undistinctive. The more you have the better but doubt if a full bottle would get you to an A.
2023 LVA Rosé. Keswick’s rosé wine is 66% Touriga and 34% Chambourcin. Dry, medium-bodied. Not floral. A typical rosé. Sidenote: “LVA” stands for "Les Vents d’Anges" (angel’s wings), a tribute to Al Schornberg’s sister, Geneviève de Beaubien, M.D., who died far too young in 2004.
2023 LVA Merlot. This is 100% Merlot. Medium-bodied. Light tannin. Some spice and cocoa. The dark fruit makes a delayed entrance. I rate it a B.
2024 Touriga. This 100% Touriga is dry with dark fruit notes. Earthy. Not much texture or complexity. For its $40 price tag, I rate it a B.
2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Block 7. I have some good and bad to say about this Cabernet Sauvignon. The good news is that this 100% estate-grown Cab Sauv is one of the best wines I’ve had in Virginia. Aged in French oak, it has nice berry fruit with the Cab Sauv earthiness. It is light for a Cab Sauv. Tannins are well managed and support an age-worthy structure. It won a Gold Medal at the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Cup. The bad news, if you will, is that this wine is $80.00 a bottle. I’m giving is a B+ on the quality of the wine, tempered by the price.
Spend a nice afternoon in horse country amid the white fences and rolling hills. Keswick is unpretentious and calming with decent wine.
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