Wisdom Oak Winery
July 9, 2022. Kim and I got some whiplash driving from Hazy Mountain to Wisdom Oak Winery in North Garden. It wasn’t that we were driving especially fast – the road up to Wisdom Oak is a a narrow single-lane mixed dirt and asphalt path with stout trees closing in the sides. It’s the kind of road where one car will have to back up if two meet on the road in a standoff. No, the whiplash was from following a 15,000-case winery (Hazy Mountain) immediately with a 3,600-case winery. We put Wisdom Oak on our itinerary on the strength of is 2019 Nineteen wine, which made it into the 2020 Virginia Governor’s Cup Case – a high accolade for this small winery. Formed in 2015, James and Laura Lavallee have around 6 acres under vine at North Garden and a larger vineyard of 14 acres three miles away. They produce small batches wines from Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. Individual wines are usually produced at 200 cases or less. When we vis