New Kent Winery

I cannot say enough good things about New Kent Winery! I have visited New Kent multiple times, and each visit was pleasant and fun.

The winery is part of a new development project in the area, but it feels as if it has been there forever, due to its rustic, yet refined, charm. If you take the tour, you will learn many things about the century-old materials that were used to build the winery. The construction of the winery is phenomenal, with all of the rustic square nailheads perfectly aligned (you can verify this when you're sitting outside on the porch, enjoying some of New Kent's wine).

The tasting room is large, with a big, slightly arced, bar. There are hooks under the bar so you can hang your purse or coat.

For sale in the tasting room are New Kent Winery polo shirts, T-shirts, and jackets, as well as handmade cheese boards made from flattened wine bottles, and unique handmade wine stoppers. The winery also offers crackers, cheeses, chocolate covered pretzels, as well as pound cake and banana bread made with New Kent wine.

New Kent Winery hosts a wine festival each May, as well as several different events throughout the year. I attended the wine festival in 2009 and the Memorial Day bar-b-que and bluegrass event in May 2010. Both were great! I've also attended a Barrel Club dinner (as a guest of Barrel Club members) in the barrel room in December 2009, and it was fantastic!

Observations:
~ New Kent Winery is the only Virginia winery to make White Norton. Their Norton grapes were affected by the winter this year, so they had a limited supply of White Norton this year. To "pinch hit" for the White Norton, they created a great White Merlot, which in itself, is a rare wine to find at a Virginia winery.
~ The tasting room is kept at a pleasant temperature throughout the year: no worries about being hot while tasting during the warm weather months.
~ Reasonable tasting fee, with New Kent Winery wine glass included.
~ Very friendly staff.

Travel:
Very easy to access, right off of I-64. All roads leading to the winery are paved, as is the parking lot itself.

Website:
http://www.newkentwinery.com