Beer, Wine & Spirits in Winchester

Wielding ingredients culled from the fields, stockyards, and vineyards of local producers, chefs craft inventive dishes such as osso buco anointed with smoked-pork au jus and pan-roasted rockfish drifting in crawfish cream. The most recent addition to the Vintage team is brewmaster Kristi Griner, who channels her 24 years of experience to helm the efforts of Vintage 50's 10-barrel brew house. Additionally, Vintage 50's caterers conjure fare for weddings and the food-fight receptions that follow and whip up dishes for offsite corporate events and holiday parties.

The chefs at The V Eatery & Brew House transform a bounty of ingredients sourced from Virginia’s rich soils and seas to a menu of fine eats paired with craft beers. They batter freshly-netted cod with Catoctin Kolsch beer and spice up risotto with diced butternut squash and parmesan cream. To pair with their flavorful dishes, they select an elite array of 14 craft beers, 6 of which are brewed in-house to flow from their taps. And to keep things fresh, they rotate these brews regularly, with headliners such as Fat Tire amber ale and Avery’s White Rascal.

To occupy diners’ eyes and ears while their tastebuds are enjoying the food, The V Eatery host live musical performers every Tuesday through Saturday. They also plan to round out their selection of meals by adding a Sunday brunch once they get their license from the National Brunch Association, otherwise known as the NBA.

Escape from the city to the quiet elegance of Veramar Vineyard, a 100-acre private estate in the heart of Virginia’s wine country. Sip award-winning wines and listen to music on our Fountain Courtyard while surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains! The winery is open year round.

Inspired by the culture and the wines of Argentina, Bogati Bodega is designed to provide guests a welcome respite from the everyday. Guests enjoy internationally styled wine gather and relax in the cool shade of the “Buenos Aires Terrace”.

A 30-acre swath of lush, Red Oak Mountain terrain surrounds Capitol Vineyards' historic facilities, where owners Lauren Shrem and Matthew Noland forge an eclectic collection of French-style wines from Virginia grapes. With help from a resident French winemaker and vintners across the state, they press an array of vintages, dispensing the elixirs during events inside the facility's historic, rustic tasting room. Constructed as a post office in the 1800s and used as a general store in the early 1900s, the site still bears its original wooden bar, floors, and grizzled prospector.

Vintage Piedmont unites a grandiose group of family wineries, each cozily sprawled within a 15-mile distance of the others. Ernest oenophiles can mosey among them at their own pace, ensuring no one exhausts their seeing-eye elephant. Barrel Oak Winery boasts a pastoral setting, 20 acres of vines, and a BowHaus white that blends vidal blanc, sauvignon, viognier, and more for a bright flavor ($24). At Philip Carter Winery, the 2009 chardonnay intermixes lemon zest, a vanilla bouquet, and pear notes ($24). Desert Rose Ranch & Winery sustains an unpretentious atmosphere, unlike snobbish grape groups for third cousins of royalty. Varietals include the Hitch Hollow chardonnay aged in French oak barrels, or the Sparky, a European-style rosé. Rappahannock Cellars and Hume Vineyards regale taste buds with delectable drinks from locally grown grapes. At each libation station, take home two commemorative wine glasses and receive 10% off bottles of wine.

In early September, just as the first signs of fall nip at the landscape around the quiet pond and the rolling vineyard—that's when the time is right for Miracle Valley Vineyard to harvest the grapes that will become its estate-grown cabernet franc. But as is so often the case with wine, patience in consuming it is rewarded. The cabernet franc's enticing bouquet of raspberries and violets gives way to a rounded mouthfeel, which balances the ripe fruit flavors with its restrained tannins. During the rest of the year, customers could stick to one of the vineyard's half-dozen other wines, including an off-dry rosé with a lingering sweetness to match its pink hue.

The wine is the main attraction at Miracle Valley, but the grounds are just as enticing. The winery frequently hosts graduations, rehearsal dinners, and other gatherings for up to 50 people, not to mention group tastings in a tasting room that overlooks the lush scenery. While guests are there, they can stroll the territory, perhaps stumbling across bullets from the Civil War raids that took place in the area.