Flying Fox Vineyard

Continuing on our Charlottesville road trip, we stumbled upon Flying Fox Vineyard, only about 10 minutes from Valley Road Vineyard. The cozy tasting room might be a bit deceiving. While the tasting room itself is on the smaller side, they actually grow their grapes at two different vineyards – one in Monticello (6 acres) and the other in Shenandoah (8 acres). So not only do they have A LOT of vines, but this also allows them to have a 2-week wine-making delay between the two areas (due to the difference in weather). While the vines were bought in the 90s, the tasting room didn’t open until 2006. Two years ago, the previous owners decided to sell. It was bought by Emily, Chloe, and George, who happen to be the kids of the owners of Veritas Vineyard and Winery – one of our favorites in the area. The new owners have continued making their standard portfolio of 8 premium quality Virginia wines, but have also decided to have a little fun. More to come on that.

The tasting room backs up to a distant mountain scene and shares a parking lot with a Bed & Breakfast. Because it’s a bit on the smaller side, it might not be the best stop if you have a large group of people on a bus. If you visit in warmer months, you could take advantage of the patio and picnic tables, or if the weather is chilly, you are welcome to curl up by the fireplace in the tasting room.

Our tasting consisted nine wines for $5. The varieties were a similar portfolio to the other vineyards in the area, however what makes the stop worth your time is the quality that you will experience. Our favorites were in line with many Virginia “classics”, including the honeysuckle notes in the Viognier, the peppery cherry flavor of the Cabernet Franc, and the bold tannins of the Petit Verdot. It seemed like each pour was even better than the one before. Overall, the wines are dry, so if you prefer sweet wine, you might not appreciate the tasting as much as we did. Even though the wines are traditional, they’re impressive and reasonably priced. We purchased a bottle of chilled Viognier to enjoy with our lunch.

At the end of our wine tasting, the gentleman serving our wine explained that Flying Fox started making batches of Vermouth from their wine. We were surprised being that we had never seen locally made Vermouth before. But we certainly weren’t going to turn down the opportunity to extend our tasting. They had already sold out of the Spring Vermouth and were almost out of the Summer Vermouth – which is what we tasted. It was delicious! It tasted like strawberry, and we envisioned it in a strawberry, basil cocktail. He explained that it was made from their rose’. Ever since he mentioned that, we can’t un-taste the delectable rose’ flavor. We ended up buying a bottle. Personally, we prefer to drink it on ice with a little club soda. We sometimes add a little vodka and lime, but that’s about it. It allows us to savor the flavor, rather than masking it, like gin will sometimes do. They have been selling out of the Vermouth quickly; we recommend you get it while you still can.

After thoroughly enjoying our time in the tasting room, we headed out to the patio to chow down on the picnic we brought. Of course, the dogs joined us while we sipped our Viognier in the beautiful weather. This lunch became a little more memorable than most when Lauren asked Rebecca to be her Maid of Honor (of course she said ‘yes!’) complete with a planter box designed by @madeline_cz, filled with a silver bracelet and wine-related accessories (naturally).

We look forward to returning to Flying Fox soon, especially because they’re beginning a new Sly Fox series. They’re “experimenting” with their wines – both through the vines and in the cellar. They began their first experiment in January 2017 when they cordon-pruned half their vineyard and cane-pruned the other half. You’ll be able to compare the results of their experiment in wines expected to arrive in the tasting room in late-spring 2019. If you have other ideas for their experimental batches, there’s a form on their webpage where you can submit your thoughts. We’ve gotten a few hints of some of their plans, but don’t want to leak their secrets. But we will say, we are excited to go back! Plus, we just missed seeing their new logo and labels, which they released in January 2018. Any excuse to return, right?