Jefferson Vineyards — Attraction in Charlottesville

A charming winery with great wine, scenery, and people! Wineries are really hit or miss anywhere in the U.S. outside of California, I’ve found. Jefferson Vineyards is definitely a hit and should be on your list of wineries to visit if you’re ever in Charlottesville, Virginia. We decided to visit this winery after a neighbor back in Illinois told us he had Jefferson’s Viognier and absolutely loved it.

Before even arriving, I had a feeling this would be a great experience based on how kind one of their staff members, Lisa, was on the phone. I called ahead to make sure they were dog-friendly and, like many places in Charlottesville, they are! That one phone interaction was so pleasant that it made me look forward to the visit even more. There is plenty of seating throughout the vineyard, and they have a really cute area tucked within their garden near the tasting room.

When we arrived, we found ourselves a nice spot under an umbrella right in front of the tasting room. Three members of our group had the Governor’s Cup flight, which included the 2023 Viognier, the Chardonnay RSV, the 2022 Petit Verdot, and either the 2022 or 2023 Meritage (two whites and two reds). These are wines that won awards at the Virginia Governor’s Cup and are considered their top selections. I went with the all-white flight and was thrilled with it. This included the 2022 Viognier, the 2023 Viognier Steel, the 2022 Petit Manseng, and the 2023 Chardonnay.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our wines. For me, I especially want to highlight the Petit Manseng, which is a varietal I’m not particularly familiar with, but I really enjoyed. Their description of it having tropical notes was spot on.

Our main mission, though, was to determine which Viognier to bring home. Our neighbor couldn’t remember exactly which one he had purchased, so after our flights, we bought a glass of the 2022 Viognier and a glass of the 2023 Viognier to decide. Both are aged in 90% oak and 10% steel. The best part of our little research project was that our results were inconclusive. Both wines were so enjoyable that we left the vineyard with a case of each!

I will add that they have limited snack offerings during the week, but I was told on the phone beforehand that outside food is entirely welcome. I believe they have a small restaurant or kitchen with a more expansive menu that is open on weekends only.

I could not be more pleased with our visit to Jefferson Vineyards. Anytime you can be surrounded by good wine and even better family, it makes all of life’s problems melt away. Thank you for making our visit so wonderful. Highly...

Fails under pressure!! Apparently the March wind storm pushed the staff over the edge. Power was out, instead of making the best of a bad situation, they barked at guests entering the door about how they could only sell bottles and "their power had been out for 25hrs" you could see how frustrated they were. Beautiful candles in tasting room could have made the best out of a bad situation by being more welcoming and laugh it off, welcome people in and make a party out of this situation a beautiful sunny day in Charlottesville...but NOPE. I was holding my little dog and some guy "barked" at me about how "THAT DOG can't come in here with out blah blah certification..." who talks to someone like that? There wasn't a single person in there. I had NO intensions of bringing him in and I barely crossed the threshold of their door, we were merely inquiring about their power (they had a sign outside) but the manor of tone was so rude!! A limo left right before us I wonder if they were treated the same way. I mean make the most of it. Being in the hospitality business myself as management it was all I could do but give them a piece of my mind...but we merely smiled and headed down the road. Again, sadly it's one of our favorite wines, would have liked to grab a bottle but not after that unwelcome greeting. It was actually very embarrassing to be spoken to in that manner. So We went to the Trump winery, they had a generator and some lovely smiling faces and great customer service in spite of the weather. Had some lovely wine and truffles. We were all uncomfortable many of us lost power and food etc. but it could have been nice if we could have received some much needed relief from a miserable powerless Saturday. To quote Forest Gump "that's all I got to say about that". #oneunhappycustomer...

This was our first stop on our wine tour for the day and it was a disappointment. We were warmly welcomed by the staff member showing us where to park but said we had too many in our party to enter the facility but that we could break up into 2 groups of 4 and it would be fine. We were more than okay with that, so we proceeded into the vineyard, then our driver was immediately flagged down by the manager Heather who asked us who told us we were allowed on the property with a group larger than 6, we told her the greeter told us to break up into 2 groups, she then said that her staff would not have told us that and assumed we were lying. She told us she would let us go in this time but would not allow it again and was very rude and aggressive. While we were trying to enjoy our wine we received a call from the company our driver worked for stating that Heather had called to complain about our driver. VERY unprofessional to call the company since it was not our drivers fault. The remaining staff was very nice and friendly but Heather ruined the whole experience for our entire group. She should not have let us in if it was that big of an issue instead of calling to complain to our drivers company. The wine was average at best. Would not recommend to a friend and will not...