Early Mountain Vineyards — Attraction in Orange

If you only visit one winery in Virginia, Early Mountain should be the one. My first visit was sometime around 2015; I remember being extremely impressed. It was the first wine club I ever joined. Because of distance and my job at the time, I ended up leaving the wine club the following year and didn't get a chance to visit again until this summer (good ol' 2020). Can I just say, "WOW" ... Yes, I was impressed way back when, but they've continued to grow and improve way beyond anything I could have imagined. Before this last visit, I tried a few of the newer wine vintages at restaurants and from friends. They stand up to some of the best wines I've had. Their rose is a solid winner every season and now they have a pet-nat that I legit have dreams about. It's amazing af. Their tannat is probably my favorite tannat EVER. The red blends are marvelous - I honestly just can't rave enough about the quality of the wine. And it seems to only get better year after year.

If you didn't already know, they were voted number one tasting room in the entire US a few years ago. Most certainly well deserved. The tasting room itself is stunning and it doesn't stop there. The grounds are beautiful; the views expansive; the patio elegant - yet comfy & cozy; all spaces are sparkling clean, which is appreciated now more than ever. Since I'm in the general area much more frequently now, I went in with the intention of rejoining the wine club, which my partner decided to do this time. Now I get all the perks of membership with someone else's credit card - LMAO.

I haven't even gotten started on the food. Holy moly, y'all!!! How often do you visit a winery for top-notch eats? If you're scratching your head trying to come up with an answer, I get it. Most wineries either don't serve food or they have pre-packaged picnic-style items available. The ones that do serve hot food probably don't have an Executive Chef that once worked at The Inn at Little Washington. Sheesh. I'll post pictures of what we enjoyed on our last visit, but I wish y'all could SMELL and taste everything. When those chicken skewers were still yards away from our table, we were already drooling from the incredible aromas that were wafting towards our table. The steak tacos were so overloaded with juicy, tender meat - I'm pretty sure they put an entire steak in that one order of tacos. Summertime means peaches; after devouring our first round of the peaches & burrata, we went back for a second plate. Even the olives are better than any olives you've ever had. My dude likes olives, but he doesn't go crazy over 'em like I do - he totally did with these! We were so dazzled by the food that I've been stalking their menu every few days since our last visit. They recently released a new summer menu and added a ton of delicious sounding fare. I'll need at least two visits this month to make it through all the new yums I need to try.

Pro Tip: make a reservation! Their hours are different during Covid and because they're doing such a fabulous job all around, they stay busy. This is a great thing, as we need the businesses we love to make it through the pandemic. Please remember to be respectful of the rules when you venture out. It's a privilege for us to be able to go out during these uncertain times. For those that don't want to follow the rules or can't be respectful, home is where you should stay. The staff is veritably putting their life and safety on the line just so we can go out and have a good time. Tip well, folks - they deserve it!!

BTW, I touched on the cleanliness above, but for those that may be apprehensive about venturing out during Covid, they are doing a phenomenal job with sanitizing, keeping everything organized and making sure guests feel comfortable. The staff are wearing masks 100% of the time and they are wearing them properly, which doesn't seem...

Came here after getting a recommendation from a local B&B we were staying at. The winery is gorgeous, and everything started out great. We got 2 flights, and a local cheese and meat sampler. Delicious. What made us decide on a 1 star review was the service. It was that bad. Our server was the blonde woman with the British accent. She brought us our flights, and we basically never saw her again. The tables all around us were served promptly and professionally, however we were left with an ever dwindling bottle of water on a 100° July day wondering were or server was so we could order some food and drink. This was even after I ordered the flights saying, we'll have the flights and cheese sampler for starters, then we'd like to order some food. The server at the tables around us was constantly at tableside, asking if anyone needed water, or would like to even try another flight. I actually had to go inside the winery looking for our server. Finally finding her, I asked if the cheese sampler was enough to share between 2 people, as it's $24, roughly the price of 2 of their entrees. First she said no, then when I said well OK, I'll look at the menu to decide on something else, she suddenly changed her mind and said it was definitely enough for 2 to split. OK, I ordered it. I got 2 slices of cheese, a dollop of ricotta, and slice or two of apricot with a basket of bread. Don't get me wrong, it was absolutely delicious, and I don't ever mind paying for quality, but it was not for 2 people. At $24, it was barely enough for 1, and our server said it was "definitely" enough for 2. And that's not even the end of her terrible service. After we finished our wine, water, cheese, everything, and were sweating out in the sun, we couldn't find her to ask for the check. After what seemed like ages, she appeared after clearing another table. We asked for the check, and she was gone again. We saw her again maybe 10 minutes later to run food to another table, but not to give us the check as she just walked back inside after. Thank God we happened to have 2 water bottles with us and that there was a water fountain inside. Finally, she came with the check, and then stood right over us as we were selecting her tip on the iPad they use for payment at the table. She honestly stood there watching us, looking at what tip we wanted to select. When we tried to politely and casually make it known that we would like a moment without her hovering there, all she did was move to the other side of the table. Who does that? So, to wrap it up, great Vineyard, great wine and food and view of the grounds while you eat. But if you sit down and you get this server, just leave, your time and money are better...

This used to be a go-to place for me but I will no longer make a point to stop here when in the area. They have made changes that I feel are not ideal and I can see why they have more recent lower reviews, which is really disappointing, it used to be amazing. I have heard that they brought in someone new to manage and the feel I get is that they seem to be wanting to cater to a higher end client now and it is no longer approachable for the average person wanting to taste/enjoy wine. Unless I am with a group that really wants to go, I will not be choosing to return on my own. I first came to Early Mountain almost 5 years ago and joined the wine club. I enjoyed the wine, the tasting room is beautiful, and the club was a great deal. I also really enjoyed overall experience and it was a fun place to go. They might have been a little more expensive than other wineries in the area, I found it still reasonable. Yes, the food is smaller plates and some might think pricey but I have always enjoyed the food and don’t mind paying more for quality food. I left the wine club after a couple years because I had too much wine at home but still continued to visit every time I was in the area. On my last visit in October I was shocked to see how expensive the wine has become. I keep a log of the wines I buy so while they were different vintages, I could see that prices have gone up significantly and yes, inflation is hitting everywhere, this is way beyond inflation, one was nearly a 100% increase. In addition to their own price increases, there were also significantly more guest wines on the menu which would be great but several of those bottles were over $100 with a few over $300! One of their cheapest wine that used be $24 is now $30, which still is not expensive but it is a 25% increase. The flights were also unreasonably expensive, the flight using their cheapest wine was more than any other winery in the area and the other flight options used the expensive wines so they were a lot, I am talking $60 for a 2 oz pours of 4 wines. Because of this, I only got one glass of the “cheaper” wine and food and then left. I would have tasted a lot more if it was not for prices. I go to a lot of wineries in the area and this increase is not consistent with what is happening at other wineries. I am really disappointed in the direction they have decided to go, it is not what I am looking for when I am trying wineries but it might be for wealthy DC clients they...