8 Chains North Winery — Attraction in Purcellville

I’m going to be completely honest, I go to vineyards regularly since I live near the Loudoun County area, so I’m well aware of how this industry works. I went here for my birthday and I was terribly disappointed. I walked in and they never greeted my group. We stood at the counter waiting for a tasting. They still never greeted us or said hello when they finally came around, just asked what we wanted. Also I’d like to add that they weren’t busy in the slightest- NO ONE else was at the counter, yet there was at least 4 of them standing around. We got our flights and were informed we could take it to sit at a table. Most vineyards pour it for you and educate you on each wine and to me, that’s the appeal of doing wine tastings at vineyards. You get the opportunity to learn about the wine and get the service/personality of the person educated on the wine. Nope- none of that at 8 Chains. They handed our flight off and that was that. We remained at the counter for our flight and NEVER ONCE did anyone check on us. I gagged twice from their wine being god awful and the chocolate flight did not match the “wine pairing” in the slightest. Completely embarrassed that I chose this vineyard to take my friends to. What a waste of nearly $30 per person for a flight with chocolates plus a 20% tip upon handing over our drinks/chocolates when they did absolutely nothing and the wine was terrible. Even on the way out, NOT ONE employee standing by the door (and there were AT LEAST 6 because there was an upcoming event) said goodbye or have a good night or be safe or ANYTHING. Pretty pathetic. I’ve been to at least 25 vineyards and this was hands down the worst of them all. Without question, I would not...

I wanted to do something special for my wife's birthday, so I started looking into what I might be able to arrange at a local vineyard. I came across 8 Chain's picnic option, and it turned out far beyond my expectations. My wife and I joked that some people have to travel by air and spend thousands of dollars to have the experience we had with just an 11-minute drive from our house! I worked with Elly Sullivan to plan it, their director of private events, and she was incredible -- friendly, communicative, etc. I am a major planner, so I started to get concerned when the weather started looking rainy for our picnic, but Elly already had Plan B and Plan C lined up just in case -- we ended up having a wonderful picnic (under the pop up tent Elly put up for us just in case) right among the vines -- it was a truly special experience. You of course can't write a review about a winery without talking about the wine, so I'll say this -- every wine we sampled was wonderful, which made for a difficult decision as to which bottle to choose for our picnic -- we ended up going with their Grenache, and it did not disappoint -- in fact, we went home with a few bottles of another one of their wines that contains Grenache that was equally delicious (GSM). In addition to Elly, everybody we met at the vineyard was extremely friendly and genuinely interested in our enjoyment of the picnic. I would highly recommend this winery to anybody looking for a beautiful, friendly, and delicious experience in Loudoun wine country. Thank...

It's with a heavy heart that I write this review, My family has been a member of 8 Chains since it's conception while Ben was an apprentice at another winery. We followed Ben to his new winery and loved it for 12 wonderful years, bringing family and friends, even hosting an event for the Minnesota State Society. We hosted the very first Mom's Apple Pie event, which continues to this day. Sadly we said our goodbyes today. The newly promoted manager has repeatedly been nasty, rude, and condescending to our family over the last 9 months. He made us feel like we are no longer the target audience (have 2 children in elementary school) and with him in charge and as the representative of the owner, would rather see us leave than address our concerns. The white wines this year have also changed dramatically. This could easily be a situation of the new owners tastes compared to ours, but we followed Ben for his original Loco Vino and the 2022 Rose and Loco didn't compare to last years. The change in pallet in addition to the pure nastiness of the newly promoted manager (who’s behavior the new owners may have been unaware of until after this review was published) is making us say goodbye to a place we would...