James River Cellars Winery — Attraction in Virginia

We were really excited to try James River Cellars Winery mainly because it was just down the street from my friend’s house, and two because the videos and photos we saw online made it look like a great spot. What we were most looking forward to was the wine flights.

When we arrived, the person at the entrance was super friendly and asked what we were looking for since there was an event happening that day. He pointed us in the direction of where to order drinks and mentioned that someone would walk us through the wines as we selected them.

Each flight includes four different wines, but once we got up to order, we quickly realized we weren’t going to get the full tasting experience. Since it was a Friday, flights were served in plastic containers instead of glass. When we asked why, the man helping us said, “Are you kidding me? There’s 300 people out there.” I assume this meant they didn’t have enough glassware for the crowd or couldn’t keep up with washing them.

They do give you a single glass you can pour your samples into, if you prefer drinking from glass. We were handed a list of wines to choose from, but unless we asked specific questions, we weren’t offered any information or recommendations. I don’t know much about wine, but I do know I like sweet ones so I chose the four that were marked as sweet.

Seating is first come, first served, and there was live music playing, which was a nice touch. That said, we weren’t sure where the “300 people” were, as it didn’t feel particularly crowded. One downside was the flies that were really annoying, which made it hard to relax and enjoy our drinks. We ended up leaving shortly after finishing our wines. There were a lot of dogs around maybe part of the event, though we weren’t sure.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, but it didn’t live up to the hype or the pictures we’d seen. If you’re looking for a more traditional wine tasting with glass flights and staff guidance, I’d recommend going on a different day or calling ahead to find out...

Came here during Valentine's weekend. I had read so many great reviews on this place and was even more excited to see they were offering a cheesecake pairing that weekend (the cheesecake was DELICIOUS! s/o to Gees Cakes -- @geescakes1 on instagram). We arrived and were greeted by the ladies behind the bar area. We ordered flights and I was a little thrown off by the fact that it was given to us in plastic 2oz cups on a paper plate. I thought to myself "ehhh maybe this is COVID precaution related?" either way that seemed very tacky to me and the pour seemed rather small for the price. After we received our flights we had to carry them ourselves up flights of steps along with our personal belongings. That was challenging in itself. Again, I thought...maybe that was another precaution they were taking being that we're in a pandemic. At that time we were the only customers there. Shortly after, more customers started to come in. I'm an observer, I've always been...so I noticed this. I noticed that every single customer that came in after us was not only escorted upstairs, but their flights were also carried by the staff. I counted, three different groups (that didn't look like us) were all escorted to their table of choice and had their flights carried for them. So why weren't we offered the same level of customer service? After witnessing that it just didn't sit right with me. We finished our flights, went back down stairs to pay the tab...the lady checking us out felt the need to ask if we wanted to tip. For what exactly? I'm not sure as no service was actually provided to us. But me being me, and once having a part time job in the service industry (bartender) I still tipped. We traveled from DC to check this winery out and left highly disappointed. They had some fairly nice wines...but nothing worth traveling 2+...

Location/setting definitely 5 stars - it was a really pretty spot. That is definitely the strength of this winery, in our opinion. We wanted to love it because it was so nice and the crowd was very lively and family friendly and all the different seating areas were really great. The website is also 5 stars - very clear and informative and can answer any question you’d have about visiting/tasting. And the bathrooms were clean. Unfortunately the rest of our experience wasn’t as positive. We stopped on the 4th of July and they were very busy, which could be the reason for the 2 star service. That said, it was still only 2 stars. There was one set register and three employees moving behind the bar with iPads, so it was extremely unclear where to stand to get service. We waited patiently and watched others move in front of us, and two couples we heard speaking outside had the same experience and decided to leave. The employee we observed on the stationary register was really grumpy and short with people. Another employee getting drinks was very grumpy and refused to make eye contact and didn’t smile at anyone. Some organization and some eye contact and smiles and assistance would go a long way! The three people setting people up with tastings were chatty and friendly once they got to you. The wines were …. not good. There wasn’t a single one we would consider having a glass of or purchasing. Some were kind of tasteless and at least one we didn’t even finish because it was not palatable. We were disappointed because we love trying local wineries when we are on vacation and buying bottles to drink in our hotel rooms or take home with us. The last thing we felt was a negative was the price of the tasting at $16 per person for 4 wines. ...