Located in Waterford, on Brown’s Lane off of route 666 east of the village center. The winery opened its doors in October 2020. It has run on weekends only, and is closed during the offseason, re-opening its doors for tastings in the Spring of 2022. Owners Mike Fritze and Bruce Beddow are both local small vineyard owners who have combined forces to open Carriage House.
Wine: Tier II. The inaugural Carriage House 2019 Winterfest won the prize for “best sweet wine” at the 2021 Best of Loudoun Wine Awards competition. The winery currently has seven wines available from their 2019 vintage: four reds, Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, Merlot and Petit Verdot; and three whites, Chardonnay, Vidal Blanc, and Petit Manseng. Most grapes are from their two combined 17 acres of Waterford vines along Catoctin Creek, with some more grapes – all from Loudoun County – added in. While the winery is young, one of the vineyards – Windhorn Vineyard – was an important supplier to Bluemont Winery for over a decade. Co-owner Michael Fritze is the self-trained winemaker. The winery has yet to enter tasting competitions.
Setting: Quiet and very laid-back setting in small and historic Waterford. Tastings tend to be either at the Vineyard or at the Carriage House, which looks like a home – because it is one. Carriage House can be a good respite from some of Loudoun County’s louder wine venues. When it is open, of course.
Stories: The Tornadoes of 1929. With the increasingly strong storms brought on by the warming climate of the last two decades, it is easy to forget that Virginia has been battered by nature many times in the more distant past. May 2, 1929, was Waterford and Loudoun County’s turn to have to pick up the pieces. A record six tornadoes struck the state of Virginia that day, killing 22 people and countless farm animals. Each tornado cut a swath some two miles long and 600-900 feet wide. In Loudoun County, a tornado touched down a mile north of Hamilton, and went on to destroy the brick 1832 Catoctin Free or Union Church south of Waterford Village, and farms owned by J. Forrest Manning, R.E. McCarty, and Arthur Phillips. Reportedly, “four chicken houses were carried aloft.” The Catoctin Free Church never recovered its membership, though its old cemetery can still be found. Waterford at least did not have it as bad as Rye Cove, in Scott County, where 13 children were killed the same day as that village was hit by an F2 twister – still the single deadliest tornado in Virginia history. Another tornado from the same outbreak also destroyed a school near Culpeper, though luckily not during class hours.