Located, as one might guess, off of Route 50 East of Middleburg. Mike and Diane Canney, owners of Sunset Hills Vineyard in Purcellville, also own 50 West. Mike is a former tech entrepreneur who got into wines after selling his business in 2005. 50 West opened in 2015. In June 2022, the Canneys sold both Sunset Hills and 50 West wineries to Chris and Katie Key. Chris is a native of Loudoun County, and met Katie at a California wine tasting; he created and sold three cybersecurity companies, while Katie is in public relations. The winery also owns two satellite vineyards in the Shenandoah Valley, and 100% of its grapes are from Virginia.
Wine. Among the Top 100 wineries in Virginia, and among the Top 30 wineries in Northern Virginia. The 50 West 2020 Petit Manseng was awarded a gold medal at the 2023 state-wide Virginia Governor’s Cup wine tasting competition. This was the second straight year of success at the Governor’s Cup for 50 West, with their 2019 Ashby Gap (a red blend) having been named one of the best twelve wines in Virginia at the 2022 event. Two other 50 West wines received silver medals at the 2023 Governor’s Cup: their 2020 Chambourcin, and their 2020 Rosé of Sangiovese. The Aldie Heights Cuvee (a Tannat, Cab Sauvignon and Cab Franc blend) came away with a bronze medal. Corry Craighill, highly regarded winemaker for Sunset Hills and a University of Virginia graduate, makes the wine for 50 West, using fruit from five directly owned farms in northern Virginia. 50 West focuses on less-common for Virginia varietals than does Sunset Hills, such as Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc.
Setting. One star. The tasting room is a converted horse stable, on a bluff with great views of the Bull Run Mountains. Solar powered winery production facility. Bread basket for sale to go with tastings.
Stories. Early Virginia Infrastructure — Route 50. One of the most important East-West routes in the country, US 50 was created almost a century ago, in 1926, as the mid-section of the original U.S. Highway system. The Highway system was in part an unintended outcome of World War I, when leaders of the US Army, including future General Dwight Eisenhower, grew frustrated with difficulties of moving troops and military supplies across the country. Route 50 stretches some 3,000 miles from Ocean City, Maryland, to Central California. Follow it west from Virginia and you will pass Parkersburg (West Virginia), Cincinnati, the Ozark Mountains, Dodge City, Monarch Pass over the Rocky Mountains, Grand Junction Colorado, and Lake Tahoe. In Virginia, the history of Route 50’s route stretches back to when Native Americans used it a trail for hunting game between the Shenandoah and the Potomac. The Native American trail gradually became a horse and stagecoach road as colonial settlers moved west, traveling between Alexandria and Winchester. In the early 19th century, “turnpikes” of improved roads were created in Virginia, including the Little River Turnpike from Alexandria to Aldie (1806), the Aldie and Ashby’s Gap Turnpike to the Blue Ridge mountains (1810), and the Winchester and Berry’s Ferry Turnpike over Ashby’s Gap to Winchester. Future Route 50 was a major transit route during the Civil War, as reflected in the name it has for much of the state, the “John Mosby Highway.” The turnpikes became publicly owned in 1922, and officially Route 50 in 1926. 50 West Winery’s name commemorates this historical route.