Located in Linden, just north of Interstate 66. Capstone Vineyards is one of Virginia’s newest wineries, having opened to the public in February 2019. Co-owners Dave Adams and Andrea Baer have been growing high-quality grapes on their 12 acres for several years, and have only just started experimenting with having their own wine and tasting room. Linden neighbor Jim Law, a legend in Virginia wine, is both their mentor and winemaker. Note that Capstone is an appointment-only winery. New owners as of 2022 are Theo Smith and Doug McCarthy.
Wine. Tier II. Any Jim Law made wine is going to be top-quality. Capstone’s grapes, mostly Bordeaux varietals, have been in high demand in Virginia for years. They are the largest supplier to another top-flight winery, Early Mountain. The main issue is whether you can find Capstone’s wines, and how long there will be any. So far, they have their own wine only from the 2015-2016 grape harvests: a Chardonnay, a Merlot, and two red blends, one Merlot-led and the other Cabernet-Franc led. Let’s hope they decide to do it again…
Setting. A tiny and no-frills tasting room at the top of the 1,300-foot elevation vineyard. The advantage however, between the tiny size and appointment-only access, is that you’re just about guaranteed to meet at least one of the owners.
Stories. A Catholic refuge comes to the Virginia hills. The village of Linden is home to St Dominic’s Monastery, just north of Capstone Vineyards and on the same side of the Interstate. St Dominic’s, part of the Cloistered Contemplative Nuns of the Order of Preachers, provides an interesting window on the recent history of Catholicism in the US. The order goes back to 1206, when it was founded in a Pyrenees village by St Dominic. St. Dominic’s Monastery in Fauquier County traces its beginnings to a monastery in Calais, France. From there, a first foundation was established in the United States, in Union City, New Jersey in 1891. From Union City, two nuns ventured forth and established a new foundation on the US West Coast in Baker City, Oregon, in 1907. There the small group of nuns encountered differences of views with the Bishop there on the issue of worldly engagement: the Bishop wanted the nuns to engage in apostolic work to build up local congregations, whereas the nuns wanted to stress the contemplative life. Shortly thereafter, in 1909, the nuns moved from Oregon to Lacrosse, Wisconsin. After several decades in Wisconsin, the diocese there proved to have an insufficient supply of teachers/chaplains for the monastery’s activities to continue, and in 1984 the nuns moved back across the country to Washington, DC, settling into a home on 16th street NW. Though the house in the District was intended to be temporary, it was not until 2008 that the group, now six nuns and one postulant, found the right place for the contemplative environment which they sought, in the mountains of western Fauquier County. Today you can see the Monastery, and its extraordinary views over the Blue Ridge valleys, on Freezeland Road in Linden.