Cave Ridge Vineyard
Located in Mount Jackson, in the central Shenandoah Valley. Though minutes from busy Interstate 81, after going the last few miles along tiny roads to Cave Ridge the highway feels a long way aways. The tasting room was opened in 2005 by owners Randy and Karen Phillips. Randy, originally from Florida, was given a lifetime achievement award by the Virginia Wine Association in 2020.
Wine. One of the Top 25 wineries in the Virginia. At the 2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine competition, Cave Ridge’s 2019 vintage Petit Verdot was awarded a gold medal, while their 2019 Fossil Hill Reserve and Cabernet Franc were awarded silver medals. The same vintage Fossil Hill was awarded a gold medal at the 2022 Governor’s Cup, while the Cave Ridge 2019 Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc and non-vintage Blanc des Blancs sparkling were awarded silver medals. Their 2017 Red Silk Barrel Select Cabernet Franc was awarded a gold medal at the 2021 Governor’s Cup. All wine is produced from estate-grown grapes.
Setting. Two stars. Excellent views over the vineyard and onto the Blue Ridge Mountains. Limited indoor seating – though there is more with great views on the third floor — but plenty of outdoor space on good days, including a deck overlooking the hills.
Stories. Virginia’s Covered Bridges. Once upon a time, they were known as “kissing bridges.” A covered bridge, back in the era when there was no car traffic and a horse cart could be heard well before it arrived, was a place where couples would escape the public eye and meet for a brief rendezvous. From the 1830s, covered wooden bridges spread widely across Virginia, with at least 137 documented at some time. The first one in the United States was built in 1805 at Philadelphia, and Virginia’s first was built in 1834 over the Jackson River in Alleghany County. Covered bridges were also attractive because they were durable, lasting decades longer than ordinary wooden bridges. The covering protected the structure from weather and also prevented horses from spooking at the sight of water. Fewer than 1,000 of the more than 10,000 wooden bridges across the country remain today, and only seven of these remain in Virginia. The last wooden bridge to be constructed in the state was built across the Hyco River in Halifax County in 1925. Eventually they gave way to their vulnerability to flood and fire, and to the technology that replaced the wooden peg with the metal bolt and the timbers with steel. The few that remain bring back memories of simpler times, and are often a favorite sight of tourists and people just going for a drive to enjoy the Virginia countryside. One of the best-known of Virginia’s surviving covered bridges is the 204-foot single-span arch over the North Fork of the Shenandoah River known as Meem’s Bottom, in Mount Jackson, minutes from Cave Ridge Winery. Here it is possible to step back into the past, while less than a half-mile away the hum of modern-day traffic can be heard on Interstate 81. The site takes its name from the Meem family that had large landholdings in the area, and that included a Confederate General. The bridge was built in 1894, the fourth on the site, and reconstructed after vandals burned it on Halloween of 1976. Whether one chooses to kiss there is entirely up to the visitor.