Corcoran Vineyards and Cidery
- Northwest Loudoun, in the northern section of Waterford. Planted in 2001 and opened in 2004 by Jim and Lori Corcoran, the 11th winery to open in Loudoun County. Lori is the winemaker.
- Wine. Tier II. Mixed reviews on wine quality. Corcoran does tend to serve older wines at their tastings than most wineries, which is a plus. Particularly good reviews of the dessert wines. Several ciders as well as an apple wine available.
- Setting. Small, rustic tasting space – best on non-peak days. Consistently positive reviews about service quality. Barbeque is good when available.
- Stories. Land use: plantations vs family farms. Eastern and Western Loudoun County look quite different today. The East of Loudoun is increasingly commercialized, home to a number of global hi-tech companies, farms everywhere replaced by housing developments – clearly part of the Washington DC area outer suburbs. The West of Loudoun remains rural, with working farms (and yes, some larger horse farms), and now an explosion of wineries. These different economic patterns are enshrined in the county’s zoning policy. And they have their roots far back into the colonial era. At the time of the Revolutionary War, Loudoun was then the most populous county in Virginia, but already with two quite different faces. In the eastern part the plantation economy, large estates using indentured and/or slave labor which dominated land use patterns in the Tidewater, predominated. Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg is one of the best preserved, and westernmost examples. In the Piedmont, the western part of the county was settled by small farmers – Germans in Lovettsville, Quakers in Waterford and Lincoln. Quaker farms remained small because of their unwillingness to employ slaves. This past of small family farms – like Corcoran here in Waterford — still colors the face of western Loudoun County today, and what one sees on touring the area’s wineries.