Located in Moneta, Bedford County, near Smith Mountain Lake. The Furrows are Roanoke natives: Roger Furrow was born at Boones Mill, while Judy Weaver was the daughter of a Clover Creamery milkman in Roanoke. Father Roy Furrow worked on the Smith Mountain Lake dam, and bought 3 acres on the Radford Ford Road. After years of making home-made wine as a hobby, Roger and Judy Furrow planted their first serious grape vineyard in 1984 on the shores of Hickory Cove on Smith Mountain Lake. In 1992, the Furrows started a second, larger vineyard on a nearby farm, and began commercial grape production on 5 acres, now the oldest producing wine vineyard in Bedford county & around the lake. The Furrows renovated the old farmhouse into a full-fledged winery, and in 2001 Hickory Hill began commercial wine production. Daughter Wendy and son Donald now manage the operation.
Wine. Tier II. Hickory Hill wines have been awarded six Silver Medals in the Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine competitions. In 2021 for their “Full Pond” (a Chardonnay and Vidal Blanc blend) and “Mist” (a Vidal Blanc-led white blend), in 2020, for their Country Red, and in the 2019 competition for their Full Pond, Mist and Chardonnay. The Hickory Hill Mist took a bronze medal from the 2023 Governor’s cup, and the Sunset took back a Bronze from the 2019 event. Currently Hickory Hill grows 10-12 tons of its own fruit, leases an additional vineyard 10 miles away for 10 more tons of fruit, and bottles 18,000 bottles of wine per year.
Setting. Tasting room with a lovely wooden bar is in the renovated historic farmhouse. Owners are very friendly. Beautiful grounds out the back. Picnic basket foods available.
Stories: Virginia’s Largest Lake: Smith Mountain Lake. Hickory Hill Vineyards lies just north of Smith Mountain Lake. Smith Mountain Lake was created in 1963 by the building of the Smith Mountain Dam on the Roanoke River, in the tail end of heydays of hydropower dam building across the United States. The 656 MW hydropower generation plant is now owned by Appalachian Power, a unit of American Electric Power (AEP). The lake covers 20,000 acres and has over 500 miles of shoreline, and is the largest lake contained entirely within the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lake has become a popular recreation spot, with boating, sailing, and smallmouth bass fishing. A State Park, Smith Mountain State Park, opened in 1983. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the area around the lake remained rural and remote with tobacco farms and other agriculture. Residential growth has been steady since the mid-1980s and increasingly upscale with large lakefront houses, condominiums, and communities centered on golf courses. An annual highlight for residents and visitors is the Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival, held in late September.