Located on a large farm in Louisa, Virginia, between Lake Anna and Zion’s Crossroads. Owners Bobby and Penny Martin planted 10 acres in 2005, with consulting support from Gabriele Rausse, and opened their winery in 2010. As of early 2023, the winery was showing “temporarily closed.”
Wine. Tier III. Wines include Pinot Grigio, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Meritage, Petit Verdot, Norton, Norton Reserve, Rose, Watermelon, Raspberry, Peach, Strawberry and a Cherry port. For $10 one can taste up to 14 wines, so make sure there’s a separate driver.
Setting. The vineyards take up only a fraction of the huge 308-acre farm, where you may also spot horses and miniature donkeys, along with winery doggy Suzie. Amidst the vines sits the homey tasting room building–an open, airy room with plenty of tables and chairs. Picnics are welcome outside, in the gazebo or on the lawn. Weston Farm now also offers a 4-room B&B, housed in a circa 1790 farmhouse near the tasting room. The front porch facing the vineyards is a great spot for family reunions and weekend getaways. Make sure to check ahead that they are open, as the Martins sometimes are out in the fields.
Stories. Custer’s First Last Stand. Five miles to the West of Weston Farms Winery, along Route 33, and in 1864 along the Virginia Central Railroad, stood Trevilian Station. Today known as Trevilians, this was the spot of one of the bloodiest cavalry battles of the Civil War. One of the Union Generals at the battle was George Armstrong Custer – who was forced to make a desperate stand that for a time looked to be his last. That, however, would wait for another day. In June 1864, the new Union war strategy was for Ulysses S. Grant to march his 100,000-man army to the south, cross the James River, and seize the rail hub of Petersburg. This would cut off the supply lines to Richmond, forcing the evacuation of the capital. On June 10, at about 8 a.m., Custer’s Michigan Brigade turned west onto the Gordonsville Road from the Nunn’s Creek Road at Mildred Crossing. Finding the wagon train of Confederate General Wade Hampton parked near Trevilian Station, he charged and captured it. A counterattack by Confederate Generals Thomas Rosser, Fitzhugh Lee and Matthew Butler surrounded Custer’s troops. The Union forces suffered heavy losses. During the fighting, Custer’s guidon bearer was mortally wounded and handed the brigade’s flag to Custer, who ripped it from its staff and stuffed it into his shirt. They eventually managed to escape. Both sides suffered heavy losses, with nearly 1,000 casualties each on the day. The battle was a tactical victory for the Confederates and Sheridan failed to achieve his goal of permanently destroying the Virginia Central Railroad. Its distraction, however, may have contributed to Grant’s successful crossing of the James River. The went on for another year; Custer went on for another twelve, until his last Last Stand, on the Little Bighorn.