Williamsburg Winery
- Off by itself in terms of wineries, at Wessex Hundred in Williamsburg (3-4 hours south of Washington, depending on traffic), Williamsburg Winery has plenty of company in terms of history and scenery. With wine production dating back to 1988, Williamsburg is one of the older wineries in Virginia. The winery has been the child of two generations of the Duffeler family: Belgian-born founder Patrick Duffeler spent his first career with Eastman Kodak. This is one of Virginia’s larger wineries, and now produces about 60,000 cases annually, and has over 65,000 visitors a year. As of late 2020 it is also for sale — only $40 million for the asking price.
- Wine: Among the Top 40 wineries of Virginia. With the very high volume of wine produced by the winery, you may find a wide range in quality, from top-of-the-line to frankly more ordinary. This is reflected in the distribution of medals which the winery has received at competitions. On the high-end side, Williamsburg was awarded three gold medals at the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Cup state-wide wine competition, for their 2019 vintage Petit Manseng and Wessex Hundred Petit Verdot, and their 2019 “Trianon” Cabernet Franc (along with eleven silver medals). At the 2023 Governor’s Cup competition, Williamsburg’s 2019 Petit Verdot Reserve was awarded a gold medal and named one as part of the Governor’s Case – the top 12 wines in the state, while six other wines received silver medals, including their 2019 vintage Adagio, Gabriel Archer Reserve, Trianon, and Merlot Reserve. Their 2020 Viognier was awarded a gold medal at the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle nation-wide wine competition, while four wines were awarded silver medals there (the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, and 2020 Albariño and Chardonnay), and four bronze medals (the 2019 Aglianico, Cabernet Franc, Rkatsiteli and MPT). While the lovely vineyards grow several different varietals, they don’t produce nearly enough grapes for the winery’s production, so 80% of grapes are from outside growers; high volume wines Governor’s White and Two Shilling Red are made from non-Virginia fruit, while higher-tier Gabriel Archer Reserve and Virginia Trianon are Virginia products.
- Setting: One thing you can do at Williamsburg that you can’t do at most wineries is… spend the night! As it takes a while to get there, Williamsburg has made itself “a destination,” with its own hotel. Not that hotels are lacking in the town of Williamsburg.
- Stories: Three stars. Colonial History. The wine is good, but the real story around here is history. This is where it all started – Virginia, the United States! The first settlers arrived at nearby Jamestown more than a decade before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth. The first representative assembly, a test run for what became the Thomas Jefferson and James Madison driven American Constitution, was here. The Revolutionary War, which made the United States independent, ended at equally nearby Yorktown. Everybody who was anybody in early Virginia was educated at William & Mary (the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville to the West, came later). And then there was all sorts of history before the Europeans ever came. The past doesn’t come more alive than here. Especially by the time you’ve gotten to your second bottle… As befits the context, several of the winery’s bottles are named after key people or events in Virginia history: “Act 12” of 1619; Gabriel Archer, the second-in-command of the original Jamestown expedition from England. The winery also has a museum with a large collection of 18th century bottles salvaged from the wreck of a Dutch trading ship of that era.