Crimson Lane Vineyards, Virginia’s newest upscale winery, is over a decade in the making. The 166-acre vineyard in Linden is all about the wine, and a wind-down experience in a stunning hilltop tasting room overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. And unlike a lot of crowd-pleasing destinations, you won’t find crowds (or weddings, or kids, or party buses).
The estate, about an hour from DC, was built to stand out. Husband-and-wife owners Tom and Deanna Herrity—a tech entrepreneur and interior designer, respectively–pinpointed the land in 2011 with an eye for ideal elevation, sunlight, slope, and soil diversity. Vines were planted in 2016, and winemaker Dominick Fioresi (Deanna’s brother), began making Crimson Lane’s first vintages at Early Mountain Vineyards near Charlottesville while their own facility was being built.
“The typical thing when you want to build your winery is to purchase grapes from other places while your production grows. And, quite frankly, that might be the smart way to do it. But we did everything the most expensive, difficult way possible,” Herrity says. “What we’ve done is is try to make quality wine, grow quality grapes, and then build a place that people can really enjoy it.”
Crimson Lane joins only a handful of Virginia wineries, such as RdV, in focusing on reservations—it will accommodate up to six people per group—and offering limited space for walk-ins. Guests can book seats at the tasting bar, which start at $25; a table indoors or on the scenic veranda is $35; or, there are two private rooms for sampling limited-production vintages and snacks ($75 per person). Each experience includes wines, and guests are welcome to purchase bottles, cheese and charcuterie boards, and linger after their tastings.
Lauded Napa Valley winery architect Howard Backen designed the tasting room with nods to California style: there’s plenty of red oak and cedar, plus a wood-burning fireplace and retractable glass walls that open onto mountain views. Comparisons to Napa stop there, though. Winemaker Fioresi apprenticed under Jim Law of Linden Vineyard—nicknamed “the Godfather of Virginia Wine” for a reason—and also worked at Delaplane Cellars. The team is all-in on helping to continue to raise the status of Virginia wine.
Currently, Crimson makes several limited-production whites—including refreshing Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc—alongside reds (Petit Verdot, Nebbiolo) and red blends. Parral, the prestige blend of Merlot, Cabernet, and Cab Franc, is a tribute to the town in Mexico where manager Rumaldo Chavez and his vineyard crew are from.
“Virginia is unique in that we’re not bound to history, to any style, to any kind of profile. And what’s good about Virginia is in that we’re not defined, we’re trying to define it,” says Fioresi. “A lot of people are like, ‘oh, this wine is so much like blah blah.’ Well, this is actually like the terroir of Virginia. It is what it is. And we’re trying to promote what Virginia has.”
Crimson Lane Vineyards. 13334 Crimson Lane, Linden. Reservations available here.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
