Bill Hatch offers tastings at Zephaniah Farm Vineyard

Our group arrived at Zephaniah Farm Vineyard, Loudoun’s smallest winery and open only by appointment. Bill Hatch and his wife, Bonnie Archer, led us into the wonderful 1830 manor house that serves as one of the most unique tasting rooms we’ve visited. At the entry, Bill showed us a black and white photograph that included his great-grandfather, Zephaniah Jefferson Hatch, for whom the winery is named.

Barrel tasting with Zephaniah winemaker Bill Hatch

The home’s rich history was evident in the antique furniture and photographs placed throughout the tasting room, which once served as a parlor. Following the tastings of their Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, Bill was joined by his son and fellow winemaker, Tremain, in explaining his family’s winemaking process downstairs as he offered barrel tastings for the group.

Willowcroft Farm Vineyards' collection of medals graces its tasting room

We could easily have spent the entire day at Zephaniah, but the final stop on our our tour awaited: Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, Loudoun’s original winery. Celebrating 25 years this year, the award-winning Willowcroft is a popular destination on the wine trail and often hosts celebrations such as the bridal shower taking place that day.

Tasting at Willowcroft Farm Vineyards

Tastings take place in a historic red barn, and when the heights on Mt. Gilead aren’t shrouded in mist and light rain as it was on Saturday, great views of the Blue Ridge Mountains can be had from the picnic area. The weather dissuaded us from taking self-guided tours of the farm, unfortunately.

Flush with the tastings of the day, we headed back to the bus and our driver, James, and admired his handiwork in creating our names out of copper wire. If you ever meet him on the Reston Limo DC tour, be sure to ask him for a song!

Joe Roberts, Tammi Marcoullier, Audrey McGill, Dezel Quillen, Kathy Sullivan and Terry Sullivan

We’d like to thank Tammi Marcoullier, Audrey McGill, Dezel Quillen, Joe Roberts, and Kathy and Terry Sullivan for joining us on our first blogger’s tour, and to Casanel Vineyards, Dry Mill Vineyards, Zephaniah Farm Vineyard and Willowcroft Farm Vineyard for hosting the bloggers on Saturday.

If you would like to schedule your own private tour of the Harmony Cluster of the Loudoun Wine Trail or other regional wine trails, please visit www.restonlimo.com for more information.

We traveled along Loudoun’s country backroads to enjoy tastings at four destinations, including the original and newest wineries in DC’s Wine Country: Casanel Vineyards, Dry Mill Vineyards & Winery, Zephaniah Farm Vineyard and Willowcroft Farm Vineyard.

Joining us on the tour were:

Tammi Marcoullier, a media and content strategy consultant in Loudoun who launched the popular blog, Living in LoCo, as an editor and consultant to WashingtonPost.com. Tammi currently posts regularly on her blog InsideOut, Facebook and Twitter.

Audrey McGill, a freelance designer of Web sites and blogs who writes about family life and travels in northern Virginia and beyond on her blog The McGill Family, Facebook and Twitter

Dezel Quillen, author of a Loudoun Magazine three-part series on the Loudoun Wine Trail, who has visited dozens of wineries and vineyards in the region. Besides his blog, My Vine Spot, Dezel also is a regular contributor to the official Virginia Wine Lover newsletter.

Joe Roberts, a certified wine specialist from the greater Philadelphia area and author of the book How to Taste Like a Wine Geek: The 1WineDude Tasting Guide. Joe writes mini-reviews on Twitter in addition to his blog, 1 Wine Dude.

Kathy and Terry Sullivan of Maryland, who travel around the country visiting wineries and writing about them for Wine Trail Traveler, their virtual visitor center. Terry also is a regular contributor to Examiner.com as the Baltimore Wine Trail Examiner and on Twitter.

Casanel Vineyards's tasting room, a restored 1800s stone barn

Our first stop was Casanel Vineyards, where the Dave Pepper band was setting up for a performance on the outdoor patio. Inside, Kathleen DeSouza, her daughter Anna, and Anna’s husband Elliotte played host behind the bar, offering tastings of their 2007 Chegada and 2008 Batucada wines.

Nelson DeSouza, left, explains renovations in the lower level of the stone barn

Family patriarch Nelson DeSouza, meanwhile, proudly showed off his handiwork in the tasting facility, from the renovations to the 1800s stone barn to the bar and tables he made himself. The native of Brazil, who had retired from the construction business, regaled our group with tales of his life, explaining the history and meaning behind the names of his vintages.

Dry Mill Vineyards & Winery

It was hard to tear ourselves away, but we had another winery to visit: Dry Mill Vineyards & Winery, Loudoun’s newest winery. Owners Dean and Nancy Vanhuss had lovingly restored a historic stable and barn that was once home to the horses and dogs of the Loudoun Hunt Club, converting it to a tasting room on the main floor and a wonderful space for events upstairs.

Brett and Julia, How Merlot Can You Go bloggers

Upon entering the tasting room, we recognized a young couple at the bar: Brett and Julie, who recently launched a new wine blog, How Merlot Can You Go. Introductions to the Marine Corps lieutenant and molecular geneticist were made all ’round, and our group set about sampling from Dry Mill’s tasting menu, whose 2007 Cabernet Franc was a top pick of the day for some of the bloggers.

Dean Vanhuss

A light drizzle sprang up as we concluded our Dry Mill visit, but our intrepid driver James handily navigated the road leading to our next destination, Zephaniah Farm Vineyard.

Coming Thursday: Part 2 of the Reston Limousine Blogger’s Wine Tour

Reston Limousine offers Public Wine Tours every weekend; to view a schedule of tours, please visit www.restonlimo.com.