With new wineries opening in Loudoun County every year, we’re always looking to rotate our weekend public winery tours to incorporate fresh faces into our lineup … including newcomers Maggie Malick Wine Caves and Winery 32.
Your first approach to Maggie Malick Wine Caves is quite elegant, with two stone lions flanking the drive to the tasting room … which initially calls to mind a hobbit hole.
Here’s a description of how Mark and Maggie Malick built their tasting room and wine cave (from the Maggie Malick website):
Maggie’s Wine Cave is a man-made cut and cover type of cave. We excavated the hillside and built the cave with tons of concrete, rebar and I-beams. After waterproofing, we covered the cave with four feet of earth. This helps the cave maintain a more constant temperature and reduce energy costs, so it has a lower carbon footprint than a traditional above ground winery. And it’s just cool to have grass growing on the roof!
At the bar, guests are greeted with a sizable menu of light winery fare (including gluten-free offerings!), which they can order with their tasting. On a nice fall day, however, the outdoor patio and tables beckon guests to enjoy the view of the pond and rolling hills.
For more information about Maggie Malick Wine Caves, visit their website at www.maggiemalickwinecaves.com.
On the opposite side of the county, guests traveling to Winery 32 arrive at a similarly grand entrance, with individual peach trees dotting the driveway and the sparkling waters of their pond edging the road. There are, by the way, 32 of those trees on this 32-acre plot of land that was established as a vineyard on the owners’ 32nd wedding anniversary … only one guess as to how they got the name for their winery!
Inside the tasting room is spacious, with three separate areas for groups and a double-sided fireplace to keep guests warm and toasty in the coming colder months.
But outdoors beckon at Winery 32 as well, with a spacious patio overlooking a gorgeous view and generous seating on the lawn, including next to the pond — but owners Roxanne and Michael Moosher warn guests not to swim, fish or wade in the pond as resident snapping turtles don’t take kindly to strangers.
For more information about Winery 32, visit their website at www.winery32.com. Both wineries are pet-friendly and kid-friendly, and both are well worth the trip out to DC’s Wine Country!
We can arrange private tours for your friends, family or corporate group to any Virginia winery; for more information call our winery tours specialists at 703.478.0500.