Berry Hill Vineyard

One vineyard that I have not written about yet is Berry Hill Vineyard, and this little place is definitely worth writing about!

Berry Hill is a small, family owned vineyard resting on the rolling hills of Flint Hill, Virginia. Because the tasting room is really the owner’s garage, tastings are by appointment only. Do not let this minor inconvenience dissuade you from visiting though!

Owner David Hilty puts countless hours of love and attention into his Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes, and it is instantly noticeable the moment you see the grounds and hear him speak about the vines. Most of his grapes are sold to local wineries, but David enjoys keeping enough grapes to make about 80 cases of wine a year.

David Hilty describing his wine-making process
Dan and I loved our visit to Berry Hill with the VA Wine Mafia members (here is one of the other member’s review). David taught us all about the difference between a hand-bottled wine and a machine bottled wine – it was really fascinating! I also fell in love with the big wooden doors that led to and from the tasting room. When I asked about the doors, I found out that one had been salvaged from a local historical building and the other had been made from Epe wood.

Corking a bottle by hand

One of the beautiful wooden doors
The three wines in the Berry Hill tasting were: 2010 Cabernet Franc, 2011 Cabernet Franc, and 2011 Petit Verdot. All of them were truly fantastic! I loved how complex the Cabernet Francs were and how earthy the Petit Verdot was. Dan and I left with multiple bottles of the 2010 Cabernet Franc and 2011 Petit Verdot.

Some of the VA Wine Mafia folks at Berry Hill:

While we are hording away a couple bottles for the future, the others are disappearing rather quickly. Guess this means we will have to make another Berry Hill stop in the near future! :)