Linden Vineyards

I’m honestly shocked there aren’t more 5 star ratings. I’m stingy in giving a winery the max rating, but this place deserves it. It’s a shame some reviewers can’t get over how Linden has special — and necessary — policies to not allow limos or groups of more than 6 people, which catches some by surprise. But that focus on wine not parties is what gives Linden its charm.
As many have observed, Linden is wine-​driven, NOT event-​driven. You won’t find loud groups, live music, dogs, kids running around, or weddings. They don’t need these distractions; people know Linden by word of mouth, and it’s deserved reputation as a serene get-​away to enjoy fine wine keeps them coming back. Linden literally removed itself from the VA wine touring map because it wants to avoid the stereotypical party crowds.
During my visit I did the tour, the regular $ 7 tasting (which I ultimately got for free) & $ 25 cellar tastings. The tour is free and held weekend mornings, and cellar tasting occurs almost every hour on weekends. It consists of a short walk thru the vineyard and cellar, as the guide describes the different qualities of their 3 vineyards and Jim’s wine making process. The cellar tasting (in my case at least) was a mini vertical tasting of 6 wines of different years (late Harvest Vidal, Chardonnay, and the Boisseau Bordeaux style). It was $ 25 well-​spend dollars, if only to try some of the much older vintages you will rarely find elsewhere. I’m not a Chardonnay drinker but WOW, theirs was good!
The regular tasting was also great. The 2011 Red blend was one of the best $ 21 bottle of VA red outside Charlottesville I’ve ever had. The 2012 Claret had a nice bing cherry taste, and the 2013 Reisling had a pineapple flavor. While I got different tropical fruit which I couldn’t place from the 2014 Reisling, I liked the 2013 better. The 2012 Petit Verdot also had a splash of Carmenere (a rare Bordeaux grape almost never found in the USA, but grown in small quantities here), which was a nice surprise.
Some have commented that Linden’s ‘members only’ vibe comes off as unfriendly, but I didn’t notice it at all. I think because I did the cellar tasting I was allowed to use their members porch, where I enjoyed some light fare and a glass of older (2008?) Boisseau. While $ 60 bottle is quite a stretch, if I possessed the capacity to ‘save’ expensive wines for special occasions I would have bought it right there.
A note on the man himself, Jim Law. If I had to pick a single wine-​maker to represent northern Virginia wine, it would be him. He’s mentored a lot of local wine makers, either from working with him or attending his wine-​making class (yes, he does that too). So if you think Virginia wine is getting progressively better, he’s at least part of the reason.

I had a great idea for my family-​rent a limo so you won’t have to drink and drive. Was told by this winery — LIMOS AREN’T ALLOWED, STAY AWAY. If this rule is to prevent party people, a large suv can hold 8. We were a party of 7. Linden would rather encourage you to drink and drive. Very considerate of them. And one limo takes up less parking than 7 cars. Ridiculous!

Great vineyard and very good wine. Despite the other reviews about the other servers, our server Amanda was great! Luckily we didn’t get the server that people are complaining about since that would probably change my view. Amanda is great, friendly and knowledgeable and makes linden winery an especially enjoyable place.
We consider it a treat to get to linden from the DC area and look forward to going back. The wine is also very good-​definitely some of the best in Virginia. Love going back!!!

It’s a bit far out but worth the drive. The cellar tasting was a wonderful experience (bring a jacket because it gets cold in there) and the wine is superb. Love the deck seating area, one part is roofed and the other isn’t. The view from the deck is superb. A great place to relax, enjoy wine and spend a day with your loved ones.

We will never return to this winery. We came in as we’ve done since this winery first opened, expecting a tasting to include their chardonnays. We were told these are not included. Then we got glasses of the only chardonnay they had, but were told we can’t go on the deck or sit down, or even buy food unless we are a case club member. This is ridiculous snobbery, I realize that the party buses have sort of «wrecked» the quiet Virginia winery experience, but do we really need a minimum bar to entry for this winery? We are not spending $ 350 plus to belong to their club, nor are we ever coming back. By the way, the chardonnay was not nearly the best Virginia chardonnay we’ve had. And we’ve been touring Virginia wineries since the early 1990s. Plus, they were charging $ 40 per bottle! Rather than patronize Linden, I’ll buy a really good CA chardonnay for $ 15 to drink at home. Get real, Linden. Your attitude and prices are truly out of sync with reality. And there are lots of better wineries to visit (both in quality of wine and in atmosphere). Which we will visit, again and again.

I have to say this is a rating of hospitality. I use to love this place, was a case member just over a year ago, but wow what a different change this time from the place I once loved. My boyfriend and I brought my parents who were visiting. I was excited for them to try it since my dad extremely knowledgeable on wine and I had not gone wine tasting with him since a trip to France over 10 years ago. We were meet by a short blond/​gray haired women who was just pure rude to us. We mentioned we might do a picnic before a cellar tasting, but were told that since my case membership had just ran out that were were not allowed anywhere on the property to eat. Nor would we be allow to sign up for a later cellar tasting if we left the property. Finally took our chances and went down the road and came back for the last tasting of the day. They were able to fit us in, but honestly I was not impressed by the wine. I’m not sure if it was because the bad experience made everything taste not as good, or if the wine was just not as good as previous years. However, either way I’m going to think hard before I take any other visitors to this vineyard.

This review is purely regarding my experience today, so this isn’t about the wine itself. If you want to read my review, this will give you a sense for the people we interacted with today.
1. My friend called in advance to see if limos were ok, we have 4 people. That’s fine.
This is our 3^rd stop in our wine touring. We called in advance to each venue to ensure we were abiding by each vineyards rules.
2. This vineyard will CRUCIFY you if you have a limo or other form of public transport. Again, we have 4 people.
We walked in and within 30 seconds the lady made it known limos weren’t acceptable and she wasn’t going to worry about it, but someone would immediately go outside and talk to our driver. Get over it guys — you should be upfront with folks that are trying to get ahead of drinking and driving.
The wine tasting lady we met, absolutely obnoxious. She couldn’t get over the limo. 4 people. Dude. I don’t understand. Are you physically capable of focusing on my patronage?
No, she’s not. It got worse. The limo driver, who is literally following our instruction, comes in asking what she should do because he’s upset the owner. He doesn’t understand because there is plenty of parking.
3. Come here if your Prius is driving. Bring your 1 friend. Don’t bring your other friends. If I hadn’t been treated like garbage, I’d tell you about the wine, but you know what, your staff was so rude that someone else in our party asked if we could leave because they were uncomfortable.
If you care about staff, these folks could use a lesson in etiquette.

Favorite Winery in VA. Great wine, beautiful house, polite, knowledgable staff and the view is spectacular

Jim Law is a legend in VA winemaking. We were looking forward to visiting his winery. The winery is in a beautiful location with great views. The tasting room is quite nice also.
The wines, as expected, were very good. However, they were not serving the better reds since they said we had to be a wine club member. I HATE that! You need to taste before you buy!
Dropped a star for the pretentious attitudes of the servers.

We’ve been a couple of times now and both have been amazing. This is a ‘quiet’ and quaint winery and they prefer to stay that way. They specialize in wine, NOT PARTYING!!! So, if you’re a group of more than 6, you might be asked to sit outside and we’re completely fine with this. The last time we were there, a group of 6 was there and they were quite noisy. Then 4 more walked in and they started pulling chairs from various locations to all sit in one area. The manager came over and was very polite in explaining their policy of keeping smaller groups and the chairs in place inside but welcomed to a blanket (that the winery supplied) and to sit outside. Such a great way to handle this. The group was quite happy and so was everyone inside.
As for the venue — BEAUTIFUL! Plenty of gorgeously landscaped areas. The wines are outstanding — then again, this is one of the «original» VA wineries.
We can’t wait to go back and visit more often. As a member, you get exclusive use of the beautiful, private deck areas… JOIN UP!

Excellent wine, excellent views, and excellent service. A real treat — plan a good hour here so you can have a tasting and then a glass on the deck.

I visited to the Linden Vineyard a few weeks ago with a small group of people for a wine tasting. Our group came from different parts of the USA to do the VA winery tour. This was the first winery we visited that day so it is fair to say that we did not show up with a ’ wine buzz’ from other winery visits.
Our experience: An older woman with short-​medium length blonde hair spoke to our group in a very crass and abrupt manner that included a mix of continuos passive-​agressive comments, and direct rudeness that went on throughout the entire wine tasting experience. The behavior seemed to indicative to an unaddressed mental health issue, not just horrible customer service. I actually enjoyed the wine but taking in to consideration the way we were treated we decided not to purchase anything. We did not address her and decided it was best to leave as soon as the tasting was over.
I imagine not all the staff behave this way but this one woman really soured the experience for the group. It seemed that other visitors that day had a similar experience because when we exited the venue we heard a small group of people discussing her attitude as well. We compared notes with them and it was the same theme — – passive aggressive comments and rudeness.
We travelled so far to visit the Linden Vineyards and it was so disappointing to encounter such behavior and start our day of visiting wineries this way. I do not plan to return to this winery.

Don’t visit if you a minority, married outside of your race, with children, or are not a club member. We walked in and was told there was other wineries that was better suited for us. She continued to pull out a map when we didn’t immediately leave. It was pretty obvious that we were not wanted. When one of the members of our group inquired about the deck, he was told its only for club members. Please note, he was a club member! Linden never have to worry about us patronizing them again!

Jim Law is still the undisputed master of the vineyard. Like ourselves an ex Peace Corps guy who has a passion for classic wine making. Club case members are the way to go and enjoy a relaxing time on the deck with his deep reds in cold weather and light white wines in summer. Local cheese and sausage delicious too.

Before you go, you should know that, on Saturday and Sunday, Linden now restricts its decks and lawn areas to wine club members only. The general public is welcome to visit the tasting room, but that’s about it. (Friday and Monday the deck and grounds are open to everyone, in groups of no more than four.) Owner and winemaker, Jim Law, provides a respectful explanation for this unusual policy on his website: «In order to keep Linden small, focused, peaceful and in harmony with farming and our community, we have limited activities that are commonly associated with other wineries.»
It’s likely that Linden is just the first of many Northern Virginia and Charlottesville-​area wineries who’ll try to balance the impact of the winery tourism explosion in the coming years. Like Napa and Sonoma before them, some established and successful Virginia wineries are struggling to welcome a growing horde of visitors without having the whole thing turn into a crazed bachelorette party gone bad.
Jim Law is the right man to take the first step: when we began visiting wineries in earnest a dozen years ago, Law had already been making wine for a decade. The Washington Post’s Dave McIntyre called him the oracle of the Virginia wine industy. Take a look at the wine list on the Linden web site – you’ll see not only the price and food pairings, but also notes about the vineyard, the growing year, and the wine making.
And if you’re looking for a concise background on winemaking in Virginia over the years, don’t miss Law’s articles.
Tastings are $ 7, and a special reserve cellar tasting is available for $ 20, which you can sign up for when you arrive. It happens hourly from 12 to 4:00.
A free, 30-​minute educational tour of the vineyard and cellar begins at 11:30 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday.
No limos, buses, or groups of more than 6 in the tasting room, or more than 4 on the grounds (weekdays only, unless you’ve purchased a case of wine in the last 12 months.) Linden does not offer private event space or weddings.
Cheers!
Nancy & Rick

Still one of the best wineries in VA if not THE best. Love their 2010 Chardonnay.
Didn’t care for the Claret as much as we did Nov 2012.
Pretty views.

Everyone said this place was great so I drove the hour up to go check it out. They were tasting five wines in the tasting room. The place itself was really nice and had a great view on the deck and stuff. The wine itself was just OK to me.
I like California style bold wines, they did not have this here (Yes I know this is Virginia). What I find is sometimes winemakers in VA try so hard to be different that they make something that is very foreign to most wine drinkers.
I was hoping to find something I liked here and enjoy a glass and the view, but nothing really stuck out for me here. I would like to go back and try the cellar tasting where you may get some other styles.
This place was not bad by any means, the wines they had on the tasting sheet on the day I stopped in were not for me though. I am sure given another chance with some other wines I may change my mind…

Loved Linden.
Jim Law really knows his wines! Came here with a group of 6 early on a Saturday in January. Lori was our taster and she was fantastic: very knowledgeable about the wines and was able to answer our wine-​nerdy questions. We each walked away with at least 2 – 3 bottles. Personally, I enjoyed the 2009 Hardscrabble, 2010 Avenius Chard, 2010 Petit Verdot, and the 2012 Sav Blanc (and I usually don’t like whites!).
As for their policy regarding the «wine club/​members only» sitch for their porch, etc., I say, good for you Linden. Why should any of us judge the way they want to run their tasting room? It’s a free country, after all. Do I think that every tasting room should adopt this approach? No, but at Linden I can see why they have it. If you’re «offended» by their house policy, there’s plenty of other wineries in the area that will have you. Believe me, it’s not the end of the world, Unilocalers! Having a beautiful porch on which to relax and enjoy awesome VA wines (with minimal distraction from large «party bus crowds,» screaming kids, etc.), sure, sign me up!
Definitely come here for the wines, you owe yourself that, at least. I, for one, can’t wait to go back.

The folks at Linden Vineyards were kind of enough to provide a tasting even though we showed up 4 minutes til closing! We tried five wines (2012 Seyal, 2011 chardonnay, 2011 Red, 2010 Petit Verdot, 2010 Vidal Riesling) at a bargain price. My favorite was the chardonnay as it comprised of orange zest, fresh straw, mineral water, sea salt and vanilla cream. End result was a smooth, yet not too sweet, tasting wine.
The grounds at Linden were scenic as it was Winter time with plenty of snow still around. I definitely plan to return during the Spring time with ample time to taste and explore this time around.

Such a shame… I was ready to join a wine club membership on my last trip out to Virginia’s vineyards, and I was hoping that place was going to be Linden Vineyards. But unfortunately, my last experience was much more like my second visit (refer to my original review) than the awesome initial trip. In fact, the service just seemed so snooty and stand-​offish that I just was so put off that I not only decided that I not to join the membership, but I decided that I just never wanted to go back.
This is a shame, because I definitely think that Linden has some if the better wines of the region and one of the most beautiful stretches of land I’ve seen in the area. But a vineyard trip is not just about the wine, it’s about the ambience, the feeling you get when you’re sitting under the sun and overlooking rolling green hills and clear blue skies. But, while the sample is small, my experiences at Linden left me with a sour taste that overwhelmed my enjoyment of the wine.
Maybe Linden just wants to cultivate this assumed «high-​brow», overly pretentious vineyard that caters to the 1% as opposed to the standard weekend visitor/​taster. If that’s the case, then they’re doing it very well. But for folks like me, the casual drinker just trying to enjoy a nice weekend in the Virginia hills, Linden lost a visitor and a possible member with that strategy.