James Charles Winery & Vineyard

Had a nice visit here on a Saturday evening. Upon arriving Liz welcomed us and explained the tasting. She was very friendly and provided just the right amount of information about each wine. They had 3 whites and 3 reds to try. I usually don’t review the wine itself since everybody has a different palate and preference to what they like and don’t like. My friend and I each had a glass of their Riesling. They have plenty of indoor seating which I appreciate. I have been to other wineries where indoor seating is limited which is frustrating when you visit in the fall and winter. If you sit outside it is peaceful and they have a nice view. They don’t allow outside food in the tasting room but have a nice menu to purchase food. Overall had a nice experience at the winery and would visit again.

We were in the Winchester area and heard about this new winery, so we stopped in for a tasting. The first impression we got was that the place looked really nice and comfortable. Slightly upscale in the decorations and set-​up.
We were greeted by the person tending the tasting bar and he was quite professional and knowledgeable about their wines. He also described the origination of this winery and that they’re part of the Veramar wine family.
The wines tasted nice, nothing spectacular, but they were far from bad too.
They have a great space outdoors to sit & sip with a great view from atop the hill they’re perched on. They have a nice, private area for members only, which would be nice on busy days.
They don’t allow outside food which is a bad idea for VA (or any) winery, as wines typically go with food the drinker prefers. It’s nice to offer wine, but never restrict the patron to eating your selections, which might not match their diet, etc.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad visit. It’s worth visiting.

I’m so, so conflicted about this winery. First off: Winchester actually has a winery! Woohoo! But…
I went on opening day, and I’ve gone again since, and I’ll continue to go. But: the wines are kind of meh. They offer 6 wines, 5 of which are available to non-​members (and the pretentiousness involved in a members only winery that doesn’t even use its own grapes… well…).
As with all young wineries (this one has only been open three months), the grapes aren’t original to the region. The owners have another winery in Berryville (Veremar) that also imports its grapes, because wineries in this region just haven’t matured enough to do their own thing. That’s okay, but it makes them startlingly ‘less than’ the wineries in the Charlottesville — Afton region. That doesn’t make it the worst winery (cough cough, Concord, cough cough, Stephens City…), but it just doesn’t make it the best or the most okayish.
The traditionally sweet wines aren’t sweet, and they’re touted as dry although what they really are is wet rock and fruit; the two reds are the Petit Verdot and the Zinfandel (which isn’t a red drinker’s red). Both of the reds are as of yet bland and lacking, but because there’s no vintage prior to 2014 (The winery just opened in 2015), and whites are more forgiving, I highly suggest you go with the whites. My two favorites here so far are the admittedly acidic Viognier and the self-​labeled «juicy» Riesling. Whites are always more forgiving of youth, and so I can only assume that these are my favorites simply because the reds are not mature yet.
Don’t ask about residual sugars, because they don’t know: no matter how many times I’ve asked (several), the Sommelier doesn’t know. They can’t talk nuance, either; they know exactly as much as is printed on the tasting list, no more, no less.
Tastings of the 6 wines (or 5, depending), are $ 10 per person. You don’t get to keep the glass. (Pardon me for being a snob, but I find tasting fees distasteful, and against tradition, although I do realize that this is Virginia.)
The scenery has promise: lots of promise. It’s pretty now, it’ll be gorgeous in a few years. The vines are young, and the hills are alive with the newness of construction and young trees. But seriously, in a few years this is going to be the prettiest winery in the area.
This venue is full of potential, and the function room has lots of promise for events.
The «members only» area is «exclusive» to over 200 people, and this place is only three months old. What that means is, IT’S NOT EXCLUSIVE. The benefits are: unlimited free tastings, access to one particular members only room, and an infinitesimal discount on quarterly bottle orders for pick-​up (which is only really good if you like their wines enough to drink them at home, as opposed to tolerating their wines for the atmosphere). Frankly, I wouldn’t purchase a membership here, because it would be admitting my tolerance for blasé wines to the world, while simultaneously gaining me access to a community of those that also apparently enjoy blasé wines.
Come for the beauty and the tasting, but don’t leave with a cellar’s worth of $ 20−30/bottle meh.

When spending the day in Winchester I heard of a new winery that opened and I had to give it a try. You never know what you could find until you try something new, right? Sadly, this was not a new experience that I enjoyed.
Driving up to the winery was nice. I really like the logo for this winery and the tasting room is tastefully done. Walking into the tasting room you could still smell the fresh paint on the walls. We were greeted by someone named Sid, which I thought was a nice touch. He directed us to the tasting bar and we waited for our tasting to begin. My fiancé and myself stood there for a good 10 minutes before anyone even acknowledged our presence and even then it was not very friendly. We contained to wait as our server seemed more into selling their wine club package to a couple next to us instead of pouring wine. I get it, you are a new winery who wants wine club members, but in order to get the members you need to pour the wine! During our wait time we noticed that they were having issues with their POS computer system. This brought all the servers to a complete halt and no one was pouring any wine. Just when we were about to leave our serve finally gave us some glasses (which were dirty!) and said we would begin the tasting. She informed us the tasting would be $ 10 a piece and we needed to pay up front before starting the tasting. I have never been at a winery where you pay before you start the tasting that seemed strange to me. Say I wanted a glass of wine after my tasting, you are going to charge me my tasting up front and then charge me again for my glass of wine? Wouldn’t it make sense to wait till the end of the tasting and see if i want a glass or bottle before you charge me? It would be less work on your part. We tried to pay before the tasting but the computer system stopped working again and our serve wouldn’t start until the system was back up! Are you kidding me, just start the tasting and let me pay after we are done! By this time it was well our 20 minutes and our serve could tell we were not happy so she started our tasting for us.
I wish I could say the wines made up for the horrible service, but they did not. The Riesling was the best and even that was a stretch. The whites had a funny after taste that I have yet to put my finger on and the reds had way too much pepper for my taste. I like a nice red with some pepper kick to it, but whoa not that much. After our tasting was done we were waiting to pay and our serve was taking a tray of cheese and crackers to a table. When she picked up the tray half of the crackers fell on the floor and she didn’t even bother to go and get more! Wow I know if I saw half of my crackers fall on the floor I would want some new crackers. The system was still down by the time we were ready to pay. Good thing I had a $ 20 bill handy so we could pay cash and get out of this place.
I understand this is a new winery I get it. However, someone needs to train your servers how to give better customer service. I have been to wineries that have been way busier than this one, but the servers take time to greet you and apologize for being busy. Also, if you are having a problem with your computer system don’t have everyone work on that problem and leave your guests waiting. The manager should have been working on that problem while letting the servers pour wine. Between the service and the wine it just wasn’t a good experience. With all the wineries in the area I will not be back here.

Not bad for an opening day!
Wine: 3.5 stars: JC served 6 wines for $ 10; 3 whites, and 3 reds. Some were little on the young side, but everything was OK to good. I really liked the tasting sheet descriptions; that was a nice touch. I also liked the diversity; not many wineries have red Zinfandel or dry Reisling, and they had both. On the minus side, everything was a tad expensive, especially given the more reasonable prices I see at other Shenandoah wineries.
Facilities: 3 or 4 stars? Not the tasting-​room extravaganza like I see in Loudoun county, but reserved and tasteful. I liked the garage-​style door that opened up so you can enjoy the view; Shenandoah is a nice area so you can’t go wrong with that.
Service: 4 stars. This was opening day so they were busy but the servers seemed knowledgeable and friendly.
According to my pourer, James Charles is owned by the same family that has the Veramar and Bogati Bodega wineries; apparently wine making is something of a family tradition. The grapes are from Veramar, which really isn’t that far. I like Veramar a lot so this is a point in their favor.
The Reisling was dry and crisp, and the Sav Blanc had the flavor of green apple. Dry Reislings seem to be rare in this area, so finding this was a nice surprise. Wasn’t a big fan of the Viognier, though.
The Reds included a «1913» Bordeaux style blend, a Petit Verdot, and a red Zinfandel. The 1913 needs time to age, but in time it should soften. The Zin was different; not being a Zin drinker I don’t have any basis for comparison, so it was hard to rate. But I definitely liked the Petit Verdot.
JC is about 1.5 hours from DC, so it’s sort of a hike. But I think Shenandoah is an under-​appreciated wine making region, so it’s nice to see a new addition.