With the meandering Appalachian Trail to the west and the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway to the east, Virginia’s Blue Ridge region has a lot to explore.

Interstate 81 bisects the Blue Ridge Wine Region, which runs south of Roanoke to the North Carolina border.

The windy and picturesque mountainsides of southwest Virginia are home to several well-established wineries thanks to loamy and gravelly soil with good drainage and stunning elevations.Wine lovers can discover the art of winemaking at eleven wineries nestled in the rolling countryside along the Berks County Wine Trail.

Central Virginia’s thriving wine scene heightens the area’s allure as a destination for history, culture, and great food. Traverse a two-hour radius, and you’ll encounter worlds within worlds—from Civil War sites to cutting-edge art, quaint towns, urban excitement, and remote mountain escapes.

It’s no wonder Thomas Jefferson attempted to make wine at Monticello in the 1770s. Generations of winemakers have carried his experiments forward centuries later.

The eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge and the rolling countryside offer fertile granite-based clay soil and a growing season of over 200 days. This combination yields grapes with rich Old-World flavor. As a result, you’ll find numerous wineries clustered around Charlottesville and south of Lynchburg and a few east of Richmond.

This Tidewater region of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula falls between the Potomac and York rivers, with the Chesapeake Bay to the east.

Three presidents were born here—George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe. Here you’ll find moments that have defined our history and an endless stretch of shoreline where time stands still.

The verdant land of these peninsulas provides a mix of sandy loam soil and a temperate climate year-round. As a result, many excellent wineries call this area home. Explore the Virginia Oyster Trail, experience the Urbanna Oyster Festival, or enjoy a relaxing waterfront getaway and “tide to table” dining at Tides Inn Resort in Irvington.

Virginia’s Eastern Shore is an enchanting peninsula of family farms, small towns, waterside villages, and miles of shoreline between the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay.

In a 1608 voyage to explore the Eastern Shore, Captain John Smith said that “Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation.”

Today, beach-lovers, eco-tourists, fishing enthusiasts, boaters, and residents still agree with that sentiment.

So do wine lovers, who began visits in the early 1980s after the birth of the wine industry.

The expressive character of Eastern Shore wines makes a natural pair with the area’s local seafood and produce.

Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown tell a rich and enduring history of this area that attracts millions of visitors every year.

Here you’ll find the nation’s second-oldest institution of higher learning, the College of William and Mary, as well as nearby Christopher Newport and Old Dominion universities.

And among the many exciting things to see and do, be sure to include visits to wineries in the area, where a year-round temperate climate and fertile soil produce excellent vinifera and vintages

The western tip of Virginia offers a mountainous and rolling countryside with timeless rural charm.

Here you’ll find verdant forests broken by fertile farmland and lush orchards. Small towns, antique shops, local eateries, and friendly residents characterize this area’s appeal.

Two National Wilderness Areas, which offer numerous hiking and biking trails, draw outdoor types during the spring and summer.

The temperate year-round climate and rocky slopes provide ideal conditions for ultra-ripe fruit—the hallmark of the region’s reds, whites, rosés, and fruit wines.

Virginia’s Eastern Shore is an enchanting peninsula of family farms, small towns, waterside villages, and miles of shoreline between the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay.

In a 1608 voyage to explore the Eastern Shore, Captain John Smith said that “Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation.”

Today, beach-lovers, eco-tourists, fishing enthusiasts, boaters, and residents still agree with that sentiment.

So do wine lovers, who began visits in the early 1980s after the birth of the wine industry.

The expressive character of Eastern Shore wines makes a natural pair with the area’s local seafood and produce.

Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown tell a rich and enduring history of this area that attracts millions of visitors every year.

Here you’ll find the nation’s second-oldest institution of higher learning, the College of William and Mary, as well as nearby Christopher Newport and Old Dominion universities.

And among the many exciting things to see and do, be sure to include visits to wineries in the area, where a year-round temperate climate and fertile soil produce excellent vinifera and vintages

The western tip of Virginia offers a mountainous and rolling countryside with timeless rural charm.

Here you’ll find verdant forests broken by fertile farmland and lush orchards. Small towns, antique shops, local eateries, and friendly residents characterize this area’s appeal.

Two National Wilderness Areas, which offer numerous hiking and biking trails, draw outdoor types during the spring and summer.

The temperate year-round climate and rocky slopes provide ideal conditions for ultra-ripe fruit—the hallmark of the region’s reds, whites, rosés, and fruit wines.

Northern Virginia’s wine country sits an hour outside the nation’s capital yet somehow feels like exploring a secret world.

Winding back roads open into bucolic scenes that seem ripped from an old landscape painting.

It’s easy to forget what year it is with locations such as the Skyline Drive and Appalachian Trail, Mount Vernon, and Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park. Yet with the National Air and Space Museum, Wolftrap National Park for the Performing Arts, and D.C. nearby, it’s easy to immerse yourself in modern pleasures as well.

And dotted throughout this dynamic landscape are some of Virginia’s most respected wineries. With rich soils from eons of granite and sandstone erosion, the rolling hills give good air and drainage for wine grapes. Moderate winters and a generous growing season result in the productive ground for wines.

This breathtaking valley, with its rolling landscape of pastures and historic towns, stretches from the Maryland state line to the city of Roanoke.

College towns abound, as do wonders both natural and man-made.

You can see Shakespeare plays year-round in Staunton and take in the early fall Apple Harvest Festival in Winchester.

Visits to wineries here make an enjoyable travel destination; at no time is this more visible than during the fall when the leaves turn to dazzling reds, oranges, and yellows.

You’ll find wineries from north of Winchester to the south of Roanoke and points in between. The valley’s rocky, fertile soil and warm, relatively dry growing season lend themselves to nearly every varietal

Running across the middle of Virginia’s border with North Carolina, this rural landscape of farms and woodland takes visitors into the south-side Virginia version of small-town America.

It’s an area rich in Revolutionary War, Civil War, and civil rights heritage. You’ll find walking tours and small local museums in town after town—and gracious southern hospitality everywhere.

Kerr Lake is Virginia’s largest freshwater lake. Near Clarksville is Prestwould, the 18th-century plantation home of Sir Peyton Skipwith. In Danville to the west, you can visit Langhorne House, the home of Lady Astor.

Southern Virginia has a warm, temperate climate with good soil for winemaking in selected areas where the topography is ideal. In this area of Virginia, you’ll find excellent wines made from both traditional vinifera and an array of local fruits.

Highland County is known as “Virginia’s Switzerland” thanks to its alpine climate, the highest mean elevation of any county east of the Mississippi River.

Dramatic mountains, valleys, and quaint towns beg to be hiked, biked and otherwise explored, as do the area’s many eclectic, family-run wineries.