Horton is a lovely gem of a winery, located on Rte 33, north of Charlottesville. It's housed in a "castle" in the center of, naturally, many vineyards. Very easy to get to.
Horton is clearly a big player in the Virginia wine scene. They've won many wine medals, and they have a whole lot of wines to try. In fact, you cannot even begin to try all of Horton's wines. Just try the stuff you've liked in the past, and add on a thing or two that is new.
Due to the variety of wines available, we went off from Horton with a whole bunch of wines, pretty close to a case. Some of the standout wines (to us) were:
- Sparkling Viognier. This uniquely Virginian bubbly is a house wine at the famous Inn at Little Washington. You can pay $99 a bottle for it in Little Washington, or buy it here for only $25.
- Norton. This red wine is made from a native Virginia grape, and to my knowledge there are only two wineries making wine from Norton, Horton and Chrysalis up north. It's a lovely, fruity, soft grape, and Horton makes it drier than Chrysalis. Still I like both, and I am not a big red wine fan.
- Rkatsiteli: From Georgia (the one in the former Soviet Union), this is a citrusy white that I had never tried before.
- Petite Manseng: Again a grape that both Horton and Chrysalis are using; Horton does a dry fruity white and Chrysalis a sweet dessert wine from the same grape. Very interesting.
- Fruit Wines, and Pear Port are included in Horton's stable.
That's only a tap on the wines that they have to offer. Horton is a big place, but does not feel like it. The owner stood and joked with us while we tasted, and they were willing to package our wine in a case even though we were only buying six bottles (but we ended up getting two more and getting eight before we were done.)
Can you tell we liked them? You can read more about Horton at their website and more about Virginia wines in general at .