Stone Mountain Vineyards

Their website warns, «DO NOT USE GPS!» What did I do? Used Google Maps and proceeded to drive up a terrifying, bumpy route through the mountains via switchbacks, steep inclines, and areas too narrow for two cars to safely pass each other without one careening down the mountainside — all the while unsure if I’d actually make it there or reach a closed gate and have to turn around in an impossibly narrow cliffside space. I made it. Definitely approach this winery on the recommended route, though. I actually enjoyed the thrill of the scary route, but it’s not for everyone. The other route actually does include two miles of similar road, but it’s a bit wider, much more even, and it’s a lot shorter. I can see why they close during the winter months, though; the snow and ice would make this an impossible route.
The scary ass road is worth it: it leads to a mountaintop vineyard with absolutely gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains and the valley below. It’s particularly beautiful around late October and early November, when the leaves are bright golden, both on the vines and across the rolling hills. The tasting room is also picturesque, reminiscent of a rustic ski lodge.
The wines are excellent across the board. I normally hate Chardonnays and I really liked theirs, and I loved all of the reds, especially the Petit Verdot, the Meritage, and the Cab Franc. There’s something for everyone in the wines at Stone Mountain.
Bonus: there’s a really adorable, sweet, friendly pit bull hanging around. Chance will probably greet you at the door to give you a nice start to your visit.

I am very glad I got to experience this winery, but I will admit that because of that scary ass road, I have no plans to ever come back.
Let’s talk about the drive. If you are NOT an experienced driver and/​or do not like driving windy/​narrow gravel roads, DON’T NOT VISIT HERE. If you don’t mind a bit of an adventure, check them out. Let me just say, I’m glad I was not driving… Some spots were scary, especially if you have to pass another vehicle.
Regarding the wine and winery… FABULOUS. I really liked all the wines I tasted. I had generous pours so I don’t know why another reviewer complained. The scenery and building were beautiful. Great place to have a picnic lunch. They had fantastic live music. I loved it.

Just not worth the trip. I’ve been to over 100 wineries in Virginia so far and this will definitely be on the «not worth the time» list. The road up is as bad as the worst reviews say. I have a Civic with automatic transmission (don’t even think about doing this road with a standard, you’ll never make it) and I was truly worried at several points that we wouldn’t make it up. I was down to first gear and going about 6 mph and just praying that I’d get there. Upon reaching the top, there’s a steep staircase made of gravel and railroad ties to get down to the tasting room. The tasting associates, to be kind, weren’t very interested in us – and we were literally the ONLY two people at the tasting bar when we arrived. The pours are exceptionally skimpy. You really couldn’t even TASTE the wine with the size of the pours. I have never been to a place with such small pours. The regular tasting is $ 5.00 and the expanded (with several more reds) is $ 10.00 and includes the glass. Frankly, the extra money for the expanded tasting isn’t worth it, as the extra wines aren’t that great and are really overpriced. The view, as others have said, is amazing, but I’ve seen views from other wineries that I enjoyed just as much with better attitude from the employees and better wines to drink. Taste these wines at festivals as you see them, but spend the time going elsewhere.

Visited over Memorial Day weekend (yes this is a late review :) and was blown away by both the place and the wine. Heck, I’d live there if I could; I loved the wooden cabin tasting room almost as much as the wine itself.
Favorites were the Bacon Hollow Petit Verdot (does it go well with bacon? I’ll have to try!), the Meritage, and the 2010 Merlot Reserve. Honestly everything was good, but those were the standouts. I also lucked out that my servers were kind enough to allow me to try a few wines that normally aren’t on the serving menu.
Their vineyards have some excellent slopes and a 1700 ft altitude. And just when I thought I couldn’t like them any more, they told me Gabriele Rausse — one of VA’s première wine makers — was the one who helped plant them.
Stone Mountain is a trek to get to; if you’re afraid of narrow roads this place might be scary. But please go, it’s worth the trip! I’m already planning a trip during the fall so I can enjoy the view again.

A hidden, delightful winery 1700 feet in the mountains that is well worth your time.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: the drive. The directions from Charlottesville is a bit of a roundabout way, but it does avoid the back country roads your GPS will take you on, so I recommend using the directions on the website. The drive is not nearly as bad as these other reviews will have you believe. It’s only the last two miles (Route 632) which is, for lack of a better work, «adventurous,» due to a somewhat narrow gravel road that weaves up a mountain to the winery. If you’ve mostly driven in urban environments, yes, you will find yourself gripping your steering wheel in terror. If you grew up in a more rural environment, you will find it immensely easy and wonder what all the hub-​bub was about. Also, it took us about an hour to get here from downtown Charlottesville, so plan accordingly.
Once you get there, you are greeted with the best view of Central Virginia from any winery in the area. I cannot emphasize enough how gorgeous the view is from the patio. The inside of the tasting room is all wood (think a really nice log cabin) and very open and spacious. There are plenty of comfortable chairs inside and on the porch.
The wine tasting is $ 5 for a small tasting of select wines and $ 7 for an expanded tasting of some additional reds. The glasses are included in the price and are quite nice (I prefer the glasses that have a a thicker stem as they transport easier), with white etchings of the winery and, since it was 2014, a Year of the Horse logo on the opposite side. The best part of going to these more remote wineries is they tend to offer more unique flavors that the more popular winery locations. That holds true at Stone Mountain, which had a Merlot that tasted particularly amazing with chocolate and a Bacon Hollow Sunset light red which was my favorite of the bunch. My girlfriend was a fan of Bacon Hollow White Wine, which was very sweet. I’ll have to give an edge to their reds over their whites, but this may be due to personal bias more than a refined wine tasting palate (which, admittedly, I do not possess).
Overall, Stone Mountain is worth checking out and you will at the very least have time getting there. Bonus points for having a chill dog that didn’t bark once and just loved interacting with new people.

Spectacular view, wasn’t very busy even on a perfect spring day. The road commentary has been beaten to death. Just be very careful, but do consider avoiding if the area received significant rain fall recently. I was happy with the tasting room and staff-​very friendly. the wines were generally good, I bought a few bottles.

After a white knuckle ride up a 2 mile 1 lane gravel road we were greeted by the most non interested wine pourer I have ever encountered. She could have cared less that we forfeited half of an afternoon to find their vineyard and then drink mediocre wine. The view was spectacular and the dog who greeted us the only saving grace. Too many other vineyards to visit in the Monticello wine area of Virginia.

We made the «mistake» of following the GPS to the vineyard. It ended up being a fun, mud road up the mountain. I wouldn’t recommend doing it without 4wheel drive. The building itself is pretty with a great view of the vineyard. Unfortunately there was a ton of fog and we weren’t able to see much. For $ 7 you can taste all the wines. Out of the about 12 wines we tried 2 were decent. Two young girls (one was 19) were in charge of the tasting had the same spiel for each wine and seemed generally uninterested in the wine. In all the most fun was the drive up the mountain.

Incredibly great wine, fun tour and tastings, and the view simply cannot be beat. The road wasn’t that bad. It was fun but my car made it with no problems. Well worth it. I took home 4 cases of award-​winning wine.
The winery itself is gorgeous with beautiful hardwood — would be a great place for a party, wedding, etc. I want to go back and stay for a few days in their guest house. Kate Breiner (the winemaker) was delightful and very helpful. Her smile’s almost as nice as her wine. I highly recommend both the wine and the trip to visit the vineyard.

My husband and I like to tour wineries and other agricultural destinations (e.g. picking your own strawberries at an orchard) while traveling and have been to many vineyards in Virginia and North Carolina. This was the first one we didn’t enjoy, and the first one where we didn’t want to buy a single bottle of wine, though we did anyway to be polite.
Starting with the positive side: the view is *amazing.* It is absolutely beautiful, and the winery has a wraparound porch where you can sit and enjoy it. And they supplied dark chocolate chunks as well as little crackers to cleanse your palate between wines. Since I have a gluten allergy, this was VERY much appreciated and alas, all too rare.
Now for the negatives:
First, it’s a strangely blue-​collar, elbow-​your-​way-​to-​the-​bar type of experience. Two women were pouring and one of them was loud and not afraid to use foul language. After five minutes of politely waiting near the tasting bar and another five minutes of politely waiting at the cash register in the hopes of getting someone to acknowledge us and let us join the tasting, we were told to go wait in the back until a spot opened up. We waited and waited and finally crammed into a spot for one person at the very end of the bar, where some friendly people who had come in at the same time for us were kind enough to make space for us. We were still happy because we didn’t have the loud woman, though, and we enjoyed our friendly companions. However, though we paid the full tasting price, we were not served all the wines because they ran out of some of them while we were there.
Second, the winery’s website and ads outright lie. Both say the winery is 30 minutes from Charlottesville. It was one hour and 20 minutes in light traffic, and we exceeded the speed limit almost the whole way — AND followed the directions on the winery’s own website. There is no excuse for outright lying. The only thing we could figure was they flew a helicopter from Charlottesville to the winery while timing the trip. Since the rest of us travel by car, this wasn’t helpful.
Third, the trip up to the winery is as bad as the other reviewers say. It’s seriously dangerous; sheer drop-​offs with no guardrails next to a road that’s one lane wide. We were driving our Fiat 500, which is about as small a car as you can get, and we still had to literally back down the mountain when another compact car came down it. Harrowing. If the wine and the tasting environment had been worth it, that would have been one thing, but this was not the case.
I wish I could give a more positive review — if you look at my other reviews you’ll see anything below 4 stars is highly unusual for me — but alas, I can’t. Hopefully it was just an off day for them and hopefully there are many others who like their style of wine.

1,700 ft in elevation, Stone Mountain is the highest elevated winery in the state. Don’t be intimidated by the drive up there, it is not as arduous as everyone makes it seem, and the panoramic view of the area is well worth the trek! Go up early to beat the crowds and make sure you follow the directions posted on their website, not your GPS or mapquest!
The winery is a rustic building built into the side of the mountain, with a spacious tasting room constructed in floor to ceiling hardwood. Two types of tastings are offered, a $ 5 — 11 wine and $ 7 — 15 wine tasting. We chose the $ 7 option to partake in Stone Mountain’s reserve wines and easily left with a three pack of the Bacon Hollow Sunset, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, and Twelve Barrels Meritage.
You may want to pack a picnic lunch or some snacks as there is limited to no food options offered either at the vineyard or found in the surrounding area.

So I just read that Chris Breiner, the owner and winemaker of Stone Mountain Vineyards, died on Valentine’s Day this year. No information on how he passed away but I am saddened by this. He was a little off-​putting at first until I discovered his initial off-​putting style was really dry-​as-​a-​martini wit. He took me and other visitors down for a private tour of his wine cave a few years ago and became a totally different person.
If you haven’t been to Stone Mountain Vineyards (they will continue to be open to the public and make good wine), it’s worth a trip up the face of a mountain (literally – although not recommended for those with vertigo). The winery view is the best in the Commonwealth (just you, your fellow wine lovers and the eagles up there), the wine is above average to very good (nothing excellent but all wines are drinkable), and the tasting room is low key (no freaking live bands), naturally beautiful and elegant.
Stone Mountain is raised one star as a tribute to Chris Breiner. Farewell Virginia wine friend and best wishes to your family.

The wines weren’t bad, the trip was a lot of fun — if you like narrow dirt/​gravel roads up a ridge to about 1700 feet above sea level. We didn’t know that using a GPS was not recommended so we headed out of Charlottesville to begin a day of winery tastings. The drive was actually fun — wouldn’t want to do it at night or in the rain, however. The first thing we were asked was if we had followed GPS directions …
The people in the tasting room couldn’t have been nicer (guess we didn’t cross paths with the much maligned owner) and the wines weren’t too bad — the Pinot Grigio was actually pretty good. We bought a bottle of 2008 Reserve Monticello. What they cannot prepare you for is the incredible view — too bad we missed the peak leaves by about a week.
We left the winery by the «main» road and it was much better. Who knew there were so many dirt roads in Virginia?

The views are PHENOMENAL, absolutely gorgeous. If you don’t mind blatently racist jokes from the staff (ask them if they’re «for» Obama), the wines are bearable.

Just visited this winery, and had to based upon the reviews I read here on Unilocal.I had to see this road first hand… and taste some wine as a reward for reaching the winery.
First thing I noticed about the road… that road is a state road. VDOT is responsible for it, not Stone Mountain Vineyards. And, its not the «Death Road» famous in Bolivia. A little confidence in your driving ability and a steady pace will take you up and back down with no problems. It is a tad bumpy, OK, a lot bumpy, but I’m going to complain to VDOT instead of the winery. Your passengers will enjoy the views!
Once you get to the winery… OMG, it has to be the best view of any VA winery! We could not get ourselves off of the deck.
Onto the important stuff… the juice. The wines were spectacular. We tasted through all of them with Chris. He had us in stiches through the entire tasting. A great guy with a great sense of humor. I highly recommend both Chardonnays, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Maquillage and the Viognier. Some of the best i’ve tasted in Virginia.
You should ask for a tour if you have the time, its well worth it. Chris has a very modern and clean cellar and the barrel room/​cave is something I have not seen in Virginia wine country. Ask him about the unmoveable rock, its a neat story.

Holy Jesus wait until you see the road to get to this place.
To call it a road is an EXTREME stretch of the definition. Goat path might be a better way to describe it.
The vineyard is located on the Wineries of Virginia state map and since we were in the area and with nothing to do, we opted to visit here because it was the closest to the area we had rented a cabin at.
You know you are in trouble when the car navigator basically tells you good luck — that’s right, my navigator puts a big message on the screen «entering unknown area, use caution» Those bastards in Japan must have known that the «road» up to this place was about 3 feet wide — either that or the computer just couldn’t compute how the road could go from sea level to 2400 feet in just a few hundred yards…
After a bunch of tracking back and forth on rainy country roads, we found the turn off and started heading almost straight up. The pavement ended and from then on it was hard packed dirt and gravel. After a few more minutes spent in the car, sitting at an angle of 55-​plus degrees and approaching a hairpin turn, my occupants started whining and getting nervous. There are no guardrails and you are literally looking over the edge of a cliff. Of course, it was raining and the fog was setting in– perfect.
The road just keeps going up and up and there is no way to turn back or god forbid, if someone is coming down there is going to be a problem.
After a lot of sweating and praying we made it — we found this place, parked and went in. Trust me, you will need a drink when you get up there.
The owner is kind of a weenie. He reminded me of a stuck up stooge «I own a vineyard» was about the only thing he didn’t say out loud. I made some jokes about that road and he was like no big deal– bullshit, he knows damn well that road is a bitch because on the back of the ball caps they sell it even says «how bout that road?» We met some people who were coming out as we were on the way in and everyone was laughing and joking about the road.
That said, the wines are decent. The Pinot Grigio was very good and the others were ok.
The ride down was better only because we could see more of what was coming but it was still unnerving at times.
If you go, make damn sure you have good tires and brakes. Better yet, take your friends piece of shit pickup truck.