By Frank Britt

What makes a tasting room special to winery visitors? According to subscribers of the Official Virginia Wine Lover on-line publication who voted for Virginias Favorite Tasting Room, the answer is (1) Friendliness of the tasting room staff, (2) Attractiveness of the tasting room location, (3) Staff’s knowledge of wine, (4) Proximity of the winery, and (5) Price of a tasting.

The Official Virginia Wine Lover just released the results of its 2015 Visitors’ Choice Awards for Virginia’s Favorite Winery Tasting Rooms. The Awards are particularly significant as many wineries sell up to 90 percent of their wine to visitors in their tasting rooms.

November readers of the online publication selected the following winery tasting rooms (listed alphabetically) as their Top 10 Favorites. (To assure accuracy and fairness, all duplicate votes were removed before the final count.)

BARBOURSVILLE VINEYARDS (Barboursville/Orange County)
CASANEL VINEYARDS                 (Leesburg/Loudoun County)
CHATEAU MORRISETTE              (Floyd/Floyd County)
COOPER VINEYARDS                   (Louisa/Louisa County)
DOUKENIE VINEYARDS              (Purcellville/Loudoun County)

FIRST COLONY WINERY            (Charlottesville/Albemarle County)

NARMADA WINERY                                   (Amissville/Rappahannock County)

ROSEMONT VINEYARDS                        (La Crosse/Mecklenburg County)

SAUDE CREEK                                            (Lenexa/New Kent County)

WINERY AT BULL RUN                  (Centreville/Fairfax County)

The Official Virginia Wine Lover reaches some 50,000 subscribers, including wine festival attendees, visitors to wineries, tasting rooms and a targeted list of Virginia wine enthusiasts. The online publication is celebrating 10 years of supporting and promoting Virginia wines, the people who make them and those who enjoy them. Each month the electronic newsletter directs readers to festivals and events, featured wineries and travel destinations across the Commonwealth.

For a complimentary subscription and additional information, visit http://www.vawinelover.com.

Publishers Note: The Old Town Crier is happy to partner with Frank and his lovely wife, June, at VA Wine Lover in promoting our Virginia Wineries and Vineyards. We here at the Crier have been promoting them for over 26 years and have seen many, many changes over those years. Treat yourself to exploring the wineries and enjoying the Commonwealth’s countryside in 2016!