Virginia Wine

Glass of red wine

ABC Board members visit Virginia winery
This summer, Chairman Insley, Commissioner Sandra Canada and COO Curtis Coleburn toured several Eastern Shore wineries including: Bloxom Winery, Holly Grove Vineyards in Franktown and Chatham Vineyards in Machipongo. Virginia Wine Council Director Patrick Cushing organized the trip which was funded by the Virginia Wineries Association.

ABC Stores Offer Wide Selection of Virginia Wines

Whether you are well-versed in the variety of fine wines produced here in the commonwealth or newly acquainted to Virginia viticulture, we encourage you to explore our Virginia wine section online and when you visit an ABC store.

With 220 wineries and vineyards in almost every region of the state, Virginia is one of the top five new wine travel destinations in the world. ABC is proud to offer a wide selection of Virginia wines in its stores including sparkling, red, blush, white, fruit and miscellaneous special offerings.

Is there a wine we carry that isn’t available in your local store? Any ABC sales associate would be happy to assist you. Your selections will be shipped, free of charge, to your store of choice.

“The thriving Virginia wine industry is a homegrown asset providing valuable jobs and $347 million in economic impact to our state,” said ABC Chairman J. Neal Insley. “We are pleased to sell Virginia wines and excited to expand this partnership that preserves local agriculture and promotes use of resources grown locally.”

Take a Tour!

It’s a beautiful time of year to enjoy breathtaking scenery on a wine tour and celebrate with a special purchase. Virginia Tourism Corporation and VirginiaWine.org feature hundreds of possibilities for enjoying Virginia wines across the commonwealth.

A delicious sip of Virginia history

Virginia’s history and grape cultivation are uniquely entwined. Jamestown settlers, hoping the colony could become a major source of wine for the British Empire, passed a law in 1619 that required each male to plant and tend at least ten grape vines. Thomas Jefferson cultivated European grapes for more than 30 years. In the 1820s, wines made from Native American grapes met with great success. In fact, A Virginia Norton wine was named “best red wine of all nations” at the Vienna World’s Fair in 1873. Prohibition, however, had a lasting effect on the industry’s momentum for many decades, but in the 1970s a renewed effort to grow wine grapes took hold. Today, only California, New York, Oregon and Washington have more wineries than Virginia, and wines produced in the commonwealth have earned national and international recognition.