201 N. 23rd St., Purcellville. 540-338-2773. www.trailsendcycling.com. Cycling tours, $100 (includes picnic lunch and bike rental; tasting fees extra).
Stoneybrook Farm Market
The owners of a 45-acre certified organic farm opened this quaint yet brilliantly stocked market shop in 2010, and it has become an oasis for city dwellers who come to town for wine tastings. Tasty fruit pies (small, $8), jams, coffees and milk, ice cream and more from the boutique dairy Trickling Springs fill the shop’s charmingly rough-hewn shelves. Seating was added last year, as well as an espresso machine, salads, sandwiches and the “yoga burger” (that’s vegetarian, natch) for fueling up on something more substantial than bread and cheese. Seasonal vegetables come fresh from the adjacent farm.
37091 Charlestown Pike, Hillsboro. 540-668-9067. www.stoneybrookfarm.org. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Monday-Thursday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Market Burger
Purcellville’s farm-to-table ethos now extends to burgers. This burger joint uses local beef and cheese and makes its own pickles and a handful of tempting mayos, including curry and cranberry. It’s an ideal place to fortify your stomach before an afternoon of tastings, but we hardly needed an excuse for burgers and fries.
145 W. Main St., Purcellville. 540-751-1145. www.marketburger.net. Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Call ahead: The restaurant closes early if it runs out of food.)
Trip 2
Into hunt country
for history
Virginia’s hunt country, with its pastures lined by charming stone walls and historic homes and mills, has long been home to vintners, including Chrysalis Vineyards and Swedenburg Winery, which sit just outside the main streets of Middleburg.
But this year, there’s reason to take another look: A winery long closed to the public finally has opened its doors. And, little more than 10 miles away, another has begun extended tastings perfect for a date. Start the day with lunch and shopping in Middleburg, but save room for this dining-heavy itinerary.
Boxwood Winery Tasting notes: For serious sippers, this locale offers a chance to experience a unique tasting at a long-closed estate.
This summer, just a few winding roads from Middleburg’s quaint main drag, the familial estate and vineyard of John Kent Cooke (son of former Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke) quietly opened its gates for the first time.
Sipping Boxwood wines used to be a strictly off-site affair (the winery owns the popular chainlet the Tasting Room, with locations in Reston, Chevy Chase and National Harbor). But in June, Boxwood began allowing drop-in visitors on weekends.
Unlike most busy wineries, there’s an undiscovered quality to Boxwood, where the stone-and-steel tasting room remains sanctuarylike. Though a tasting offers just five wines (loaded, notably, with dry, smoky reds and one popular rose), stick around to take in the jaw-dropping architecture, which brings to mind an ultramodern interpretation of a barn. Circular motifs extend from the tasting counter to the wine cave, where the barrels seem to float in the darkness in a ring formation (neither the production facility nor the cave is open to the public, but guests can peek in through a glass wall).
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