Philip Carter Winery
- In Fauquier County, 10 minutes off of I-66 from the Markham exit. Founded by Philip Carter Strother, a descendant of the first commercial winemakers in Virginia in the 18th century.
- Wine: Among the Best 20 wineries of Northern Virginia, and among the Top 50 wineries of Virginia. The wineries’ offerings reached a new level earlier in 2025 with two “best in class” awards at the prestigious nation-wide San Francisco Chronicle wine competition: the 2023 Shirley Chardonnay and the 2023 Nomini Hall Cabernet Franc. The Cabernet Franc, of the same vintage, was also awarded a gold medal at the 2024 San Francisco International Wine Competition, and a silver medal at the 2025 Governor’s Cup. Carter’s 2023 vintage Ten Vines Red received a gold medal at the 2025 state-wide Virginia Governor’s Cup wine competition, along with three other entries receiving silver medals and one a bronze medal. The Philip Carter 2019 vintage “Cleve”, a Tannat and Petit Verdot blend named after the original colonial Carter estate, was a big hit at wine tastings in 2022. The Cleve was awarded a Platinum medal at the Finger Lakes Wine Competition, a gold medal at the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle nation-wide wine competition, and a silver medal at the Virginia Governor’s Cup. Vintages do matter: the same Cabernet Franc which was a gold medalist in San Francisco in 2025 received, for the 2020 vintage, only a bronze a few years earlier.
- Setting: One star. Nice view of hills in the distance. Limited food offerings.
- Stories. One star. Virginia Wine History — Before Jefferson. At Philip Carter you’ll find an interesting “revisionist” take on the history of wine in Virginia – at least for fans of Thomas Jefferson. And a largely unknown history. On arriving at the winery, you are greeted with “1762” signs. The Carter family, as shown by recently rediscovered documents, were the first to produce wine commercially in Virginia, going back to the colonial era. Robert “King” Carter (or more accurately, his son Charles) produced wine on his estate on the Rappahannock, which made its way back to England. Carter made his fortune as land agent for Lord Fairfax, the English Proprietor of large parts of northern Virginia Colony in the early 18th century. The Carters at one time owned over 300,000 acres in the Colony. The current owner is a direct descendant of Carter, and many of the estate’s wines take their names from the original plantation and house. Regrettably, none of the wines available for tasting go back even a century…