Valley Roads Vineyards is located in Afton, in Nelson County west of Charlottesville. Valley Road was opened in 2016 by former Richmond lawyer Stan Joynes and partners. The first winemaker is Mathieu Finot, who has achieved an excellent reputation as the winemaker at nearby King Family Vineyards, one of Virginia’s best wineries.
Wine. Among the best 50 wineries of Virginia. Valley Road’s wines are increasingly successful, under the oversight of Matthieu Finot. Their 2020 vintage Petit Verdot, 2022 Cabernet Franc, and 2023 Petit Manseng were all awarded gold medals at the 2025 annual state-wide Virginia Governor’s Cup wine competition. The Valley Road 2023 Albarino was awarded a gold medal at the 2024 Monticello Cup tasting competition. Valley Road has an interestingly named and popular “Destana” (a white Viognier, Petit Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc blend) and “Torn Curtain” (unusual red Petit Verdot and Chambourcin blend).
Setting. Two stars. At the head of the Rockfish Valley, Valley Road has one of the most spectacular settings for a winery, as easily attested to by the winery photograph on their website. Large tasting room but rarely overrun like some of the some more established places around Charlottesville. Cheese and bread available.
Stories. Crossing the Blue Ridge: the Crozet Tunnel. During the Golden Age of railroads, in the mid-19th century, railways multiplied across Virginia, enabling the long-distance transport of goods and people at previously unimaginably rapid speeds (and low costs). As new goods flowed from the Piedmont to Richmond and the coastal cities, the big prize remained out of reach: connecting the vast agricultural and mineral resources of the Shenandoah and farther West back to Richmond and the coast. The route West was blocked by the barrier of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It took unprecedented engineering feats to surmount the barrier, and in 1858 these were accomplished. Four tunnels, including the then-longest tunnel in the United States, were engineered by Claudius Crozet to cross the Blue Ridge at Afton, in Central Virginia. Both the longest of the tunnels and the nearby town of Crozet memorialize the name of the man who made the great crossing possible. The tunnel was initially used by the Virginia Central Railroad, and after the Civil War by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. It remained in use for almost a century, until it was replaced in 1944. The old, and now abandoned, Crozet or Blue Ridge Tunnel is a Historic Engineering Landmark.