Vint Hill Craft Winery
- Between Gainesville and Warrenton, off of routes 15 and 29 in Fauquier County. Vint Hill was launched in 2009 by Chris Pearmund and Ray Summerel. Pearmund is a serial entrepreneur, who started with the vineyard of his own name, started and sold the Winery at La Grange, and is also launching Effingham Winery. Vint Hill, whose tasting room is in an old military installation (see below), is a different business model than most: a winery without a vineyard – they crush grapes from elsewhere in Virginia, and the west coast.
- Wine. Among the Top 50 wineries of Virginia and Top 20 wineries of Northern Virginia. Vint Hill was awarded three gold medals at the prestigious nation-wide 2025 San Francisco Chronicle wine competition, for their 2021 Tannat, and their 2023 Petit Manseng and Misty White. The winery also received silver medals for three other entries, the 2023 Viognier, and the 2021 Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The 2020 “Bebe” Cabernet Franc was awarded a gold medal at the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle competition. At the also prestigious San Francisco International Wine Competition in 2024, Vint Hill’s 2023 Petit Manseng and “Vivian” Viognier both were awarded impressive double gold medals. Two other entries received silver medals and one a bronze. As with other Pearmund-owned wineries, Vint Hill now rarely enters Virginia wine competitions.
- Setting. The tasting room overlooks the winery production floor. Space is somewhat small compared to some other wineries. Outside, no vines but plenty of history, especially for fans of John LeCarré.
- Stories. One star. 20th Century Virginia History – Spies in the vines. In 1942, the United States Army set up a secret monitoring facility in a farmhouse in Warrenton, Virginia. The farm’s relative proximity to the U.S. Signaling Intelligence Service’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, combined with the location’s isolation, made it a good place to pick up international radio signals. The Army bought the land and turned it into a surveillance and decoding base known as Vint Hill Farm Station, or Monitoring Station No. 1. The barn that the Army once used is still there today, but visitors won’t need a security clearance to get in—just their photo IDs if they want to get a drink (thanks to The Smithsonian Magazine for this story). Relatively new tenants have moved into the former spy station, which, until the 1990s, was alternately used by the Army, the CIA and the NSA. One is Vint Hill Winery. Its neighbors include The Covert Cafe and an inn that offers Cold War-themed escape rooms. Right next door to the winery is The Cold War Museum. If you’re taken hostage, best offer to be exchanged for a bottle of red.