This Breathtaking Virginia Destination Blends Award-Winning Wines With Centuries Of History

One of America's oldest and most beloved winemaking regions isn't actually located in California and its famous Napa Valley, but in Virginia. The state boasts a unique terroir that churns out some of the country's best wines, all while turning the ambitious dream of one of America's founding fathers into a delicious reality. The Monticello American Viticultural Area that stretches across Virginia's Piedmont was conceived by America's first oenophile and its third president, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson first pioneered the Monticello wine region in the 1770s when he bought up acres of valuable land around the gorgeous college town of Charlottesville to grow grapes. Today, the entire wine region comes to about 800 square miles of the Virginia Piedmont and reaches up to the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west.

As an avid wine collector, Jefferson believed that the Piedmont of Virginia, with its rich soils, high altitude, hot summers, and cool winters, would be ideal for growing grapes that maximized the summer heat and produced high-sugar fruit that could be used to produce full-bodied wines — and rightly so. It took time and lots of trial and error, but today, some 250 years after his first attempts at growing grapes around his home in Monticello, there are about 40 wineries in the designated Monticello American Viticultural Area, with many making award-winning wines from a unique variety of grapes. Together, these vintners make up the Monticello Wine Trail, and for would-be oenophiles, this area is definitely worth a visit. It truly is one of America's under-the-radar wine regions that deserves the same hype as Napa in California.

With its close proximity to urban airports in both Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, a wine weekend is but a quick flight and rental car ride away. Many of the vineyards on the Monticello Wine Trail offer lodging — imagine waking up on a gorgeous sunny morning to a colorful vineyard view in the heart of Virginia wine country. This makes it even easier to plan a long weekend or spend a few days exploring the many beautiful destinations along the Monticello American Viticultural Area, all while taking in some of the country's most historically significant wines at various tasting rooms.

A great option to squeeze in as much wine-tasting time into your visit to the Piedmont as possible is to book an organized day tour. The Monticello Wine Tour and Coach Co., for example, runs these tours on Fridays and Sundays. The tour makes stops at Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards, Afton Mountain Vineyards, and finally, Veritas Vineyards and Winery. For just under $150 (at the time of this writing), visitors can hit three wineries in about five hours. The experience includes transportation in a comfortable van, tasting fees at all three vineyards, a glass of wine with lunch, and the vineyard tours themselves. If you're more comfortable exploring on your own, you could visit any one of the vineyards along the trail for an impromptu tasting and grounds tour. However, some vineyards operate by appointment only, so take that into account if there's a particular spot you want to visit.

One could be forgiven for assuming that spending a warm summer weekend touring the vineyards of central Virginia would be ideal. But, because summer can be quite warm and a bit more humid than most might like, spring is likely the best bet for a Monticello wine country visit. The next best month? October, which is also the official Virginia Wine Month, offers mild weather and lighter crowds for tourists looking for a low-key weekend of wine tastings and vineyard tours. Throw in Virginia's best fall road through dense forest with Appalachian Mountain views just to make the driving tour even more spectacular, or consider visiting Floyd, Virginia, an underrated town with a booming arts scene, wine, and flavor.

It's a unique opportunity to not only see the reality that has come from Jefferson's dream when the nation was still in its early days but also to learn about the winemaking craft that now flourishes in the Monticello American Viticultural Area. The region's unique mix of granite and greenstone soils, coupled with elevation changes and a microclimate in the shadow of Appalachia, make for an April-through-October growing season and the production of award-winning wines. Now, some 250 years after Jefferson imagined it, the Monticello Wine Trail is a wonderful reality.