Last updated on May 28th, 2024 at 12:31 pm

Gaurav and I have been living in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US for a few years now, yet we haven’t explored Virginia’s wine country as much as we would’ve liked to. I hope you do know about Virginia’s wineries?! The west coast of the US is not the only region famous for its wines; Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountain region can make for some fine wines as well.

When we were looking for a boutique winery experience, a friend of ours suggested Narmada Winery. The name immediately caught our attention, having never heard of a winery with an Indian name in the US. Of course, we dug up their website to find that a Mechanical Engineer & a Doctor couple, Mr & Mrs. Patil, started this winery as their retirement project. We had to go visit this place!

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“It takes a while to become a serious winery. People have a perception about how it should be”.

Said Sudha as we sat down with her to understand how this exciting retirement project came to be. Soon we realized it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. A lot of people think Narmada is an Indian winery, a stereotype notion that comes with the name that got us excited in the first place. By definition, wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting grapes grown in a particular region. In this case, these are Virginia grapes and Narmada is a proud Virginian winery having won 600 awards and 100 medals for their fine wine.

Narmada was started by the Patil’s, who migrated to the US fifty years ago from India. Near the end of their successful professional career, they invested in 2 acres of land in Northern Virginia where they had decided to settle down post-retirement. Four years after testing & growing their first batch of grapes in 2004, they made their first wine at another winery. It was not until 2009 that they built their very own winery on this property which by then had expanded to 20 acres and was opened to the public. The Patil’s have been making and serving delicious wines since then.

Wine Tasting

As soon as you enter the wine tasting room you are surrounded by peacock leaves and a bunch of smiling staff. One can enjoy a chilled glass of white wine on a hot day or a nice red on a crisp fall or spring day on their outdoor spaces. The winery also hosts live music on Saturdays. Instantly there is a homely feeling about this place. You can see Sudha talk to the people enjoying their day with her wine like she has known them forever. Perhaps she has.

Wine tasting at Narmada starts at $8, which is a steal in our opinion. I told their Manager, Amy, that I like hints of fruits in my wine and she recommended the Fruity-fresh-fun flight for me. Gaurav went with the bolder wines. My favorite red was ‘Midnight’ and Gaurav really loved their ‘Cabernet Franc Reserve’. A unanimous favorite white for both of us was their signature award-winning wine called ‘MOM’.

This year Sudha introduced a new dessert wine with hints of mango called ‘Legacy’ in the memory of her husband who passed away not too long ago. I have to say both of us are not into sweet wines but somehow we were hooked to it. We really appreciated the fact that a portion of the sale of each ‘Legacy’ bottle goes to a Cancer Charity Fund. 

It was almost lunchtime when we got there and they mentioned they had a food menu. We were very surprised to see small plate Indian food on the menu in a winery. It is interesting how they help you pair wines with Indian food. Their small plate menu also offers a traditional antipasto such as salami and cheese platter to go with your wine.

The Vineyard

Sudha was kind enough to give us a tour of the vineyard which was larger in area than we anticipated. She has a variety of grapes planted from Chardonel, Vidal Blac, Malbec, and many others which she carefully tends to along with her helpers every day. To be honest, after a few rows of vines they all looked the same to me, a novice in this business. The grapes were yet to change color so everything was still green. The harsh winter of Virginia had ruined some of her vines but she was positive that this year’s crop was looking good.

At the end of the vineyard, there is a lake with a gazebo, both of which were built by the Patil’s when they expanded their property. I have to say, this place is a dream wedding location! Especially since we originally wanted to get married in a vineyard in India. We might also have hinted Sudha to consider starting her own B&B on this lovely property. 

The Winery

After spending some time in the vineyard we went on to see the heart of their winery, where all the action takes place.  You will be surprised to know that winemaking is more of a work of science than a work of art. Thankfully Sudha has a background in Chemistry so she works her magic in their wine laboratory creating new wines every year. As she walked us through the winemaking process, we offered to help her harvest the grapes this October. We will keep you guys posted on how that goes. Any local volunteers? Leave a note in our comments section and we’ll get back to you!

After an eventful day, we left Narmada winery with a palate full of great wine and three inspiring words by Sudha – 

“Live your passion”

Yes! We needed to hear that. Through this blog, we will certainly continue to live our passion for sharing exciting adventures and experiences around the world with you all. 

A Few Interesting Facts About Narmada Winery

• Mr & Mrs. Patil started putting efforts in this winery much before they retired. However, they made it their full-time passion after retirement.
• Their logo is a peacock not only because that’s Sudha’s favorite animal but also because peacock is India’s National Bird.
• We were really intrigued by the colorful bottle of wines. Then we found out that these wine bottle colors were picked after the colors of traditional Maharashtrian silk sarees called ‘Paithani’. Maharashtra is a state in India where the Patils original hail from.
• Narmada Winery is only 20 minutes away from Shenandoah National Park and 1:30 hours from Washington DC.

Of course, we can’t stop raving about it to our friends and families. If you guys are ever in DC, Virginia, or Maryland, you must plan a visit to Narmada Winery to experience a taste of India in a local Virginia winery. Don’t forget to mention that you heard about them from us 🙂

If you are planning to spend a night around this area, you can find pricing and availability of boutique BnB’s in Shenandoah Valley region here. Check out TripAdvisor for more reviews on Narmada winery. For saving money on car rental, we’d recommend you to try Turo which is like the Airbnb for cars.

If you liked our experience feel free to share along or pin any photos on this post for later.

Disclaimer: We were hosted by Narmada winery but all opinions in this post are our own based on our genuine experience here

Happy Traveling!