Horton Vineyards

6399 Spotswood Trail, Gordonsville, VA 22942, USA

Address:	6399 Spotswood Trail, Gordonsville, VA 22942, USA
Phone:	+1 540-832-7440
Site:	hortonwine.com
Rating:	3.4
Working:	10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 8

A Private User

Horton was the first stop of the day for us, and we arrived shortly after they opened. The tasting list had roughly 40 wines, all of which were available for tasting. The tasting room staff was very friendly, and talked us through all of their varietals, asking on sweet/off dry/dry preferences, types of wine we enjoy, etc... They had a couple of interesting grapes we had not tried before - an Rkatsatelli (which is a Russian varietal) and a Petit Manseng. The Rkatsatelli was produced in both a standard and a reserve, with the standard being sweeter (1%ish residual sugar) with good floral notes and an almost vidal blanc finish, whereas the reseve was dry and crisp. The Petit Manseng was delicious, with a great bouquet and complex floral/honey notes that would do well to stand up to a heavy dish (we purchased a few bottles as presents). The fruit wines that we sampled were all around 4% residual sugar, and pretty typical fare. The standout in that category was their cranberry wine, which had a tartness (which you would expect) that mellowed out the high sugar content. We sampled their two chocolate wines, white and dark chocoloate, and found them to have an almost artificial sweetener taste. Their port style dessert (made with Touriga Nacional) was a classic Virginia dessert wine, and while interesting not something I would bring home. While this winery didnt have the best wines that we tasted in Charlottesville, they did have the best staff, the most selection, and the most innovation in wine making. Id highly recommend stopping by if youre on your way to Charlottesville, or out touring the wineries in the region.

KD McCloskey

My family and friends decided to visit the Horton Winery last Thursday, 10/27. Has always been one of my favorite Virginia vineyards and the wine never fails to be wonderful! However, this visit was marred by the rude and inpersonal staff. The server never offered any suggestions or gave any history or insights into the wines/winery. He also suggested we only try 10 wines and made us feel as if we were just there to guzzle free wine. NOT what I had experienced before. Maybe if we had told them upfront that we fully intended to buy several bottles of wine they would have been more personable. The cashier "rolled" her eyes when we asked to consolidate all the wine we wanted to buy so we could get the case discount. We loved the wine, bought 2 and a half cases plus some wine glasses, but the tasting experience was the worst I have ever been subjected to at any winery. Staff needs some personality training.

A Private User

RUDE RUDE RUDE!!! I went to Horton with about a dozen friends for a 30th birthday celebration and we experienced the worst customer service from a VA winery. In the last few years, our group of friends have been to well over 30 VA wineries (not to mention Napa Valley and European wineries) and we have never encountered such snotty winery staff. These people RUSHED through our tasting. Once Stacy finished pouring down the line, she grabbed the next bottle and stood there waiting for us to finish. And she didn’t even explain anything about the wine we were tasting. And then we caught them talking badly about our group. You might think we were loud but we weren’t…this was the first winery on the day. I’m horribly disappointed because I enjoyed their wines at a wine festival a few years ago. I will never recommend this place to anyone nor will I buy their wine.

Stephanie Benson

The building and wine are great! The staff is very unorganized and rude. We started our wine tasting to the sound of a dishwasher and a lady in the back banging and clanging champaign glasses in the sink. During my wine tasting the lady washing dishes rudely collected my wine tasting glass and then proceeded to give it back to me with soap on the stem after the lady giving the wine tasting had come back and told her we were in the middle of a tasting. The experience was very rushed and uncomfortable. My husband and I did buy the wines we liked and were handed cheap plastic cups to drink it out of. Unexceptable! To us.. you dont buy wine at a Vineyard to drink it from plastic cups! If you arent looking for the experience and your goal is to buy wine and take it home, then this vineyard is a great total wine for that. Do not recommend visiting for long.

Laurie Gulluscio

Experienced these folks for the first time at the James River Wine Festival in Lynchburg. I THINK I liked the wine I really couldnt tell, the guy pouring was mad about the band being too loud and didnt want to discuss the wines, he poured the wines SO fast I could hardly swallow and think about what I was drinking before he had the next bottle at my glass (an there were about 8), he made fun of me for talking and asking questions about the wine (that I would have considered buying) if I hadnt been treated like a teenager looking for a quick buzz. My husband and I are almost 50 yrs old, I doubt we fit that profile. But trust me I have told everyone because it was horrifying and funny at the same time. I hope their tasting room has better staff than this gentleman. Was one of the worst experiences Ive had at a wine festival Ever.

Debra Marcum

Terrible. We went, there was 8 of us, 7 for a tasting. Only one couple before us. After us was another party of 8. The guy who was doing the wine tasting took everyones $5 and then left the floor to take a telephone order with now 20 folk standing around with empty glasses in their hands. Then a young girl appeared and she was throwing the wine at us in no order, no description. The guy returned after the telephone order and he did the same. They were both dressed like they were out washing cars or something. No professionalism whatsoever. The gift shop was non-existent. Hard to tell if they were closing the gift shop or what. A true disappointment after driving up to a beautiful building and being treated so poorly. Dont waste you gas or $5 tasting fee going here.

Gayle Doyer

My husband and I have done two tasting at the winery and attended numerous wine festivals and we are always looking for Horton. Twice a year we do a road trip to the winery to replenish our stock. Can recall one wine festival where the fella taking orders was not very friendly as he must have been having a bad day. The best wine, by far, is the Sweet Concord and we never leave the winery or any festivals without at least a case. We are also big fans of the Mango and the Niagara and we also get a least a case of each of those. I really wish they would bring back the Acai as it was right up there with the Sweet Concord. Love, love, love Horton!

Jennifer Raymond

This vineyard had grown since the last time we stopped by, nearly five years ago. We had a pleasant time trying a selection of Hortons 40(ish) wines. A wine tasting includes choosing 10 out of their lineup. We arrived in mid-afternoon and were the only ones there for a while. Just as we were leaving two smaller groups headed in. Hortons wines are solid. There is something to try for nearly any taste.