Arts & Entertainment
Leesburg winery welcomes spring with a musical flourish
Scott Oglevee and Jim Steele on acoustic guitar entertained at the Dry Mill Vineyards & Winery Feb. 27.
Dry Mill Vineyards and Winery welcomed spring, the second year in business and a new vintage year February 27 with outdoor tasting and music by Scott Oglevee and Jim Steele. The weather cooperated with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. Shirtsleeve clad guests, down to single layers of clothing for the first time since early December, filled most of the 30 chairs on the patio for al fresco wine, cheese and crackers and the music.
Karen Connolly, down from western Pennsylvania to visit relatives, was making her first visit to Dry Mill, but she’s no stranger to Loudoun’s 25 tasting rooms.
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“We will travel far and wide to go to different wineries,” Connolly said. Pennsylvania wines, perhaps because it’s farther north, are a little sweet for her taste, she said.
At Dry Mill, she praised the Viognier and the steel Chardonnay. Not usually a fan of the reds, she had high praise for the Dry Mill Norton.
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Owners Dean and Nancy Vanhuss grow most of the grapes that become Dry Mill wines at their Lovettsville vineyard and have planted an acre of Viognier vines at the Dry Mill location, just west of Leesburg on Dry Mill Road. The Norton grapes they buy from other Loudoun growers.
Dean Vanhuss and Kerem Baki from the nearby Hillsborough Vineyards are the wine makers.
Oglevee and Steele love playing the wineries, Oglevee said, after many years of the “bar scene. It’s so much fun, a relaxed gig, we get to talk to everybody and enjoy the fruits of the vine ourselves.”
The wine selection at Dry Mill includes Traminette, steel or oaked Chardonnay, Viognier, Chambourcin, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Norton (the American grape) and a dessert wine. The 2009 Chambourcin Rose is listed as endangered – the warehouse is down to 20 cases or fewer – and can be purchased only by the bottle.
The Dry Mill tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday and can be reserved for private parties. Reach the tasting room at 703-737-3930, or go to info@drymillwine.com .
For a full description, and map, of all Loudoun wineries, vineyards and wine shops, go to www.loudounfarms.org and click on “Farm Tour/Events” and then “Wine Trail.”