By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Sept. 2 — Friends and supporters of Castle Vineyards gathered on Friday to mark the local wine tasting venue’s fifth anniversary, as well as the construction of a new 1,800-square-foot tap room.
“The whole plan was to grow until we could put a building in this field,” co-owner Jeremy McCoy said.
In 2017, McCoy and his uncle Steven Davis started a wine tasting room and vineyard at a home on Mims Road that McCoy built 16 years ago, and still lives in today. The plan was to grow the business to the point of adding a building separate from the home to serve as a tap room. Now, despite some delays courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, that plan has come to fruition.
“I’m extremely proud of Jeremy,” Davis said. “He’s taken a vision and moved forward and created something.”
Castle Vineyards exclusively offers wines aged and bottled by Barren Ridge Vineyards in Fishersville. McCoy’s aunt, Kathy Ward, a realtor with Old Dominion Realty, knew the owners of the Fishersville winery and made the introductions after Jeremy expressed interest in being a remote retail outlet and tasting room for their product line.
“I appreciate everyone that came out today, and appreciate the business we’ve had [over the past five years],” McCoy said at the Sept. 2 ribbon cutting hosted by the Luray-Page County Chamber of Commerce. “I’m appreciative of all of our customers and friends that have supported us this far and hope that the new, bigger building will bring more business and more amenities for our customers to enjoy.”
McCoy said some visitors have been a little confused about the tap room being in his house. The new building, he said, should cut down on that confusion, and add the potential for planting a new vineyard on a hill in front of the new tap room.
Visitors can enjoy 360-panoramic views of the Massanutten Mountain range and portions of the Blue Ridge that are home to Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive.
“Business has been decent, and this building should help us out,” McCoy said. “This will help business just by having a stand-alone building.”
Castle Vineyards featured live music and barbecue to celebrate their fifth anniversary over the Labor Day weekend. McCoy hopes to entice more food vendors out on the weekends.
With construction starting in mid-July, the finishing touches are now being put on the new tap room, which should be open to the public later this month.
“We’re very pleased in how it’s turning out,” McCoy said of the new building, which will feature a prep kitchen, bathrooms, utility room, indoor and outdoor seating, three large ceiling fans, pool table and other amenities. HVAC work was scheduled to be completed Friday. Bathrooms are being framed in this week, along with final electrical hookups.
When the business started, McCoy asked Davis if they could name the business after his father — and McCoy’s grandfather — Ralph Castle Davis, a local businessman and farmer. Thus, the name Castle Vineyards, which sits on a working cattle farm.
“I hope it’s beneficial to the area,” Steven Davis said, “and we invite people to come down and see it…once we get it finished. It’s taken a lot of work and time, but now we have a separate building.”
The tap room is open on Saturdays from noon to 8 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. Weekday availability by appointment for groups of 10 or more. Tastings are $12; Flights (pick 4) are $14; and Bottles range $20 to $42.
Castle Vineyards is located at 2150 Mims Road just off Route 340 about four miles north of Luray. For more information, give them a call at (571) 283-7150, or visit their website at castlevineyardsva.com
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