Reston is For (Wine) Lovers

Reston not only attracts wine drinkers, it attracts wineries. Twice a year, some of Virginia's finest come to it – and one of those times is now. The Great Grapes Wine, Art & Food Festival began Saturday at Reston Town Center, and continues Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Great Grapes is here one weekend each spring and one weekend each fall. This weekend, 23 wineries have set up shop along a grassy area along Reston Parkway, and in the adjacent parking lot. The festival also features food, live music, children's activities and other vendors selling everything from cheese (to go with your wine) to jewelry.

But the main attractions are the Virginia wines, including many from nearby towns such as Clifton and Leesburg.

Drew Wiles, along with his brother, Kirk, and mom, Jane Kincheloe Wiles, are the new kids on the block. They run Clifton's Paradise Springs Winery, open since January and expecting its first harvest this fall. The Reston event is their first festival.

Although they do not yet grow all their own grapes, Drew Wiles, 24, stresses that the winery buys only grapes grown in Virginia. He said his family loves being part of the larger family of Virginia wineries, which has about tripled in number in the last 15 years – from 46 wineries in 1995 to 140 today.

"The industry really supports itself," he said. "When the industry grows, each winery grows. We've learned that really quickly and it's been a great experience."

At the other end of the spectrum, Willowcroft Wineries of Leesburg, whose 26 years in business makes it the oldest winery in Loudoun County, is here too. Kelly Peck, the winery's marketing director, said this is Willowcroft's fifth trip to the Reston event. Willowcroft grows all its own grapes and has had the same winemaker since it opened its doors, a rarity in the industry.

Peck said she sees intensified interest in local wines, perhaps because of the uncertain economy.

"Not a lot of people can travel to Italy right now, so they're staying local" for their wine touring, she said. "Which is great for us."

The economy is also responsible for Christina Baril of the District and Laura Grandy of Arlington being at the festival. They stand out just a bit – one is dressed as bunch of red grapes and the other as a bunch of white grapes. Grandy is out of work, so they took this gig.

"It was on Craigslist," she said. "And we enjoy wine."

Everyone around them seems to concur, but Debbie O'Brien, who with her husband, Howard, owns the Chateau O'Brien Winery in Fauquier County, says the clientele that  comes to the Reston festival typically has some wine education as well. That's why this is the only festival the 11-year-old winery will attend, even those others petition them frequently.

At Reston, though, the O'Briens encounter customers who, after trying the wines they bring here, are then enticed to make the drive out to try the winery's signature full-bodied reds, which they pour and sell on their own property.

"We always say 'no,' except here," Debbie O'Brien said. "People here want to find good wines, they want to learn about wine. It's a smaller, more polished environment."

Great Grapes continues today at Reston Town Center. Admission is $25 for those who plan to imbibe; $15 for designated drivers (no alcohol); and free for children 12 and younger.