News

May 26 2021

Rose’ Featured in Cultivate Magazine

We are thrilled to be part of a featured article on rose’ wines in the current issue of Cultivate magazine! Our Darby Blush, along with yummy recipes and the story of our winery can be found in the article titled “Rose’ All Day”. Cultivate magazine is a publication of the Virginia Farm Bureau with great stories of Virginia farms and farmers sharing tips on growing and news from across our state! You can view the current issue as well as past issues of Cultivate online at issuu.com/virginiafarmbureau. Just look for the issue with the beautiful wine glasses and ‘Rose’ Reflections’! Cheers!

March 9 2021

Award Winning Start to 2021

News

MountainRose Vineyards would like to thank everyone who voted in Savor Virginia’s Readers’ Choice Awards this past fall. MountainRose won Best Winery in three categories: Sparkling Wine- Bronze, Dessert Wine- Silver and Cabernet Franc- Bronze. Voters came out in force to support their favorite Virginia venues and MountainRose is honored to be among the winners.

Full results will be published in the Spring/Summer edition of Savor Virginia Magazine. Savorva.com is currently featuring an online article, “Crushin’ it: Fall Grape Harvest in Virginia”, with some wise words from our own Suzanne Lawson.

The loyalty of our customers, not only in voting online, but in continuing to support our business through the darkest days of the pandemic, has made all the difference. We are working to fully reopen for visitors, in anticipation of sunny days and shining smiles!

August 9 2020

Beautiful Vines…No Grapes?

News, Uncategorized

The Concord vines were so lovely in 2020. But wait…….Something is missing! Yes, unfortunately almost all the grapes in Wise were lost due to three nights of 28-degree weather in May 2020. Sadly we had no 2020 Grape U-pick, just salt to the wound of that year! No apples, pears, peaches, or plums either! The freeze even killed the gooseberries! We became so desperate for homemade applesauce, that we paid $32 for a peach basket of apples. (But so worth it!) We did have some fruit at our Grace Vineyards in Russell County, so thankfully we did have enough to produce more wine! We really missed the hundreds of families, friends and neighbors stopping by in September for our amazingly delicious grapes, and are hoping for a bumper crop in 2021! So far, it’s looking great! Thanks again to everyone for helping us by continuing to shop local! We think we all deserve a bumper crop 2021, in more ways than one. Cheers!

July 17 2020

Regenerative Herb Farming at MountainRose Vineyards

News

You may have seen the peppermint cuttings that we are rooting on our Facebook page and wondered, “Are they going to make peppermint wine!?” No, not yet, but we might make an elderberry wine sometime.

We partnered with ASD, Appalachia for Sustainable Development (Abingdon, VA), and LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics (Canada) to produce herbs including whole elderflower, cut peppermint leaves, and cut nettle leaves.

We are using regenerative practices that contribute to generating building soil, soil fertility and increased biodiversity. Hopefully, this venture will also diversify our business and serve as a public demonstration site for regenerative mine land for the local farming community and our visitors.

March 3 2020

Growing Grapevines or Gardening Anyone?

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Check out this seeder David made for the 1000s of cabbage and broccoli plants we are growing! We are growing more green grapevines this year, mostly for us, but some for other folks as well. As a result, we have opened up another greenhouse. We are also growing vegetables for other folks as well.

We still have some greenhouse bench space available so if you want more than 25 of something; grapevines, vegetables or flowers, let us know right away and we might be able to grow for you as well! We will begin selling tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, flowers and more later in the spring.

Stay tuned and see what’s on the bloom, at MountainRose Vineyards!

January 27 2020

MountainRose Maple Syrup Time!

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The sap of our maple trees looks and tastes like water with a hint of sweetness. This sap only flows in late winter. The ideal weather has nights in the 20s and days warming up to the 40s. Different types of maples have different amounts of sugar. Some of our maple sap averages about 1 gallon of syrup per 60 gallons of sap or less. We collect the sap through plastic tubing and boil in an open pan. When the sap is almost ready, we bring inside and finish in a pot. The syrup is then strained and bottled at 180 degrees F.

Maple syrup has about 50 calories per tablespoon with significant amount of minerals, specifically calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and iron. There are also trace amounts of vitamins; B2 (riboflavin), B5 (pantothenic acid), niacin, and folic acid- all with no fat and no cholesterol.

December 6 2019

Some of the best wines in Virginia come from MountainRose

News

MountainRose Vineyards is thankful for a very good year!

In May, the winery’s most award-winning wine, Autumn Gold, received a Silver medal in the 2019 Indy International competition. Splashdam White was awarded a Silver medal in June at the Virginia State Fair Wine Competition along with Riesling, which received Gold. MountainRose was pleasantly surprised in July by the Wise County Chamber of Commerce with the 2019 Small Business of the Year award.

On September 26th, Eric and Opie were honored to represent the Lawson family, attending the Black Tie and Boots Gala in Richmond. That evening the winery’s Gold medal winning Riesling went on to receive the 2019 ‘Best in Show’ for white wines, against a strong field of fellow Virginia winemakers.

In October, reporting their best harvest in efficiency and production, the vineyard brought in nearly thirty tons of grapes in just under four weeks. These results seemed fitting since the year began with the introduction of ‘Persephone’, a sparkling Concord wine variety named for the daughter of Demeter-Goddess of the Harvest!

David and Suzanne are ever thankful to all the family, friends, crew, volunteers and especially their growing fan base of loyal customers who have truly made MountainRose Vineyards a success! Best Wishes for the Holiday Season and the New Year! Cheers!

November 8 2019

Thankful for another great year!

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Our crop of 2019 is in! WOW! We processed our biggest harvest ever, more than 25 tons of grapes with desirable sugar levels and almost perfect numbers. We also had the most efficient, hardworking harvest team ever with Kudos to David, Jessica, Eric, Gage and Doug! Wines tasted so far from this year’s harvest taste awesome and we can’t wait to share them with you!

Many thanks go out to David, Opie, Ron, Sarah, Sydney, and Maya. David tends over 20 acres of vine and makes all of our award-winning wines! Opie is our number one salesperson. Ron delivers our wines to our many retailers, restaurants and shops. Sarah and Sydney work behind the scenes for our special events. Maya covers wine sales on most Sundays and is one of our biggest fans! Big thanks go out as well to our marketing folks, Megan and Tracy. We particularly give thanks to all our volunteers, but especially Dennis and Jim!

We are as always grateful to YOU, our terrific customers and friends who keep us in business by enjoying and sharing our wines! Thank you so much for your love and support. We look forward to visiting with many of you over the holidays and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us all!

October 30 2019

Small Business Saturday!

News

Championed by American Express, the first “Small Business Saturday” (or SBS) took place on November 27^th, 2010. The U.S. Congress officially recognized the day in 2011 and in 2012, the Town of Wise joined the campaign for the first time, along with all 50 states! Flanked by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, SBS is a solid part of the trifecta of holiday sales.

Each year, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, you will find many shops in our area posting the blue and white “Shop Small” logos with special offers ready for you! Join us each year as we celebrate with an Open House with many special deep discounts, sweet treats and unique gifts! MountainRose Vineyards was a featured in 2013 in this Small Business Saturday commercial, telling our story and our town’s involvement with this great business program! Visit YouTube and search MountainRose Vineyards-Small Business Saturday. See if you recognize some neighbors or friends and remember to Shop Local, Shop Small!

October 1 2019

October is Virginia Wine Month

News

For many wine lovers, October, Virginia Wine Month, is the perfect time of year to visit Virginia wine country. Vineyards and wineries are creating their next great vintage and celebrating with dozens of special events and activities. Crisp sunny days and the beautiful changing of the leaves are great attractions to our area this time of year!

Give us a call to pay a visit and see what great specials we have at MountainRose Vineyards this October. Look out for our annual Halloween Murder Mystery dinner and remember to consider hosting your next special event with us! For more information on Virginia Wine Month across the state, visit virginiawine.org.