FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - If you want a Civil War vacation, book a trip to Gettysburg. When wine country calls, Napa Valley and Sonoma lead the list. If you want history and chardonnay, try Fredericksburg.
A short drive from Washington, this quietly hip city of 21,500 residents is a pleasing paradox of timeworn and trendy. Once you pass the commercial strip that feeds into Old Town, a network of brick sidewalks flush with independent bookstores, cafes, and a dozen chef-owned restaurants await.
What Lexington and Concord are to the Revolutionary War, Fredericksburg is to the Civil War. The war between the states is in this city’s DNA. You can read about the standoff between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant in history books, but here you can stand on Sunken Road, where waves of Union soldiers heading for the heights were slaughtered by Confederate troops from behind a stone wall in December 1862.
Civil War buffs have long flocked to this slice of northern Virginia to see four important battle sites. Now the state’s budding wineries, 186 vineyards strong, hug the battlefields, offering a needful diversion. While the largest concentration of wineries in the state is up north around Leesburg and west near Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and neighboring Stafford County are joining the trail.
The closest vineyard to Fredericksburg, and the homiest, is Hartwood Winery in Stafford County. This modest estate is owned by Jim and Bev Livingston. Jim, a former school librarian, became interested in winemaking 20 years ago when he planted a few chambourcin grapes as an experiment. It didn’t go well.
“We killed the vines,’’ he said. But a little rot and mildew didn’t scare him off. That same year he started the Fredericksburg Area Wine Society and was laughed at by the good old boys in City Hall. “It blows my mind to know it’s actually going to happen,’’ he said.
Free tastings are held at Hartwood’s wood-carved counter. Bev offers up six whites, five reds, and one rose, aged in barrels in the basement, pointing out the slightest hint of cantaloupe or chocolate in each variety. Hartwood’s Rappahannock Red, a beaujolais-style wine that gushes cranberries, was one of the best wines we tasted. Most wines here are medal winners, which doesn’t faze these practical folks.
“I don’t care about medals, because you can’t drink a medal,’’ said Jim.