Prince Michel

Drove there but was closed. Not sure what website said they were open. Told the folks and got a quick response. Look forward to visiting and following up.

We stopped by on a Sunday and the staff was great! I didn’t get the gentleman’s name that served us I didn’t catch, but he couldn’t have been more helpful! He was very knowledgeable about the wines, and the wines were delicious, we ended up leaving with a case! You can also walk around on a self guided tour and they have a cute ship with eclectic items!

On my way back home I decided to give them a re-​try. Previously I gave them 3 stars, which was generous but I rationalized as justified because I only tried the standard flight, so maybe I didn’t get their best stuff. Sadly, when I tried their «Reserve» flight, it didn’t get much better.
Normally I try to describe my wines, but given I was dumping almost as much as I was sipping, that should tell you something. But the saving grace was the Barrel Select Chardonnay, which had a nice woody nose. As someone who hates buttery chards, this one blew me away. The Symbius Bordeaux style was also decent.
If you are looking for well priced wines and an easily accessible location, come here. If you’re looking for good wines (unless you want Chardonnay), keep going.

Prince Michel Winery is the most disappointing winery I’ve been to in the region. I’ve been three times to try all three of their tasting flights, and while it’s usually crowded (likely due to the location along Rt 29), the service is generally poor (you have to wait in line to do a tasting, and the employees may or may not notice you’re there), most of the wine is not local (or even regional), and none of the wines are what you’d call «good.»
If you like very sweet wines that have more of a Boones Farm feel, you’ll find a few decent ones here, but if you’re a real wine lover, your time (and money) would be better spent elsewhere.

I love day drinking, especially winery day drinking. This was perhaps the most boring and uneducational wine tasting I have been to. The reviews says this is the 3^rd largest vineyard in the state of VA and largess doesn’t mean it’s any good. Shelby was our tasting guide and she was probably the dullest person alive. I tried my best to ask engaging questions so I could get a feel for the vineyard but it was like milking a sap tree. She couldn’t give me anymore info other than what was written on the description. The tasting room was littered with 2^nd rate goods. The website stated a restaurant was on premise, however they no longer kept the restaurant open. We drove 2 hours to get here and wish we hadn’t. 2 stars are being kind.

Definitely the best bang for your buck when it comes to tastings. They don’t skimp! We get the sweet list. Oh my gosh, soooo good! They sometimes have cake baked with the wine to give out and it is simply delicious. I love the atmosphere of the interior as well. My favorite winery hands down!

Stopped in for a tasting on our way to Charlottesville. Decided to do the sweet tasting (not sure why since I usually like reds… maybe just felt like trying something completely different). Some wines were good, others were too sweet. The guy behind the counter was nice and made us feel very welcome. Decided to buy a bottle of the Symbius.

Overall. Very good wines. Beautiful property and very large serving area (s). Some nice outdoor seating (when it is warmer). Wine tastings are $ 7 for a regular flight of whites and reds and $ 8 for their premium wines including 4 whites and 4 reds. The pours were very small, but our server did offer a re-​pour of our favorites to compare… «in consideration of purchase».
We attended mid-​week in March and it was not busy at all. They were one of a few that offer mid week tastings (see the big wine map of Virginia). We liked the Syrah and Cabernet. As others have said the server pourer makes… all the difference. I liked the suggestion to hang back… look at all the gift shop items and choose your server carefully. We liked Prince Michel’s and would come again, but it wasn’t our favorite!

It is my quest to discover new wineries, especially those off the beaten path. During a trip to Charlottesville, I noted winery signs to Prince Michel winery. This winery is located along Route 29, between the Virginia cities of Charlottesville and Culpepper. Prince Michel is a beautiful winery offering wine tasting, tours and wine themed suites for overnight guests. My visit was during a weekday and during a snowstorm in Virginia as there were only a couple of customers. I cannot speak about the weekends or summer days, but I’m sure this location has a loyal crowd. The tasting room presented a welcoming and enchanting atmosphere, which coupled with a knowledgeable wine pourer, made this a pleasant visit. The wine tasting room offers several varieties of wine flight tasting, to include Fine Fines, Premium Wines and Rapidan River Sweet Wines. I decided to have the Fine Wines and Premium Wines flight tasting. Read more at

Yesterday was our fifth visit to Prince Michel, but this time we brought two other couples with us. When we arrived there were only two attendants at the wine bar and every available space at the tasting bar was taken. Neither of the employees acknowledged our group or told us where to wait or invited us to check out their self guided wine tour. That should have been our red flag but we still decided to stay.
After nearly a half hour wait we finally got a spot at the bar. The six of us stood there for another ten minutes before we were acknowledged by the female employee. She finally came up to us and asked if we were doing sweet or dry wines. Confused we asked her what she meant. She seemed annoyed as she explained we had to choose sweet or dry wines to taste and that even if we paid for both tastings we couldn’t do them. Only one. My husband and I are not fans of sweet wine so we opted for dry. Our companions opted for sweet. Finally it seemed that we were going to get to taste. Except right as our attendant was about to pour our first wines another person who apparently was a friend of hers came into the winery and she put the bottle down and went over to greet this other person without a single word to us. So we waited another five minutes while she caught up with her BFF.
The entire tasting dragged on like this for another HOUR and a HALF. It would be one thing if the winery was still busy, but by a half hour into our tasting it was only our group and one other group. It was often as much as fifteen minutes between pours, while we waited as our attendant did things like empty the dishwasher behind the counter, restock wine refrigerators or chit chat with her coworker. Multiple times she forgot where she was on our tasting sheet and her explanations of the wine were identical to what was listed on the tasting sheet. Basically the entire time she acted like we were inconveniencing her by being at the winery to taste wine, until it was time to try and pitch the wine club to us. Then she was our best friend. No thanks… I’m pretty sure our fifth visit to Prince Michel will be our last thanks to the crappy service we received.
We are frequent visitors to Virginia wineries all over the state. We have had experiences where the wine was not very good. We have been to wineries so crowded you could barely move. That being said, this was the WORST tasting experience we have ever had. We were embarrassed that we brought friends from out of state with us to the winery!

This is just by far my favorite winery… great wine… friendly servers and did I mention great wine. There wines are such a good price!!!

For a very touristy winery right off the highway, it actually wasn’t bad at all
Located 45 minutes north of Charlottesville, Prince Michel looks like a really nice Virginia Rest stop just off Route 29. The facilities are very nice with plenty of indoor and out door seating and a self guided «winery tour» that will take you about five minutes to walk through. The tasting area is in the middle of an expansive gift shop filled with the sort of useless knickknacks you would expect (for example, a tie/​scarf with a hidden flask in it or a novelty wine holder shaped like a bear drinking the wine).
If you can get over the red neon lights flashing «Tourists Come Here!», you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the wine tasting experience. Prince Michel offers two tasting lists with ten wines apiece — a selection of the typical white/​red and a tasting of their sweet wines, each for $ 5 (and no you can’t pay $ 10 and do twenty wine tastings, I already asked). We opted for the typical white/​red list, and while none of them knocked my socks off like at other wineries, the wine was actually quite good, most notably the Select Chardonnay 2010, the Viognier, the Merlot, and Merlot-​Cab Reserve. We were also able to try two of the sweet wines, the Rapidan River Chocolate (tasted like… well, chocolate wine) and the Tres Bien 2009 (a typical sweet wine that was pretty good, even though I really hate sweet wines). Our pourer was very engaged and had a type AAA+ personality. Also a glass of wine is so cheap ($ 5 – 8 a glass) and they fill it to the very top of the glass. A designated driver is a must, otherwise you’ll be sitting in the parking lot for a few hours googling the fastest ways to sober up.
Overall, I walked out surprised the wine was so good, although it still falls short on the overall quality of wineries I’ve been to outside of Charlottesville. This is a good first time winery for family and friends not familiar with wine at all, or if you happen to be driving by the place.

Great wine. We had the Cabernet Sauvignon, but unfortunately we had a sour bottle. This was my first bad bottle ever and I didn’t even purchase it at the winery. I emailed the winery and told them my situation; they mailed me a new bottle, which was perfection. Great wine + great customer service = 5 stars

Just stopped at Prince Michel winery. This is unequivocally the worst wine I have tried in Virginia. Bitter, flat, and overpriced. Worst yet, these MVA-​grown grapes sully the reputation of fine Virginia Wines everywhere.
Too bad its the first stop for many tourists coming into the area. Don’t bother with this one. Bleh!

This was the last of four wineries we hit up on the great jail break adventure (friend — get reckelss driving ticket — somehow hey let her off — who knows why — so we drove back to dc and got drunk)
Um — there was a cool butterfly!
I liked this place — we were there towards the end of the day so i

The best thing this place has going for it is its location right on the side of the highway.
When you enter the tasting room, they direct you through a set of doors to take a self-​guided tour, which was pretty cool. The tour walks you around above the production room where signs explain the winemaking process.
Sadly, the tasting experience and the wine itself fell short. The guy giving our tasting was completely unenthusiastic about the whole process, and kept leaving us with empty glasses so that he could go gossip with his coworkers. The wine itself was unimpressive compared to many of the other Virginia wineries I’ve experienced.
Apparently they have social hours with trivia at night, which may be worth checking out if you’re in the area. If you’re looking for great wines, though, skip it.

My husband and I stopped here on our weekend away for this birthday and were blown away. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. They had a wonderful selection of wines. I love sweet and fruit infused wines and there was not one I did not like. Our biggest issue was trying to decide which ones we wanted to buy as I wanted them all. It was my husband’s birthday and when they found out he was given a special drunk-​in birthday song.
They have a wonderful self guided tour that was packed full of information.
The cost for tasting was $ 5 for 10 tastings — pretty standard. What was nice and good business sense, that fee was removed if you purchased a bottle of wine. You could also purchase a glass of wine and hang out in the bar area.
Added bonus — they had a wonderful gift shop and we were told they even had lodging on-​site. This place was so good I joined the wine club.
I can’t wait to go back and highly recommend this place!

When first walking into Prince Michel, they were pretty busy — but they had us up to the tasting bar within 5 minutes. It was $ 5 tasting for your choice of 15 wines. They have quite a list to choose from so it is well worth the $ 5! The woman who did our tasting did a great job of keeping everybody’s lists straight (there were 6 in our section of the tasting counter). She also made 2 cakes & brownies (using their wine) that she gives you taste along with the wines — & she gives you the recipes.
When it was said & done we went home with souvenir glasses & 5 bottles of wine! I bought a bottle of the chocolate dessert wine & the rose wine. My husband got 3 bottles of Cab Franc (3 for $ 30!).
You won’t be disappointed with this place — offering a huge shop with wine accessories & knick-​knacks, cheeses, & a self guided tour — it’s totally worth a stop!

If I were to rate Prince Michel on wine only I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.
If I were to rate Prince Michel on friendly and inviting service, great atmosphere in the tasting room, tours of the facilities and overall shopping experience I would give it 10 stars out of 5!
We stopped in on our way home from Richmond (we took a super scenic route) and thought this place looks interesting?!
We ended up buying a few bottles of Merlot and a Bottle of the Cab Franc and then we started drinking the frozen wine slurpees they were making! OH WOW… what a concept! It was worth the trip in itself.
Now with that said… I gave this place 4 stars overall…

Pros and Cons of Prince Michel Vineyard:
Pro:
*gift shop and tastings available every day
*huge selection of whites, reds, and sweet wines to sample
*tastings are FREE. Yes, there are 15 wines you can taste free of charge in the tasting room. If you want to try the fancier ones, of which there are 7, you only need to pay $ 1 (total). A complete steal.
*The winery self-​guided tour. As a teacher, I appreciate these educational opportunities! (cue the nerd sign)
Cons:
*Character? Charm? Where have you gone? This place feels like it just magically sprung up on the side of some highway… oh wait, it did.
*The gal who served us was not very knowledgeable about the wines, nor was she that affable of a person. C’mon, you get to pour wine to happy people! Put on a smile!
*Did I mention this place lacks any sort of character?
In all seriousness, though, Prince Michel is a great place to stop for a great variety of wines.
Here are some notable ones that we tried:
From the Complementary list:
1) Prince Michel Pinot Grigio 2008 — forgettable. «Subtle hints of lime and mineral», but all it tasting like was mineral water.
2) Cabernet Franc 2007 — slight taste of coffee beans, yum. Includes 5% merlot. Fragrant and rich.
3) Merlot: blended w/​3% Shiraz… thick and rich and fruity. Pretty good.
4) Dry Riesling. 1% sugar. If I’m going for a Riesling, I’m going for something bolder and sweeter — this wasn’t it.
5) Semi-​Dry Riesling. A huge winner with a 4% of residual sugar. We bought a bottle.
6) Port (Dessert Wine) — this winner smelllllllls like chocolate. Really sweet and almost syrupy in taste — something good to sip and savor.
From the non-​complimentary list:
1) Ivy Creek Farm Merlot 2007. My fiancé really liked it, I didn’t. A little overpowering for my taste.
2) Quaker Run Syrah 2006. Normally we both are big Syrah fans — this was O.K.
In all, while the wines were not the best I’ve ever had, it is a neat little place to stop into if you are in the area (and if you are hitting other wineries). I would not recommend making Prince Michel a focal point of an outing, but rather, a nice quick stop whilst already on the road.
If Leon, VA, is too far out of your range, there is a store and tasting room in Alexandria. I believe it is much smaller, but still has the same vast selection to taste from, at the same great prices (or no price at all!). Wines range from around $ 15 to $ 30, with port priced differently (a 750 mL bottle for $ 50). Discounts are given for wine clubs and bulk purchase.