Narmada Winery opened its tasting room doors in November 2009 and they’re already producing impressive, award-winning wines and charming customers with their friendly and knowledgeable tasting room staff. Narmada is located off of route 211 in Amissville (close to Gray Ghost Winery). If you’re on your way to Shenandoah National Park or one of the other Rappahannock County wineries, this is a must see on your way. Narmada is family and pet friendly and boasts sprawling outdoor decks with views of the vineyard and pond, with plenty of comfortable indoor and outdoor seating.
Warm and welcoming, Sudha and Pandit Patil own and operate Narmada Winery. Sudha, a chemist by training, is the winemaker and Pandit, a retired PhD mechanical engineer from Carnegie Mellon University, manages the winery operations. Their winemaking consultant is Tom Payette, a recognized International wine judge and Wine Tech columnist for Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine. The Pandit’s have about 15 acres of vines and they use all Virginia grapes to produce their wines. Love that! They started plantings in 2002 and today they produce nearly 3,000 cases a year, which is fairly typical for a small farm winery.
The tasting room is decorated in rich colors of olive, rust, and emerald-green with accents of peacocks and paintings from local artists. I inquired about the peacock theme, which is also part of the Narmada Logo. Bryan, our server, told us that the peacock is the national bird of India and also the winemaker’s favorite bird. There are even real peacock feathers embellished on the large granite wine bar!
For a fee of $7 you can taste 8 wines and keep the souvenir glass. I enjoyed all of the wines, but my favorites were: the Chardonel, which won a Virginia Wine Lover Wine Classic Competition Platinum in 2009, the dry Viognier, which won a Virginia Wine Lover Classic Competition Gold in 2009 and just won a 2010 medal from the Virginia Wine Lover Magazine, and a dry Chambourcin, which won the Governor’s Cup 2009 Bronze award. Also noteworthy is an off-dry Chambourcin called 
“Midnight” which is fruit forward enough to create a refreshing sangria (Bryan recommends mixing it with frozen orange juice, Sprite, and fresh mint sprigs!). Sounds pretty good on one of our ultra hot summer days!
All of the wines sell for $18 to $25, with the most expensive being a special Chambourcin dessert wine. I’d like to see the wines priced slightly lower, but given the fact that Narmada is a new winery and they have to buy some of their grapes from Horton, the price isn’t bad. They offer a 5 percent discount on half cases, a 10 percent discount on full cases, and a 20 percent discount on two or more cases. They also have a wine club which requires that you purchase three bottles quarterly.
Besides the great wines, Narmada offers authentic Indian cuisine from the Aroma Restaurant in Arlington. My friend and I sampled the butter chicken which was served with rice and naan bread. However, we were also tempted to try the vegetable samosas and chicken tikka. Narmada also serves gourmet cheeses, sausage, and baguettes. Consider starting your weekend decompression process early and join Narmada for ”Wine Down Fridays” from 11 am to 8 pm. For more information or to plan your visit, check out www.narmadawinery.com and please tell them Lady Vino sent you!
