Doukenie Winery - Purcellville

We really like Doukenie. We visited twice. They are very welcoming. The staff is very friendly. The wine is very good, some of the best we have had in Loudoun County. I like their petite Verdot best, other dry reds are very nice. What makes this place special is the way they make you feel welcome. I feel like a farming family is very proud to share the thing they produce and to share the surrounding property. It is so relaxing and casual on the property. I can't imagine a problem, but I can imagine a scenario, ask for a manager, staff would say something like let me get you the owner.

Beautiful setting in western Loudoun County for a wine tasting or even just to relax with a glass of wine. We were greeted quickly and offered seating inside their main tasting room or outside in the conditioned tent. We went for the tent which also had live music at the time, and a great view overlooking their fishing pond. Our server was excellent throughout. We went with their red and mixed wine flights. Some of the reds were quite good- the Alethia blend was a personal favorite. It was a very relaxing experience in a great setting that I'm sure we will be back for.

I knew I had to come here when I read that Michael Schapps is the winemaker. I started with the reds flight. The petit verdot was the best, hands down. The others were all a bit over oaked/too smokey for my taste. The merlot was good for a VA red. I then did the mixed flight. The white was great but the others weren't my taste. Great wines but not my taste, and that's ok! The best wines we had overall were the syrah and syrah blends. We got a bottle of the petit verdot and the syrah tannat blend. My husband and I shared a baguette with a couple dips. The baguette was warm (yum! . I was surprised that water was $1. No free water at a winery, and no water offered? Thankfully I had my own. Service was pretty good lots of servers present who could grab ours whenever we needed him. It's a beautiful setting with great wines, generally speaking. We'll be back!

My husband and a group of our friends were excited to try this winery. We came because a singer we love was performing. It states on the website that there are spaces that are 21 and over and this included the area where the music is. Of course, we assumed that the children friendly area would still be able to hear the music even if we weren't directly in the area where the live music was being played. Upon arriving at the winery, we were told that the indoor and outdoor area closest to the property was no children (and we had one 6 month old in our party . Due to this, the staff informed us that our entire party had to move to sit in a location on the other side of the winery where you could not even hear the live music (which was why we even chose this winery . While walking to the gazebo, it began to torrential downpour on us and our young child. Susan, the manager, was requested repeatedly to come speak to us. Her staff was forced to run through the rain to reach us at the gazebo where we were sat alone, being rained on because they had not put the sides of the gazebo down. Susan herself did not want to get wet and walk out to the gazebo in the rain like she had us do with a baby and her staff do repeatedly. (They could hardly serve us wine as they would have had to run through the rain with anything we ordered. At this point the rain was blowing into the gazebo due to the fact that the sides were not down. Finally when the rain died down an exception was made to allow us to sit under the pavilion where the music was being played. Overall, the experience was ruined by this treatment. The server, Haley, was an absolute sweetheart and made the experience a little better. The wine was not the best honestly. The flights were served in plastic cups with soup crackers and when we received actual wine glasses they were spotty and dirty. No new glasses were given for different types of wine, which did not bother me but some of my friends seemed upset by this. The winery is pretty, but does not have the views that other wineries in the area offer. There is a lake and a LOT of geese and ducks which means a lot of poop in the areas surrounding the building. I definitely will not be returning after the treatment from the manager Susan. Also it seems weird that there is not a children friendly area that isn't completely removed from the main building and everything else. If you have children you will be banished to the other side of the winery. Very disappointing. Ended the day at Flying Ace which was the only highlight of going to Doukenie. Flying Ace is 5/5 stars, children friendly, good food and good drinks! Don't waste your time at Doukenie.

Great wine (IMO, some of the best in NoVA), friendly staff, and a scenic, relaxed pond-side setting. Check the Doukenie website for live music dates. Ask about the origin story and name Doukenie, its impressive.