Williamsburg Winery

The largest winery in Virginia, producing roughly 65,000 cases a year — something close to a quarter of the state's output — from 300 acres at Wessex Hundred, a working farm south of the city near College Creek.

The operation is more substantial than the Virginia average: proper cellar tours, an on-site archaeology programme covering the 17th-century settlement that stood here, and a range that runs from the everyday Governor's White to serious Bordeaux blends. Lunch at the Gabriel Archer Tavern is taken on a terrace under ivy-covered pergolas looking over the vines, and there is a hotel on the property if you want to make an afternoon of it without driving.

Practical: open daily from late morning to evening; tastings and tours are bookable and busy at weekends. Roughly ten minutes from the historic area — close enough to be an easy escape from it.