Mountain Run Winery was awarded Best Small Business of the Year by the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce.
The Winery was one of the big winners at the 108th Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet held by the Chamber on Nov. 3. This gives the winery another accolade to add to its growing list after just seven years in operation.
Located just a mile west of Culpeper, David Foster and his wife Kayti Schumann-Foster opened Mountain Run Winery in July 2016. The winery stands on a 36-acre plot of farmland that has stood for 125 years. While Mountain Run has consistently been growing other crops such as soybeans and corn, it’s their selection of homemade small-batch wines that has been getting most of the attention.
David, a former Army Veteran, left a 20-year career in National Security and opened the winery as a way to “get back to the earth.” As a child, Foster enjoyed gardening and later got into the hobby of home brewing his own beer and mead. Since then, the business has continued to grow beyond what even Foster thought was possible.
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“The business has grown by leaps and bounds, our onsite production has more than quadrupled since we started and we recently added an additional 10 acres to our farm,” said Foster. “We completed construction of our new “Greenlee Tavern” tasting room, named for one of my ancestors from Culpeper County from the 1700’s.”
Those wines such as its Meritage, a blend of Bordeaux style blend of four different wines, has received multiple awards while its hard cider won Best In Show in the wine competition at the 2019 Virginia State Fair. Mountain Run also boasts to have the commonwealth’s only Shiraz wine, which comes from a popular grape found in countries like Australia and South Africa.
“Despite recent inflation, we were able to lower the price of many of our wines, and now have three excellent wines at $20 a bottle,” says Foster.
Mountain Run has also become a venue to hold public and private events. In addition to being available for weddings and other gatherings, the winery holds several public events such as its Sunday Sunset Sippers music series, late night Full Moon parties, an annual Volkswagen show, a Fall Crab Feast and a Fall Harvest festival that brings out not just the revelers but dozens of craft vendors as well.
The winery’s biggest event, Culpeperpalooza, featured 12 hours of live music and raised more than $12,000 for music education in Culpeper.
Many local organizations have hosted fundraising events at Mountain Run since its opening. Organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Museum of Culpeper History, Mom2Mom and The MS Society are just a few that have raised money on the winery grounds.
“We really appreciate everything that the Chamber of Commerce does for Culpeper and it was an honor to be recognized by them,” says Foster. “Our community involvement aside, I think that people have really come to recognize Mountain Run as a laid-back, family friendly environment that is also budget-friendly and where you are likely to see three generations of my family onsite when you visit.”
Mountain Run Winery is located at 10753 Mountain Run Lake Road a mile west of Culpeper.
