Ashton Lough, who has made wine for several NoVA vineyards including Pearmund Cellars, The Winery at Bull Run, and Three Creeks Winery, now has a new boutique winery called Private Label Cellars — and he’s looking forward to getting more of a chance to interact with customers there.
Private Label Cellars in Catharpin, a hamlet north of Route 29 in Prince William County, is now open noon to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Wine tastings with Lough are available by appointment during those times. Group, private, and barrel tastings are available on other days by reservation only.
“It seems like there’s a little bit of a gap in the wine industry in Virginia,” Lough says. “There’s quite a few bigger wineries and but there aren’t very many small, either micro or boutique kind of wineries. And I think that’s a little niche that I can fill with my winery, Private Label Cellars.”
The microwinery is located in Lough’s hay barn, which he remodeled to include a tasting bar, a sitting area, and his wine production area, where he plans to make about 500 to 600 cases per year.
“There’s an intimacy, I guess, that I have lacked with the customers. When you make wine at a larger winery, usually the production facility is detached. You lose a lot of the customer interaction and I kind of missed that,” Lough says.
“I designed this winery specifically so that the customers could come in and touch and smell and, you know, see the equipment and talk to the winemaker, because I would always be here.”
Lough, who’s originally from Georgia and has been working at Virginia wineries since 2012, says some of the wines at Private Label Cellars include a chardonnay, vidal blanc, pinot gris, merlot, and a blend that includes cabernet franc, merlot, and petit verdot. He says his favorite varietal is viognier, and he’s currently working on one for Private Label Cellars.
Lough still makes wine for Three Creeks Vineyard in Hamilton, where he’s partner, and for The Winery at Sunshine Ridge Farm in Gainesville. He sources the fruit for his Private Label wines from Three Creeks and from around the state.
“I want to kind of get back to the basics and just have a little more customer involvement,” he says. “I’ve kind of missed that part.”
Private Label Cellars is located at 3704 Sanders Ln., Catharpin. The winery’s website, privatelabelcellars.com, is under construction.
Feature image courtesy Ashton Lough
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