Brunch is a staple in D.C., and District Winery is one of the best options around. Come for the winery tour and stay longer for the delightful food.
Nestled in D.C.'s Navy Yard along the Anacostia River, District Winery is an urban winery and restaurant that crafts boutique small batch wine and hosts full-service weddings and corporate events.
I first discovered this adorable city winery, last year when I attended their Rosé Release Party celebrating their new 2018 rosé. Very quickly I fell in love with the modern, upscale vibe of the event space and how delicious their wines tasted. District Winery is the first ever commercial winery operating in Washington, D.C., sourcing grapes from boutique vineyards across the country, ranging from California, to Washington State, to the Finger Lakes in NY. Their winemaker Conor McCormack produces the premium small batch wines in-house, combining the quality of tradition with the freedom of innovation.
While visiting this time, I started off with a winery tour to learn all about urban winemaking – from how the winemakers source the grapes to blending and bottling. The tour guide walked the group through the entire process and we got to taste seven different District Winery wines as the tour guide introduced us to each type and the story behind it. My boyfriend and I loved tasting all the wines because we knew which ones we wanted to order a glass of at brunch, in addition to buying bottles to take home.
Tours are typically offered Tuesday-Friday at 6:30pm; Saturday 11am, 2:00pm, 5:00pm and 7:30pm; Sunday at 11am, 2:00pm and 5:00 pm. Each tour is $35 per person and includes winery tour and wine tasting. Another perk of the tour is that it is limited to only 12 participants per tour, since the winemaking space isn't too spacious. I'd highly recommend this tour with friends, as a date, or with coworkers or family. On the tour I learned that all of the wines are made in the dry style, meaning there is very limited residual sugar, so they don't taste sweet. I personally prefer dryer wines, so I think you can tell why I loved it here.
After the tour, we heading to the restaurant for brunch. We made a reservation in advance to ensure we didn't have to wait for a table. Reservations are easy to make on OpenTable. The brunch menu is available from 11am – 2pm Saturdays and Sundays and the regular menu is also available for those who aren't breakfast food fans.
We ordered Bloody Mary's and champagne to start, both were refreshing and very tasty. For starters/sides we ordered the croissant pie, fried brussels sprouts, breakfast sausage, hash browns, and the brioche toast with honey butter. The hash browns were to die for. Hands down the best hash browns I have ever had, and they came in a unique cube shape. For our mains, I ordered the avocado toast and my boyfriend got the breakfast sandwich.
Since everything was so tasty we tried to join the clean plate club, but we were so full and took leftovers home. This was the perfect Sunday brunch and I will certainly be back.
Interesting in learning more? Click here to view District Winery's website. They also have a wine club, wine 101 classes, and patio seating.
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