On Lovettsville Road, the dining room at Patowmack Farm reopened on May 14, 2026, under a new name and a new chef. By early October, Loudoun Now reported that Restaurant Foraged. at Patowmack Farm had been named a 2026 Steward of Virginia Wine and had earned a Judges' Award as one of the top scorers in the state. The same story named one other Loudoun honoree: The Red Fox Inn & Tavern in Middleburg, which dates itself to 1728.
So the county's two honorees are a room that had been open less than five months when the awards came out and a room approaching its 300th year. That pairing makes sense once you look at what the award measures. It scores how a business presents Virginia wine to the people at its tables, from the list itself to the staff pouring it. For anyone in western Loudoun planning a dinner out between now and Christmas in Middleburg, that tells you what each table does well.
What the Panel Was Scoring
The Stewards of Virginia Wine Awards aren't a medal competition for wines. They recognize the restaurants, retailers and wine bars that sell Virginia wine to the public. In its October 22, 2026 announcement, Virginia Wine said honorees came from nominations by wineries, distributors, consumers and trade partners. An industry panel then scored applicants in five areas: wine list presence, consumer promotion, creativity, staff education and overall commitment to Virginia wine.
Only one of those five categories is about what's actually on the list. The other four are about what happens around it: how the wine is promoted, how creatively it's presented, and whether the staff can talk about it. This was the program's second year. It drew twice as many nominations as the first year and named 26 recipients statewide, and six of them also received a Judges' Award for the highest scores. Loudoun Now described Foraged's award as a "top five" finish and counted 27 honorees, while Virginia Wine's own roster lists 26 names. Either way, a restaurant in its first season landed at the top of a statewide field.
The Ashby Inn & Restaurant and Field & Main Restaurant are on the same 2026 roster, so Hunt Country has a strong showing on a list that runs from Norfolk to Charlottesville.
A Wine List Built in One Season
The Patowmack Farm dining room has a longer history than its new name suggests. Founder Beverly Morton Billand started out serving seasonal food from her garden in the farm's barn, cooking in her home kitchen. She began planning a permanent restaurant in 2000, and Loudoun Now's history of the farm says it opened four years later. Most of its ingredients were grown on the property or bought from nearby growers. Billand announced that the restaurant would close on August 31, 2025, describing the decision as her retirement.
Baltimore chef Chris Amendola took over the operation. In the handoff announcement covered by Northern Virginia Magazine, he said he would keep the farm's local, seasonal approach while bringing his own cooking style. The kitchen side drew attention quickly. Washingtonian's June 2026 feature on foraging restaurants covered Amendola's harvesting of wild ingredients, and Baltimore Magazine made the restaurant a road-trip stop in its October 2026 issue.
The wine program is a front-of-house effort. Loudoun Now said the restaurant earned the honor under the guidance of sommelier and front-of-house manager Kenny Grandon, who brings nearly two decades of hospitality and wine experience. He previously worked at The Inn at Little Washington and held wine director roles at Goodstone Inn and Alias. Here is how Amendola described Grandon's approach to Loudoun Now:
"He is constantly out visiting wineries, tasting, meeting producers, and finding wines he is excited to share with our guests. From the beginning, he wanted the wine to tell the same story as the food."
That description lines up closely with the panel's scoring areas of creativity, staff education and commitment. Visit Loudoun says the restaurant's pairings will feature Loudoun and Virginia vintages. In other words, a newcomer to the county's dining scene earned its award through a sommelier who spent the season visiting the producers around it.
Three Centuries and 205 Bottles
The Red Fox earned the same honor through a long track record. The inn's own history traces it to 1728 as Chinn's Ordinary, built by Joseph Chinn. The Reuter family's stewardship began when Nancy B. Reuter bought the inn in 1976. Turner Reuter Jr. took over operations in 1979, and Matilda Reuter Engle joined in 2008.
The list there is larger and reaches further. Wine Spectator's restaurant profile counts 205 selections and names California, Virginia and France as its strengths. The inn describes its Dining Room as the intimate Tavern setting, built around a seasonal four-course game-and-seafood menu and pouring local beverages next to national and international wines. Culinary Director Ryan Ross leads this fall's menu, which the inn describes as rooted in Virginia Piedmont ingredients and techniques.
So the two Loudoun stewards got to the same recognition in different ways. Foraged built a list in one season to match its tasting menu. The Red Fox gives Virginia a lasting place on an international list that has been decades in the making.
The two rooms run on very different formats, and the details matter when booking:
| Restaurant Foraged. at Patowmack Farm | The Red Fox Inn & Tavern | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | 42461 Lovettsville Road, Lovettsville | Middleburg |
| Format | Five-course seasonal tasting menu | Four-course Dining Room menu, plus the casual Night Fox Pub |
| Days open | Thursday through Sunday | Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday |
| Regular hours | Thursday and Friday 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday 5 to 9 p.m., Sunday 4 to 8 p.m. | Dining Room last seating 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Pub last call 9 p.m. weekdays, 9:30 p.m. weekends |
| Reservations | Through Tock, parties of one to eight, $50 per person deposit, walk-ins when space allows | Dining Room by reservation; Pub is first-come, first-served |
The $50 Tock deposit at Foraged holds the table and isn't the full price of the meal. Restaurant Foraged's location page also lists hours that differ from the ones reported at opening in May, so the current site is the one to check.
Fitting Both Into the Season
Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, and Christmas in Middleburg arrives a week into December. The Red Fox has already posted its schedule for both:
- November 23 to 25: Harvest Dinner Experience in the Dining Room, 4 to 8 p.m.
- November 26, Thanksgiving Day: Dining Room and Pub both closed.
- November 27 and 28: Harvest Dinner Experience resumes, 4 to 8 p.m.
- December 3: Regular three- or four-course Dining Room service.
- December 4 and 5: A special Christmas in Middleburg dinner. December 5 is parade day on the inn's overnight package itinerary.
- December 6: Dining Room closed.
The Red Fox Thanksgiving page includes a stray closed date in its holiday-week listing, so it's worth calling to confirm before planning a dinner around a specific night.
Foraged's events page invites inquiries for private holiday events, which could suit a group that wants the farm to itself for an evening. Regular Thursday-through-Sunday dinners make it an easy fit for the weekends around the holiday, when the Red Fox's harvest menu covers the weeknights.
At Foraged, the Virginia pours come from Grandon, choosing pours to match a menu that changes with what the farm and the woods produce. At the Red Fox, the Virginia bottles sit on a 205-selection list next to California and France, under Ross's harvest menu in a room that has served travelers since before the Revolution.
If an evening at one of these tables has you thinking about vines of your own, or about what an established vineyard or farm in Hunt Country takes to run, Horse Farms & Country Homes would be glad to walk the ground with you. Book an Appointment.
