Dan Casey

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The Botetourt County area known as Lithia takes its name from feel-good springs that could lift sour spirits and calm anxious ones. An ambitious huckster named Frank Fringer grasped that notion back in the 1800s, and set to work making money off it. He built a pump house and general store, gave the village its name, bottled the lithium carbonate-rich brew and sold it as a cure-all.

Today, lithium is one of the medicines doctors prescribe for bipolar mood disorder, which some people call manic depression. Fringer's pump house and store are decaying remnants along Lithia Road. But a new potion is fermenting a couple miles south of the famed springs.

The Fincastle Vineyard and Winery opened in 2003. Vineyard owner David Sawyer and winery operators Richard and Georgia Classey produce Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and other wines in a stone and wood structure tucked into the rolling green swells off Lithia/Nace Road. They invite the public in for wine tastings and make the grounds available for picnics.

Fleda Ring of Roanoke had the bright idea for this wheels-and-wine jaunt on summer's first Sunday afternoon. It certainly isn't the type of ride that'll set your lungs heaving or your legs burning. But it sure is a nice way to spend a summer afternoon, and it's a great confidence-building ride for novice road cyclists.

The road

We did this ride as a 16-mile "out-and-back" but there are plenty of ways to pull it off. Consult a map of Botetourt County and make it part of whatever length loop you'd like. But be sure to include the entire length of Lithia/Nace Road in the route. You don't want to miss its charms.

Like the water's reputed powers over the psyche, the road has neither steep climbs nor harrowing descents. It gently snakes and rolls along Looney Creek as it crisscrosses Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks, between Buchanan and Nace. Traffic is light and the most prominent hazard is a small and ugly mutt known as a scourge of cyclists in the area.

Heading south from Buchanan, the road climbs almost imperceptibly. But it's easy to average 10 mph even for an inexperienced cyclist. Coming back is a breeze. Not only wll the prevailing winds be at your back, it's mostly downhill. The road is gorgeous in both directions.

The ride

Dan Casey | The Roanoke Times

Joy Taylor, followed by Richard Taylor and Fleda Ring, cross railroad tracks at the beginning of the ride.

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Directions

• From Roanoke, take Interstate 81 north to exit 162. At the end of the exit ramp, take a right on U.S. 11 (north). Go less than 2 miles to the intersection with Lithia Road, and take a right. You can park your car either on U.S. 11 or a little ways down Lithia Road at the gravel pulloff just before the railroad crossing.
• The Fincastle Vineyard and Winery is open Thursday – Monday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointment. For more info call (540) 591-9000 or e-mail info@fincastlewine.com. Its address is 203 Maple Ridge Lane (the lane is a gravel road off Nace Road, less than 2 miles north of U.S. 11. It also recently opened as a bed and breakfast inn. To see pictures of its grape-growing or winemaking operations, check out www.fincastlewine.com.

We started where Lithia Road intersects with U.S. 11 just south of Buchanan and headed south. The Fincastle Vineyard and Winery is about 8 miles up the road – look for the sign on the right and the vineyard up the hill away from the road.

The winery is about a half-mile off the Lithia/Nace road, down a gravel road called Maple Ridge Lane. The gravel road is ridable for an experienced road cyclist (or anyone on a mountain bike). But if you call them a few minutes before you arrive, the folks at the winery will meet you and your bikes at the paved road in a pickup truck and save you the hassle of navigating the gravel.

Wine tasting was the first order of business when we arrived. That day, the winery had 4 varieties to choose from – 2 reds and 2 whites, and we chose a couple of bottles to have with the picnic.

Fleda, Joy Taylor and Susan Kilmer had dropped our pinic lunch off at the winery before we began riding. When we arrived, it was set out in the dining room, buffet style. And we loaded out plates and ate on the winery's shady front porch.

Afterwards, we collectively purchased a couple of cases. The prices were reasonable, from $12 to $15 per bottle. Then we rode back to our cars, and stopped by the winery to pick them up for the car ride home.