Overview The Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon starts and finishes at Doukénie Winery in Hillsboro, in Loudoun County's wine country about an hour west of Washington, D.C., and the finish area turns into a wine and music festival poured by the county's wineries. The course is flat, on backcountry paved and gravel roads past vineyards, farms and estates. A 10K and a 5K go off with the half at 7 a.m. Bad to the Bone, which also puts on the Charlottesville Marathon and the Ultra Race of Champions, produces it. On site Water stops sit at miles 1.5, 4.3, 5.8, 7.2, 8.8 and 11.5, each with water, electrolytes and gels, and the half closes at three and a half hours. Finishers get a medallion and post-race food. The Wine and Music Festival, presented by the Loudoun Wineries Association, runs from 9 a.m. to noon on the winery grounds. Entry is free, and a tasting glass buys one pour at each winery's table. In 2026 13 Loudoun wineries poured, among them Doukénie, 8 Chains North, Bluemont, Domaine Fortier, Lost Creek, Kalero and Mt. Defiance, while Eric Selby and Friends played. Awards go out at 10:30 in the festival area, three deep in ten-year age groups, with team awards for the half. Audience Runners have to be at least 12 and children get into the festival free, but only guests 21 and over taste, and spectators buy tasting glasses too. The field travels in from Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey for the morning. Track record Best Things Virginia voted it one of the top ten races in Virginia. The race goes back at least to 2015, when Destination Races produced it out of Purcellville. The 2026 race named the Loudoun Road Runners, Special Olympics Virginia and Girls on the Run as its charitable partners. Brand presence Sponsors show up at both ends of race weekend: the Friday packet-pickup expo and the Saturday festival, where partners take booth space and can sample product. Logos go on the race shirts, bibs and medals, at the finish line and the awards ceremony, and in the post-race video, and the race's monthly e-blasts go to more than 30,000 people. Title and presenting sponsors carry their names across all race marketing, and every racer bag carries sponsor inserts.