What started strictly as a wine and craft beer shop three years ago has evolved into a popular eatery in the Middle Peninsula. Wine and food lovers can enjoy perfectly paired tastings and gourmet soups, salads and sandwiches with dine in or grab-and-go options.
Act XII Wine & Provisions in Tappahannock was the dream and creation of Dr. Robert and Corrie Culley. When they moved to Essex County they realized wine enthusiasts were driving as far as Kilmarnock and Irvington for speciality wines. So the couple opened Act XII, a fine wine and craft beer shop, in September 2023. In 2025, they collaborated with 1710 Tavern owners Greg and Jennifer Huff and now general manager Rebecca Darling to expand and open the market in the adjoining space which was formerly a tile store.
I stopped in to take a peek while on another assignment in Tappahannock last month and grabbed a few items to take home. The goodies were so tasty, I had to return for the full in-house experience.
With walls of glass facing Church Street, the fine wine shop and market is bright and cheery. Fresh cut flowers adorn the tables, which are also surrounded by two walls of wines to satisfy any palate.
Although Act XII is normally open daily, my friend Darlene and I visited after they’d been closed for two days for a quick remodel of the market area.
“I never would have imagined we’d be making 25 paninis in a day. That’s really why we had to renovate because the paninis have gotten so popular. Now we have a whole sandwich-making station,” said Darling. The remodel also included the addition of two more wine pouring machines and two beer stations.
Darling, who made the short move from Fredericksburg to Dunnsville in 2023, long believed the area needed access to gourmet provisions and quality wine so managing the market was a perfect fit. She has a WSET Level 2 Sommelier certification, expertise she uses to create some amazing-sounding wine and food pairings, which because of high demand and a usually sold-out event, they offer twice now, on third Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The event pairs five wines—two whites and three reds—with a tapas-sized tasting. This month’s pairing features wines and foods from Sicily. Pairings have included soups, pasta, duck cassoulet, beef bourguignon, chowders and even salads sprinkled with dried fish roe.
Unfortunately, Darlene and I missed the pairing by a week. Nonetheless, we loved our dine-in experience and started with a gourmet cheese platter paired with a flight from the wine machines, a dispensing station allowing customers to sip and sample before purchasing a full bottle. There were 12 to choose from when we were visiting but two more machines will also be up and running soon. They include happy hour pricing from 4-6 p.m. with three pour choices from a sip of two ounces up to a five-ounce sample.
The cheeses were like none I’ve ever tasted…an Irish cheddar cheese made with Irish whiskey, mimmolette cheddar, p’tit basque, the world’s best string cheese—yes that’s the name—and a smokey blue cheese made by Rogue Creamery. According to Darling, it was voted the best cheese in the world, not just best blue cheese, but best cheese. She included some honey from God’s Country Farm LLC in Callao to drizzle on the cheeses for a sweet and savory treat. I could have sipped my wine, devoured those cheeses with honey and crackers and called it a dinner.
But there was more to come. The market offers a soup of the week and on that day it was chicken noodle or roasted red pepper. I chose the chicken noodle, which came steaming hot with wide egg noodles, chunks of chicken, sliced carrots, onions, celery and zucchini in a tasty broth. After a few spoonfuls and a request for a to-go bowl came the main courses. Darlene and I shared two sandwiches—the pimento grilled cheese and a hot smoked pastrami on rye. The sandwiches are served with a side, either chips or house made pasta salad, and Tidewater sweets, pickles also made in-house by Darling. They are sweet and crunchy with just a little tang.
The pimento cheese is made at 1710 Tavern and to my delight was not spicy. It oozed out of the grilled sourdough bread and left me wanting more the next day.
“We have a gourmet food supplier and we have a selection of top notch, good, tasty cheeses,” said Darling. “There are plenty of fabulous cheeses at Food Lion and Walmart, but these are cheeses you can’t find anywhere else.”
One, a Wensleydale cheese made with lemon and honey, was creamy and sweet. Our server told us it tasted like a piece of lemon cheesecake. She was not wrong.
The market has 12 standard offerings on its panini and sandwich menu with three speciality sandwiches each day. The menu includes a 1710 Tavern chicken salad croissant, a caprese panini, club, lettuce cordon bleu, reuben, muffuletta, chicken and Philly roast pork.
Along with the soups of the week, there’s also fresh green salads, tabouli salads, pasta salads and gourmet deviled eggs. Stuffed jalapeños, wrapped in bacon and roasted, are made on Fridays and Darling says they sell out quickly. The smoked salmon is also popular, as are the bagels, sourdough breads and cinnamon rolls made by the Tavern’s pastry chef.
There’s a huge grab-and-go section or you can order and eat-in.
Warm homemade cookies were the perfect ending to our meal. Darling said a new freezer will be installed soon for gelato desserts.
Darlene and I both left with full bellies and a bag of goodies to go…cheeses, ready-made sandwiches for the next few days, croissants and a bottle of wine. I now know where I’m stopping whenever I’m in Tappahannock.
Act XII Wine & Provisions
Act XII Wine & Provisions221 Church Lane, Tappahannock
804-925-6045
Open
Mondays – Saturdays 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sundays 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Customer favorites
Speciality cheeses
Fresh made bagels
House pickles
Muffuletta
Italian Stallion
Just ask Clawdia
Act XII Wine & Provisions has an AI assistant named Clawdia. She is a text-only assistant that is up-to-date on the shop’s wines, beers, provisions and menu. She can guide customers toward the perfect bottle and food pairing. You can text Clawdia to place orders or get personalized recommendations, even text her while on site to ask for pairing suggestions or product questions. Act XII also has a wine club and rewards program.
Did you know?
Named after Act XII, a 1619 House of Burgesses edict encouraging households to plant and cultivate grapevines in the New World
