07/14/2026
Thanks for your support!
Summer Newsletter from Accordia
– New Bar is Open –
Accordia’s bar is open!
Thank you to Paul Borzelleca & Danny Spitler and their teams for getting us up and running. You will notice that we still have some odds and ends to take care of - we are working on it. I think you will all agree that the whole place has transformed in a very positve way, and that Paul is an amazing artist and really nailed what we wanted.
Danny and his team worked tirelessly to transform the whole space - it is a wonder to have a new floor and bigger kitchen!
Many thanks to everyone involved - there are a lot of people who helped!
Thanks also to our landord and buiding owner and his family, who are always ecouraging and endlessly patient with us!
We hope it is useful to our community for a long time - a special place of gathering !!!
Our team behind the bar:
Opposite you, we have a team with lots of experience. Please welcome Katie, Nick, Larisa, and Maggy to your experience - they are wonderful bartenders in every way. Katie has been tackling most of the prep! You'll see some of her work in the photo below. We like to use the term bartender versus mixologist even though we are creating unique craft cocktails from our own artisanal creations and ingredients. Basically, it's the Accordia approach of sharing knowledge without being snobby. We want everyone to enjoy what has been created in these spaces.
The new bar area also features spacious accessible bathrooms with a baby changing table, so please bring the little ones. The cocktail menu is great, with amazing liquors, great self-made shrubs and juices, and great non-alcoholic options. Our non-alcoholic creations are unique, flavorful, and elevated, just like the cocktails - guests have been choosing to turn them into full cocktails by adding a spirit of choice...just mention it to whoever is behind the bar.
Featurs on the menu:
•Classics like Old Fashioned and Negroni
•Signature in-house cocktails like the Smokey Sunset & Prickly Pear Margarita
•Martini menu with 5 options like our Espresso Martini
•Amazing mocktails like our replica of the Smokey Sunset w/o alcohol
Whiskey!
We tasted with local whiskey producer Ragged Branch (they will be opening a tasting room nearby soon) and loved what they are doing, so we brought them in. Everyone who has visited is raving about it!
So, come on out and experience the atmosphere in the new space along with the cocktails and mocktails, hand-crafted with care. If you do not find a cocktail you like on the menu, just ask your friendly neighborhood bartender to create one for you!
Fundraiser for Children • The Valley CAC • at Accordia
This Wednesday, July 15, 6 to 8 PM
Accordia is having a Fundraiser this Wednesday, July 15th for the Valley CAC - Valley Children's Advocacy Center. We are raising money to help them build a new therapy room and hire another therapist to serve children with trauma. We have food and drinks and a wonderful silent auction to generate revenue for them. Tickets are $50 and include food and drinks.
Please come and support this worthy cause! We have 30 reservations and can take some more. Thanks for the auction donations everyone!
Link below for tickets.
Donate directly on their website or click on the button "donate directly" below.
Kitchen updates:
Our kitchen also has grown and we now own a large Vulcan Oven, which will help us to serve with more efficency...you will get your food quicker! We are testing out new menu items over the next few weeks in anticipation of a future new menu. We are continuing to explore the world especially Europe and the Mediterranean, but we'll never limit ourselves - we wish to remain creative and explore the geography of our planet and explore our own creativity and ideas. Overall, we'll continue with our philosophy of small plates, tapas, and pintxos - so you don't feel overburdened by a heavy meal, but we'll also experiment with some larger plates as well. But, small plates that pair well with cocktails, mocktails, wine, beer, and cider - makes a lot of sense to us, especially given our diversity of products.
Please come taste what we create together with our Chef Chris!
Our sister restaurant Sama-Sama has had a week of vacation and now they are ready again to get back to cooking the best food that I have tasted in a long time.
Sama will also be hosting 2 monthly tasting events: on the second Sunday a brunch modeled on different countries and the last Thursday will feature a ticketed special themed dinner focusing on a spot on our planet, like their recent 5 course Japanese pairing. As you can expect, they have a great wine list, they feature a more curated craft beer selecton along with ciders, non-alcoholic drinks and crafty cocktails as well. They are working farm to table with some of the best producers around like the amazing pork from Autumn Olive Farms, Sunrise Farms, new chicken supplier Riverbank Farms in Elkton, and coming soon Burner's Beef based in Luray. Autumn Olive is only in one other restaurant in Staunton and Burner's Beef only in two. Autumn Olive Farms is renowned for their premium heritage pig breeds and sustainability – their offerings can be found in top-rated, James Beard-recognized, and Michelin-starred restaurants throughout the Mid-Atlantic. We've taken time and made visits to the farm to develop a close relationship with Autumn Olive. For us, we are grateful for such a relationship after less than one-year as a new, small restaurant start up; I believe such relationships are grounded and sustained through great care of what you do and respect for the ingredients and growers. One other note, our chef Franz, was selected to compete in September with various local chefs, pastry-chefs, and bakers to compete in a friendly competition farm-to-table ticketed fundraiser. It sold out quickly. We feel it is a great honor - we can't wait to experience it.
Much appreciation to both our wonderful chefs at Accordia and Sama Sama!
Accordia is never standing still, so we likely have a lot of new products you haven't yet seen.
•Plum Wine (umeshu) - sweet & sour great w/ rich, savory, and spicy food
•Grapefruit radler from Paulaner and a non-alcoholic radler from Clausthaler -these are perfect summer beers!
•Four new meads from North Carolina
•Wine spritzes - great for summer and gifts
•New super interesting non-alcoholic wine substitutes from Cul Sec in the Netherlands; these are complex and exciting beverages!
Tastings: What we do!
We had the privilege to taste wines from Vik. Vik has been named one of the best wineries in the world - 100 point wines - you know we don't always focus on the points, but this producer truly deserves it. It is world class. We sold out of the red blend quickly - we still have a rosé and an amazing aged Champagne, in an Art Deco box! We were also invited to a big tasting in Richmond with Brazos wine - a top-tier natural wine specialist for Latin and South America. From those 20 mostly natural wines, we ordered eight - two for the natural wine club and six for tastings to present to you! Furthermore, Madeira! We have tasted and we'll be bringing in some amazing aged Madeira wines - right now we have a 5 year old Madeira, a 2017 and 2011 Madeira.
Finally, thanks to all of our guests who join our weekly tastings and our wine club. where we introduce 8 wines weekly. Both have become more popular and we are up to 103 wine club members. This is a vital support for us - we truly enjoy welcoming you and getting to know all of you better.
Thanks also to our staff - they support us in every way to achieve our vision here in Staunton!
Lots of new faces and lots of interesting people.
We will be doing some highlights soon.
Cheers to the team!
As we approach four years as natural wine bar, low-intervention wine shop, and restaurant - and now full cocktail bar - we become reflective on the journey, especially as we enter a new chapter with a new space. It has been a wild ride, and we are very happy to have you on board with us. We value you and cherish our relationships as they develop like fine wines! You, our visitors and guests, have given us the courage to expand and the encouragement to do what we do every day - and we love it and love you all!
We wish you all the very best, from the heart!
Angela & Rob & Accordia Team
Click here for a free $5.00 coupon at Accordia!
