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New Kent Winery

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September 8, 2026.   New Kent Winery in New Kent County began life as one of the anchors of a large planned community of homes and commercial space off Interstate 64 near the town of Talleysville.   The real estate partners sited the community (and the winery) along a major development corridor between Hampton Roads, Williamsburg, and Richmond.   Colonial Downs racing track is just across the highway.   They bet on expanded developments and tourist traffic and opened the winery in 2008 after investing heavily in the tasting room, the production facilities and just over 20 acres of vines.* I assume that the expansion did not happen on schedule because in 2014 the partners sold the winery and the vineyard to Joe and Jo Anna Dombroski.   The Dombroski’s have taken loving care of the place since then.   In fact, Joe told us that they were celebrating the winery’s twentieth anniversary this year.   And they remain active with the community with special ev...
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Slater Run Vineyards

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August 14, 2026.    Our wineries seem to have a certain topology.   They sit at the bottom of hills and look up at their vines as an audience may look at the orchestra.   Or they sit at the top of a hill and look down at the vines as a lord surveys the fiefdom.   The commonality between all of these are the hills that Virginia has no shortage of, whether they’re lumps, bumps, mounds, or large enough to be named mountains.   Add some nice soil and a nice exposure and grapes can be grown.   Slater Run Vineyards is reachable by straight climb up one of these hills along a rutted driveway passing the House Vineyard on your left.   Once you reach the winery at the top, this vineyard appears like an apron skirting the hillside.   We are writing from east of the town of Upperville, just off the John Mosby Highway and just inside the Fauquier County line.   The Salter Family has farmed the land near Goose Creek and Plum Run Farm for over 300 yea...
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Lost Mountain Vineyards

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July 31, 2026.   When he was a young man, George Washington came out to survey land for Lord Fairfax in the country around what is now Delaplane in Fauquier County.   He came with rudimentary maps of the area and discovered at one point that his map failed to include the mountain he was looking at.   It was a lost mountain.   This yarn is what staff will tell you about how Lost Mountain got its name.   It helps explain why Lost Mountain Vineyards adopted the name for a great wine and then for its whole operation.    I offer some advise so that you yourself don’t get lost visiting Lost Mountain Vineyards: turn on your GPS.   The winery is not listed on the “Attractions” sign for Exit 23 on Interstate 66; there are no grape cluster signs pointing the way through the town of Delaplane, and the entrance and driveway for the winery is totally unmarked.   The recent history of Lost Mountain Vineyards is inextricably twined with its predece...
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Rebec Vineyards

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June 22, 2026.   Driving south on that four-lane divided highway called Route 29, you can easily miss the turn for Rebec Vineyards in Amherst County.   Route 29 is a 55 mile-per-hour road where most folks treat the speed limit as a mere suggestion.   Rebec is a sharp right turn from the right lane of Route 29 across the narrow shoulder directly into the dirt road driveway for the winery.   Start slowing down and working your turn signals early to avoid being run over. Rebec is one of the older Virginia wineries still operating.   Richard Hanson and his wife Ella first planted vines in 1980 and opened Rebec in 1987 on the tobacco farm that had been in Ella’s family for 150 years.   Mr. Hanson and his son-in-law designed and built the tasting room and production building using trees felled on the property and boards taken from some of the old tobacco barns they had.   The first big event in Rebec’s future came in 1992 when a Bulgarian named Svetlozar Kan...
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