Sabin Wine Journeys - the Virginia Wine Journeys Blog

June 20, 2026.   The Showalter family have had a plot of land near the town of Troutville in Botetourt County since the mid 19 th Century but it is only since 2010 that the family shifted from a specialty in tomatoes to growing grapes for wine.   We are along Interstate 81 about 20 minutes north of Roanoke.  Stoney Brook is one of only three wineries on the Botetourt County Wine Trail. My impression is that founders Jim and Judy Showalter are passing on operation to their daughter, Carrie Vernon, and her husband Kevin Vernon.   They opened a small basic tasting room in 2012.   I mean small - with space for 3 tables and a short bar inside.   There are no comfy chairs and no fireplace.     Most of the seating is outside where there are groupings of shaded chairs that seat around 30 altogether and a shaded patio.   There is also a wide unshaded lawn.   With this openness, dogs and kids are welcome, and feel free to bring your picnic....

June 19, 2026.  Ecco Adesso Vineyards near the towns of Fairfield and Lexington in Rockbridge County is a pretty boutique winery housed inside a stone cottage on the bluff of a hill.  You park at some distance from the cottage and must navigate up a loose rocky drive to the tasting room.    This is a scenic approach.   But for people with mobility issues park in the area marked for additional parking or drive through the tunnel and drip-off folks at the tasting room door.     Once in the tasting room, you can relax in the comfortable living room or the cozy library to sample the wine they have.    This used to be the private residence of the former owner.   The living room has the better view of the twenty acres under vine, but I would love to have the Library for myself.  The gas fireplace would be a good place to station yourself in the winter months.  In the summer, Adirondack chairs fan across the slope of the hill facing t...

June 20, 2026.   If you are looking for a relaxed wine stop that can satisfy the beer drinkers in your crowd, then Great Valley Farm Brewery and Winery could be your home away from home.   Close to the town of Natural Bridge and its namesake that spawned a swarm of tourist traps, Great Valley is easy to access off of Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County.   And it’s only six minutes from Dinosaur Kingdom! The tasting room which opened in 2016 looks like a converted warehouse with surprisingly little air conditioned indoor seating; no comfy chairs or fireplaces here.    With such limited space inside, Great Valley can only host small private events and most of those will be outside.     Most of the seating at Great Valley is on their shaded patio or across the driveway under a few tents on a wide sloping lawn from which the vines seem to fall off the side of the hill.   My impression is that even out-of-doors, special events will be limited in size....

June 19, 2026.   With our trip overseas in May, it’s been nearly two months since we’ve been out to write about a Virginia winery.   We decided to get back in the saddle with a 480-mile trip around the Commonwealth where we visited seven wineries in four days.   Our first stop was Cave Ridge Vineyard in Mt. Jackson, Shenandoah County.   It’s a nice little winery that seems far from the beaten path because of the winding mountain road you drive to get up to the 1,300- foot elevation.   Most seating is outside on a patio or beneath a large rectangular roofed pavilion off to the side.       Most of the patio seating has bright red umbrellas and tables.   There are some sofas and easy chairs in the shade under the eaves of the winery.   If you want one of the very few indoor tables, it’s best to reserve in advance of your visit.   Upstairs from the patio there is a wide deck that has marginally better views above the forest.   Ow...

May 6-17, 2026.   We began our latest overseas adventure in Paris where one can see beer ordered occasionally at lunch but wine is more commonly on the tables.   There is no doubt that France is wine country.   Even the stained-glass windows in the cathedral at Reims depict happy workers making wine.           Reims Detail with Grape Stomping                                                                    Reims Detail with a Monk Riddling But we were about to embark on a river that took the wine culture to a new level for us.   The river is the Mosel between Trier and Koblenz, Germany, where wine and wine culture dominates over beer.   To be here is to understand why the English word “wine” derives from the German “wein” and not the Romance languages ( vinum , le vi...