Sabin Wine Journeys

April 21, 2023.   South of Warrenton off of Route 29 lies Molon Lave Vineyards, the younger sister to Mediterranean Cellars on the North side of town.   Molon Lave is managed by Louizos Papadopoulos, son of the founders at Mediterranean.   But this is a larger operation with 31 acres under vine of some 50 acres total.   It has fewer wines on its menu, more recent vintages, and less blended wines than Mediterranean.   Both wineries are 100% estate grown. Molon Lave takes its name from King Leonidas of Sparta who, when the Persians demanded they lay down their arms, replied “Molon Lave” or “Come and take them.”   The battle of Thermopylae is also commemorated by the winery’s 480 B.C. Farm Brewery, which opened in 2020.   (We won’t be reviewing 480 B.C. Brewery beyond noting that it features four beers including a Saison, a Belgian Golden, a Dopplebock, and an IPA style beer.) The tasting room and production facility is in a nondescript low-swung build...

April 21, 2023.   When we visited on an abnormally warm April morning, Mediterranean Cellars Winery was celebrating 62 years of winemaking.   While it opened its tasting room outside of Warrenton in Fauquier County in 2003, Mediterranean Cellars has a long lineage of winemaking through its owners, Louis and Katie Papadopoulos.   After an apprenticeship with his father and grandfather in Greece, Louis began winemaking on his own in 1961.   He came to the States in the mid-1960’s and eventually realized that similarities between the red soil around Warrenton and his native Greece showed the potential for wine.   He began planting vines in 1984. We were sorry to have missed Mr. Papadopoulos on our visit, but we had an engaging chat with long-term employee, Brigitta.   Thanks for her hospitality.   The winery sits on a small hill with the tasting room facing east across a patch of vineyard growing white wine grapes.   Looked like bud break was ...

April 1, 2023.   Kim and I took a chance on a foreboding forecast of rain and 50 mile per hour winds to venture down Interstate 95 to Stafford County’s only winery, Potomac Point.   The winery sits on the Widewater peninsula which some of you may recognize as the place where we have the Sabin River House.   In fact, we have stopped by Potomac Point several times over the years, usually coming at the beginning of a weekend to get some liquid sustenance for our ministrations to the house.   Potomac Point sits on 23 acres of rolling hills a short distance from the Potomac River.   Lots of forests about.   Skip and Cindi Causey opened the winery and vineyards in 2007 after touring vineyards in New York state, California, and Italy.   You can see a Tuscan influence in the winery building, patio, and bistro.      Potomac Point has five acres under vine at the Stafford property and may be expanding that with a couple of additional acres...