Sabin Wine Journeys

June 23, 2024.   The unexpected heat of late June continued through Sunday and our visit to Monroe Bay Winery in Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County.   The winery is next door to the recently established James Monroe Birthplace Park and Museum and in fact sits on part of the old Monroe family land.   The winery is also minutes from the town of Colonial Beach, home of the second largest sand beach in the state (after Virginia Beach itself).    Monroe Bay Winery is mostly a wedding and special events venue.   It features a 3,000 square foot “Strawbale Barn,” which is built ingeniously of straw bales encased in siding.   Colored glass walls have been made from the butt-end of empty blue and green wine bottles.   The barn can accommodate up to 200 people. From the barn, the land slopes gently to a pond.   Chairs were still set-up for a wedding that happened the previous afternoon.   There may have been some vines visible across the pond.   The wines sport a heron on the label, probably

June 22, 2024.   Crossing from Lancaster County into Northumberland County, we continued our travels with a stop at Jacey Vineyards near the community of Wicomico Church.   The vineyard, winery and restaurant are the projects of Dr. Robert Jacey, noted ophthalmologist who has his practice in the Northern Neck.   We spent much of the afternoon in the coolness of the restaurant with Dr. Jacey and the financial manager of the operation Tommy Byrne, enjoying the wine and Tommy’s custom-made white Sangria’s.     Dr. Jacey is the owner, vineyard manager and winemaker, all on one.   He started his vineyard with Vidal Blanc, Petit Verdot and Zinfandel in 2004 and had his first vintage in 2010.   At this point, Dr. Jacey has 6-7 acres under vine and produces 4,500 to 5,000 cases of wine per year, all it estate-grown.   Since his first vines, he has added Albariño, which is their biggest selling wine, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.   There is also some Norton under vine. He t

June 22, 2024.   About a five minute drive from the center of Kilmarnock, you will arrive at Good Luck Cellars, a winery and vineyard that has had its share of bad luck in its fairly short history. Paul and Katie Krop came to this site and incorporated the business in 2004.   Previous owners had stripped all of the topsoil from the land in furtherance of a gravel and sand dredging operation.   It was also a well-known dump for abandoned vehicles and farm equipment.   Hillsides that now spot vines had to be reclaimed from those extreme depredations, cleaned-up, and reconstituted..   The Krop’s planted their first vines in 2005 and opened for business in 2011.   They had a going vineyard by the time the disastrous 2018 Virginia vintage drenched the state and ruined the harvest.   Then came Pandemic time.   Even though the winery was allowed to operate with its ample open spaces, a tornado took the roof off of the tasting room.   Insurance money repaired the roof and funded a beauti