Sabin Wine Journeys

July 26, 2024.   Proceeding along Route 9 – Charles Town Pike - you will find Bozzo Family Vineyards just minutes from the West Virginia line. Even though the mailing address is Purcellville, they are much closer to the Town of Hillsboro.                                                                                                    Steve Bozzo Steve and Maureen Bozzo founded the vineyards in 2013 and had their first significant harvest in 2018, the same year that they opened the tasting room.   Steve tells us they have 8 and a half acres under vine growing seven varietals.   All of the wine is from estate-grown grapes with an annual production of around 2,500 cases.   All of the Bozzo Family Vineyards white wines and two of their red wines are produced on-site.   Steve told us that since he underestimated the harvest, he has arrangements with a neighboring winery to help handle the surplus of grapes.   Eventually, he plans to build-out for more production but gave us no timeta

July 26, 2024.   A weather system that had been parked at the Pennsylvania state line for a week or so made days very unpredictable for heavy thunderstorms along the front.   Finally, it cleared a window for good winery travel to the northwest corner of Loudoun Country.   Our first stop was to Notaviva Farm Brewery and Winery outside the town of Hillsboro.   The town of Harpers Ferry West Virginia is only about 15 minutes away.   Notaviva is the creation of Stephen and Sharron Mackey, who founded the vineyard in 2008 and built the tasting room on top of the family home.   The Mackey’s raised their family downstairs while the winery grew upstairs.   If you want hear more about that whole life experience, you should Steve’s book, Dream Build Believe: Love, Wine, Music and the Founding of Notaviva Vineyards (Mascot Books 2016).   He’ll even autograph a copy.   The tasting room is a three-storey vaulted barn of rough-hewn woods with 19-foot high picture windows looking across a pond a

June 23, 2024.   Driving about 15 minutes east from Fredericksburg off of Route 3, you will arrive at the Estate at White Hall Vineyard in King George, King George County.   This is not to be confused with the more established White Hall Vineyards in Crozet.   See our post of July 2021.   The Estate at White Hall Vineyard is the westernmost winery in the George Washington Birthplace Northern Neck AVA. David Joel Cassell and Bethany Cassell opened the Estate in 2019 after buying an old manor house for their residence in 2016 and renovating the “Dairy Barn Cathedral” (1907) and the “Stable Chapel Tasting Room” (1850).   At hearings before the King George County Board of Supervisors in 2020, Joel Cassell made it clear that the Estate is primarily a wedding and events venue and relies on those events to support the winery.   Consider that they are incorporated as “White Hall Weddings and Events LLC” and do 12 to14 weddings a year.   We stayed in the Stable Chapel which has tons of ch