Sabin Wine Journeys

August 18 – 25, 2024. And now dear readers, for something completely different.   Kim and I have returned from a long-delayed trip to the Rhȏne Valley in France where we ate well, drank well, and gathered-in many memories of Provence and the Northern Rhȏne.   Instead of an exhaustive travelogue, let me focus this post on some wine-related observations to give you a sense of this region.   During our trip we visited three distinct wine producing areas and one winery in each area.   Southern Rhȏne. We began in the parched and olive-green hills around Marseilles.   Large stone outcrops define ancient river valleys of the southern Rhȏne and sandstone-colored buildings with tile roofs could as easily be in Spain or Italy as in France.   In this part of the country, practically all wines are blended with the most common blend being Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre grapes (GSM), although ten other varietals are allowed by law.   It is a miracle grape...

July 28, 2024.   Our late-July Sunday continued with heat and increasing humidity as we parked at the Wine Reserve at Waterford.   This is another winery off of Route 9 west of Leesburg in Loudoun County and about 4 miles from the historic Quaker village of Waterford.   Cori and Jonathan Phillips took over what was the Loudoun Valley Vineyards from the Cameron family in 2015, renamed it the Wine Reserve, and opened for business in January 2017.   Jonathan is a lawyer and substitute judge in Fairfax County. From the outside, the winery looks like a California ranch home hugging the ground.   On entering, you feel as if you are welcomed into someone’s living room.   To the left are plush sofas bracketing a stone fireplace.   To the right is a long bright room with tasting tables that flows onto a wide side deck.   Here there are good views of the Blue Ridge.       The Wine Reserve is a small boutique winery.   The tasting r...

July 28, 2024.   The Barns at Hamilton Station lies almost midway between Route 7 and Route 9 on Hamilton Station Road in Loudoun County.   As we have heard from other winery owners, Hamilton Station the depot for carrying produce to the Washington DC area back when dairy farms dominated and Loudoun County was the major milk supplier to the Washington DC area.   Since those times in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, dairy farms have been taken over by the wine business.   When you arrive at the Barns, you will walk through what is almost a park with a large dairy barn and silo, their seams and metal roofs being taken over by kudzu and creeper.   The Barns’ tasting room is a restored 1910 bank barn with a high vaulted ceiling striated between the old wood ceiling beams and the chinking.   A large fireplace at one end can keep all 4,400 square feet cozy in the cooler months.   Most of the flooring is original or at least of the same vintage.   (In 2020, a m...