Gauthier Vineyard

September 4, 2025.  Interstate 64 runs the spine of the newest of Virginia’s  American Viticultural Areas (AVA), Virginia Peninsula.  A short distance from the Interstate, you can find several wineries to relieve the monotonous drive between Richmond and Newport News.  We have profiled all of these wineries before, with the exception of Gauthier Vineyard in Barhamsville, New Kent County.  Time to rectify that gap in coverage!

We approached the winery passing a large barrel head boldly announcing the place.  Opposite this sign, three acres of Norton grapes sloped coyly under white gauze netting, installed to keep the birds away.  It was a sign that the harvest was close at hand.  A gravel drive takes you past a quiet lake and fountain, up a grade to the front of the tasting room.

The tasting room building, built in 2012-13, has a wide wrap-around porch that you can follow around to a view across the lake and the vineyard. 

 

Inside the tasting room, a strong center column supports a high ceiling with skylights.  A working fireplace occupies one end with plush seating.  The colors are sharp and clean.  For those colder months, Gauthier also has a large firepit down near the lake. 

 

A side door leads to a patio with café tables and a pizza oven which operates on Friday and Saturday nights.  Note: No children or pets are allowed in the tasting room. 

 

Gauthier Vineyard has an events center and outside concert stage that are a short walk from the tasting room.  Here is where they hope to have a thriving wedding business and corporate meeting site.  They plan to have music and theater performed from the stage to an audience on picnic blankets on the cone-shaped lawn of this mini-Wolf Trap.  Gauthier hopes that nearby William and Mary will be a source of artists and patrons.  They recently purchased a manor house called “the Inn at Woodmont Plantation” that is available for overnight stays.  Another attraction is the equestrian center where one may board show horses.  

 

the Events Center

 

Mini-Wolf-Trap

To focus on the winery, we spent some time with tasting room manager, Beverly Guill, and the winemaker and Chief Operating Officer, Matthew Meyer.  Thanks to them for their time and hospitality.  Beverly relocated from Northern Virginia to the Williamsburg area with her husband after retiring from a career in education.  She loves the tasting room gig and has been at it for several years.  Matt Meyer is still new to the Gauthier operations, coming over from a career at Williamsburg Winery in 2024 to handle new challenges.  Matt is a U.C. Davis-educated winemaker who spent time in Argentina and came to the East Coast to be with winemakers who do it for love. 

 

Beverly and Matt

Mo and Sandi Gauthier first planted a vineyard on this property in 2011.  The Barhamsville location houses their tasting room and that vineyard of Norton grapes.  The only estate-grown wine at Gauthier is their Norton, which was first harvested in 2014.  From the get-go, however, Mo and Sandi have had a leasing and mentoring partnership with Randy Phillips at Cave Ridge Vineyards in the Shenandoah Valley.  They rely on grapes from Cave Ridge to make most of their production line.  Matt likes Randy’s elegant “European” approach to grape growing and winemaking.  Gauthier made around 1,300 cases of wine in 2024 and expects to make 2,500 cases this year all at Cave Ridge, a significant growth.  Matt would like to continue growing to around 4,000 or 5,000 cases a year, or more.  But as they grow their production, Matt says that “we will have to contract for additional grapes from other growers which we will make here.”  Gauthier already has space for such production and a cellar/barrel room to handle the expansion.

Matt’s priority is wine, and he has very definite plans for the Gauthier Vineyard.  The events space, concert stage, and equestrian ranch are not his concern and are either overseen by other members of the staff or contracted out.  These venues are physically separate from the winery so as not to distract from the work going on there.  Matt does not want music in the tasting room where he knows that quiet conversation and the enjoyment of wine would be drowned out by most musicians.  (I wholly support this approach, considering the normal musical offerings at wineries, the sorry state of which we have commented on elsewhere in this blog.)  He has been busy expanding the winery’s hours, improving its on-line presence, and reaching out to the business and philanthropic communities.  We also interrupted Matt while he was installing a new system to track costs and budgets.  (He told us that 75% of wineries don’t really know what their costs are.)  This is a man who knows the business to the smallest detail – designing their production facility to ensure that trucks can easily access the site and even that forklifts can maneuver among the barrels and tanks on the floor.  Matt is redesigning the labels to present a sleek modern perspective. 

 

Old and New Labels

With all of these changes, Matt has decided not to enter wine competitions, including the Virginia Governor’s Cup.  They may enter in the future, but I suspect they would like to see more effective support from the Virginia Wine Marketing Office before doing so. 

Matt also said that they do not plan to expand the vineyard in the near future.  For now, there is a surplus of grapes in Virginia, allowing Matt to buy the grapes he needs from other growers.  Expect the happy relationship with Cave Ridge to continue as well.  Matt relies on good fruit from all sources and minimal intervention in his winemaking. 

We consulted with Beverly who allowed us to substitute some wines from the standard tasting.  Here’s our impressions of what we tried: 

2024 Albariño.  Matt is very enthusiastic about his Albariño, which uses grapes from Chrysalis Vineyard.  He thinks Virginia is well situated to pass Spain as the best producer for this grape and thinks it’s a better fit for our climate and terroir than the most widely planted grape in the state, Cabernet Franc, or the state grape, Viognier.  The Gauthier Albariño is light to medium-bodied with floral and citrus notes.  Kim rated it very good – B+ - and bought a bottle.

2023 Sauvignon Blanc.  The Gauthier Sauvignon Blanc is made from West Coast grapes.  Kim said it was pretty good and gave it a B rating.  Albariño is your better choice.

2023 Cabernet Franc.  I gave the Cabernet Franc a B+.  Its light-bodied with nice fruit.  Made in the new – non-peppery – style.  Grapes are from the Cave Ridge Vineyard.

2023 Petit Verdot.  Another wine made from Cave Ridge Vineyard grapes.  Medium-bodied, noticeable tannin.  Earthy.  Dark plum notes.  I rated it a B.

2021 Norton.  This 100% Norton is the only estate-grown wine at Gauthier.  Since the juice was free-run from the bins, this may be the purest expression of Norton you’ll find.  It has some lightness and spice, which you may not expect in a Norton wine.  Matt likened it to a heavy rosé – maybe in taste, with a hint of jaminess  but not in color.  I gave it a B.

2021 Woodmont.  This is Gauthier’s red blend, using Norton from their vineyard along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Chambourcin from the Cave Ridge Vineyard.  A little less sweet than straight Norton.  More complex, more at play.  Spice and a cinnamon finish.  I gave it a B+ and bought a bottle. 

By our count, Gauthier Vineyards was the 200^th Virginia winery that we have visited since we started tracking visits many years ago.  It was well worth the stop to rest our weary selves from the drive.