Arterra Wines

December 19, 2025.  Encountering Jason Murray – owner and winemaker at Arterra Wines – must be what it was like to meet a passionate disciple of a new faith.  The faith in question is “clean wine,” and his pursuit is in hostile territory, so goes the received wisdom.  All shall be explained.

First, some preliminaries:  Arterra Wines is to be found between Interstate 66 and Route 17 (Winchester Road) in the northwestern part of Fauquier County.  It has a Delaplane address.*  Sandy and Jason Murray purchased the property from Bob and Phoebe Harper (of Naked Mountain) in 2014 making the Murray’s in a sense the second generation of Virginia winemakers.  At purchase, the land was completely wooded, and the Murray’s have since hacked out an 8-and-a-half-acre estate vineyard from the hilly forest.  The A-frame lodge that holds the winey and tasting room opened in 2015.  It seems to rise organically from the hillside while remaining largely in the forest.  If the more than 35 steps from the parking lot to the tasting room is too difficult, Arterra can offer visitors a more forgiving slope around back.  Follow the Handicapped signs for access.

 Besides the estate vineyard, Arterra has a similarly-sized vineyard called Seven Oaks in Philomont.  (Note: this is not Seven Oaks Farm in the Charlottesville area).  From these vineyards, Arterra produces around 1,200 cases of wine a year. 

Along one side of the tasting room is the Hawkmoth Art Gallery showcasing the work of Arterra co-owner Sandy Gray-Murray.  Arterra is more than a winery that features art or an art gallery that has some wine.  They are equal parts of one aesthetic.  The walls of the tasting room-gallery refer to the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi – seeing beauty in impermanence, transience, imperfection, earthiness, and the integrity of nature.  Arterra after all means “the art of the land.”

 

Along the opposite side of the room are glass doors that look out to a patio and the estate vineyard.  Exposed heavy wood beams from the A-frame didn’t seem to impede the light. 

 

Arterra is too small to host weddings, but they can handle more intimate events and they do hold candlelight dinners and “Wine to 9” events.  In fact, we missed the Winter Solstice Celebration by one day.  Outside food is welcome because Arterra has no food service, except when food trucks happen to be there.  Dogs on leashes are welcome.  When their website says Arterra is “an adult experience,” I sense children are tolerated but not necessarily encouraged.

We were honored to have an extended conversation with co-owner and winemaker Jason Murray about how he incorporates Wabi-Sabi into his winemaking philosophy.  Jason is a tall bearded young man with a penetrating gaze of deep sincerity.  He reminded me of Dax Shepard in “Parenthood.”   

Jason and Mandy

Jason calls this new faith “clean wine,” and its catechism goes something like this:

•             all grapes are grown organically with no residual pesticide on the fruit,
• fermentation happens spontaneously using only native yeast,
• no sulfites are added, just what naturally occurs,
• no fining agents are used and sometimes no filtering
• wines are aged neutrally in new oak that contributes little tertiary flavor or in                               clay amphorae,
• all bottles are sealed with screwtops or stelvins. 

 Jason can expound on each of these points at length, but the end goal of these efforts is to create a true Virginia terroir wine.  To Jason, the Virginia wine industry has been striving to make wines that resemble famous wines from elsewhere.  Its awards recognize the best wines of a type – the closest to a Bordeaux blend – for example.  He notes that a wine maker in Burgundy would be aghast if their wine were compared to the wine of any other place than the place of its origin.  That is why Jason does not enter wine competitions.  He hopes that by keeping vineyard management to organic interventions, using only yeast from the skins of the grapes, and limiting any outside influences, the true wine of the place will emerge. 

Let me delve further into two points. 

Organic Winery.  Jason began working his estate vineyard organically in 2024 and in September 2025, passed inspection for his first organic harvest.  If he continues and nature cooperates, he hopes to be certified as organic in 2027.  If that happens, according to their website, Arterra will be the first organic Vitis vinifera winery on the East Coast.  Because of our weather and the changing climate, Virginia growers face big challenges raising grapes without resort to non-organic herbicides and pesticides.  No less an authority than Richard Leary has written: “the delicate European vinifera grapes cannot be grown here [Virginia] organically.”ϟ  At present, there is only one certified Virginia organic winery – Loving Cup near Charlottesville - but Loving Cup grows hybrid grapes. 

Jason said that the final puzzle piece to an organic operation in Virginia was figuring out how to combat black rot, a fungal disease that spawns in wet, humid environments like Virginia’s.  With some trial and error, he has found that a combination of biological compounds and botanical extracts working together can effectively control the disease even with heavy rains and heat.  We will see what 2026 brings.

Native Yeast.  A key to producing a true terroir wine is to use the yeast that naturally grows on the grapes.  Readers may recall the short discussion of yeast in our “Hard Work” background page.  Engineered yeasts began to appear in the 1970’s and many wineries use these yeasts to start fermentation on a reliable schedule and to introduce certain flavor characteristics.  The resulting wine can often have a consistent sameness, which is no doubt profitable, but not necessarily interesting.  To Jason, the greatest wines in the world use naturally occurring yeast and produce quality wine that is distinctly recognizable to place.

With his reliance on native yeast, Jason is essentially returning to a pre-industrial, pre-1970’s style of winemaking.  He hopes his wines will have a roundness and width that departs from the conventional linear attack of a wine (straight line front-to-back-palate).  He hopes his wines will have a richer chewier texture with no residual sugar.  And lastly, he hopes his wines will have a clean, smooth finish with layers of nuance that don’t wear you out. 

We were happy to have Mandy as our server for the actual winetasting to test how Jason was realizing these near-theological precepts. 

2024 Ancestral Chardonnay.  This classic Chardonnay is fermented in clay amphora for three weeks on the skins and then aged for another seven months in the amphora, the way ancient wines were made and some Georgian wines are still made.  Grapes are from the Seven Oaks Vineyard.  Unfiltered.  13% ABV.  I think Kim gave it a B but for once she didn’t say the Chardonnay was “weak.” 

2023 Roussanne.  Roussanne, a native of the Loire Valley, is still somewhat rare in Virginia.  The Arterra Roussanne is medium-bodied with a nice round mouthfeel on the underside of your tongue.  It is sophisticated and not too fruity.  12% ABV.  We gave it a B+ and acquired a bottle.  Bottle price is 48.00.

2024 Albariño.  Jason’s Albariño is citrusy, strong and complex.  Puckery acidity.  12.5% ABV.  We gave it a B.

We compared two Petit Verdot wines – one from the Seven Oaks Vineyard and one from Arterra’s estate vineyard.

            2021 Seven Oaks Zero’ Petit Verdot.  Of the two we preferred the Seven Oaks Zero.  This is a medium-bodied well-managed tannins.  Good fruit profile.  B+ and we got a bottle.  $42.00.

             2022 Petit Verdot.  I would say the estate Petit Verdot is fuller-bodied than the Seven Oaks.  Even though they both are 13.5% ABV, I found the 2022 version had an alcohol tang and was less rounded.  Perhaps the more mellow 2021 benefitted from an extra year in the bottle.  At $57.00 a bottle, we gave the 2022 Petit Verdot a B.

2023 Cabernet Franc.  Arterra’s Cabernet Franc is creamy and round mouthfeel.  Nice candied fruit.  Very smooth. With the $55.00 price, we gave it a B.

2022 Tannat.  We gave Arterra’s Tannat a B+ in spite of the $69.00 price.  Piney nose, full-bodied, strong tannin, chewy and powerful at 13.5% ABV.   

We did find a roundness and fullness coming from all of the wines, so it appears that Jason’s approach is working.  We wish him all the best as he pursues that Organic certification.  Check-in on his progress, and you won’t be disappointed. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Arterra Wines in Delaplane has no affiliation with Arterra Wines Canada located in Ontario.

 Ϟ Richard G. Leahy, Beyond Jefferson’s Vines: Evolution of Quality Wine in Virginia, Chapter 3, 3^rd Ed, Richard Leahy Enterprises (2020).