Rebec Vineyards

June 22, 2026.  Driving south on that four-lane divided highway called Route 29, you can easily miss the turn for Rebec Vineyards in Amherst County.  Route 29 is a 55 mile-per-hour road where most folks treat the speed limit as a mere suggestion.  Rebec is a sharp right turn from the right lane of Route 29 across the narrow shoulder directly into the dirt road driveway for the winery.  Start slowing down and working your turn signals early to avoid being run over.

Rebec is one of the older Virginia wineries still operating.  Richard Hanson and his wife Ella first planted vines in 1980 and opened Rebec in 1987 on the tobacco farm that had been in Ella’s family for 150 years.  Mr. Hanson and his son-in-law designed and built the tasting room and production building using trees felled on the property and boards taken from some of the old tobacco barns they had. 

The first big event in Rebec’s future came in 1992 when a Bulgarian named Svetlozar Kanev arrived under the Future Farmers of America (FFA) exchange program.  He fell in love with the site and with working among the five acres of vines.  Later he returned permanently from Bulgaria and married his Uzbecki bride, Shah, and around 1997 bought out Mr. Hason to become owner of Rebec himself.#  Then came some bad news.  In 2015, Svet suffered major kidney failure.  Shah went public seeking funds for dialysis and prayed for a transplant.  While waiting for the transplant, she received her own Stage-3 breast cancer diagnosis.  And through all of this somehow they kept the winery going.*  Svet eventually got his kidney transplant.  We understand that Shah beat her cancer.

The tasting room building is little changed from when Mr. Hanson built it. 

As the tasting room looked in 1993.^

There are only three tables inside the shack and a couple more with umbrellas on the side deck.  Some vines are strung right next to the tasting room.  When we visited, Hannah Prescher was in charge.  She's the winery's event's manager.  Hannah is an attractive young lady with burnished skin that I suspect comes from her job as a river guide.  She told us Svet has five acres of vines but because he is by himself, the only varietal he grows is Pinot Grigio.  The other grapes for the 15 wines he offers (including Blackberry and Peach) are sourced from all over Virginia.  

Tasting Room today

 

Tasting Room - Inside

Besides growing his own grapes, Svet makes all of the wine on site; that’s an average of 500 cases per year. 

Production and Storage

As the events manager, Hannah told us in great detail about the second big event for Rebec: the Annual Wine and Garlic Festival.  This is the 34^th year of the garlic festival when thousands of people and hundreds of vendors descend on little Rebec for two days of wine, music, and all things garlic.  State police manage the traffic on Route 29; parking is all over the 70 acres of farmland.  If you are a garlic fan – this is your place.  If you are not, you may want to avoid this area in the second weekend of October.

This will also be the 15^th year of Rebec hosting the Labor Day Wine and Music Festival.  The Labor Day Festival may not be as big as the Garlic Festival, but when we visited, there was parking for five or ten cars by the tasting room.  It wouldn’t take much to flood this place with people.

Hannah told the can host other small events like bridal showers.  It seems that Sweet Briar College nearby takes most of the large events.

A regular tasting includes all 15 wines.  Drink Responsibly!  We elected not to sample the whole list since we had more driving to do.  Hannah helped us through these wines with her suggestions:

2017 Pinot Grigio.  Kim liked the Pinot Grigio.  It has apple and honeysuckle notes.  Kim gave it a B+ and bought a bottle.  Good with mushrooms in a light cream sauce.

2023 Pinot Noir.  This is Svet’s first time making Pinot Noir from Virginia grapes.  Before he had grapes from Oregon shipped in.  Maybe he needs more practice.  I found the wine light and not layered.  I gave it a C.

2020 Cabernet Franc.  More complex than the Pinot Noir but still light to medium-bodied.  Dried fruit notes, some light tannin.  I give it a B.

2021 Merlot.  Full-bodied, mild tannin.  Lots of earthiness and not so much fruit and herbal.  This tastes like your “terroir wine.”  I gave it a B+ and bought a bottle.

2021 Landmark Reserve.  This is 100% Malbec.  Full-bodied, lots of complexity but with light undistracting tannins.  Fruit and mocha.  It gets a B+ from me. 

Rebec takes its name from the medieval stringed instrument that was a precursor to the violin.  Svet continues to make old-world style wines.  Our advice is to avoid the big festivals and have a quiet afternoon visiting the vines.

 _____________________________

 #Mr, Hanson died in 2018.

 *See, Elizabeth Tyree & Katie Brooke, Winery owners fighting two medical battles while keeping vineyard afloat, January 31, 2017, ABC 13 News, accessed on July 12, 2026 at https://wset.com/news/local/winery-owners-fighting-two-medical-battles-while-keeping-vineyard-afloat. But, alas, I fear all is not well between Svet and Shah.  She recently sued Rebec for failing to pay her wages from 2013 to 2024.  The complaint references Svet’s efforts to get a protective order against her, and Shah’s allegations of  fraud against Svet.  Her case was dismissed in March 2026.  See, Kanev v. Rebec Vineyards Corp., Case No. 6:25-cv-00074, March 12, 2026. WDVA at Lynchburg (Moon).

^Sketch taken from Hilde Gabriel Lee an Allan E, Lee, Virginia Wine Country Revisited, Hildesigns Press 1993 p. 108.