Mount Alto Vineyards
October 31, 2026. The drive down to Mount Alto Vineyards took us on narrowing country roads where forest trees overhung our progress and joined hands as a ceiling vault above us. What fantastical paths as the mid-morning sun shimmered through the branches and illumined the Fall colors of dense bright yellow and gold, red, and mauve. The path curved and twisted with a breeze here and there unsettling the leaves to drop like confetti on our parade. Mount Alto is the southernmost tip of Albermarle County, closer to Howardsville than its official address in Esmont. Howardsville is up the James River from Scottsville.
There are no winery signs directing you to Mount Alto. Instead, be alert for a sign that reads “Kingston Lane” where you must turn abruptly off the Howardsville Turnpike into a private driveway. Gun your car to get up the steep gravely grade onto a flat meadow where the winery is.
Mount Alto is the creation of two friends. Robert Burgholzer, a programmer who later turned to biology at Virginia Tech, and David Achkio, a brewer, took courses together under Jim Law at Linden Vineyards. Using Jim’s book* and mentorship, Robert and David searched for suitable property for six years before settling on Mount Alto. The vineyard is proof of a Jim Law saying that many of the best sites for Virginia vineyards still have trees on them. They know the Maneto-Nason soil on their slopes is especially well-suited for Cabernet Sauvignon and thus, on Jim’s advice they cleared the land and made their first planting in 2014. They planted Cabernet because of the excellent draining rocky shale and loam soil and to take advantage of Cabernet’s late bud break giving some frost protection.
This may be the smallest vineyard and winery we have visited. Today they have two acres under vine – mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and three rows of Petit Verdot. After the April frost this year took out 85% of their plants, they really only have one acre producing, and that is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. Robert puts his current production between 50 and 100 cases, but 2026 will be a different story.
Since 2023, when they ended their custom crush arrangement with King Family, Robert and David have done their own production and bottling in-house. They built their own production facility out of hay bales slapped with plaster, using as beams some of the trees they cut to clear the vineyard. All their production equipment runs on solar power. There are no middlemen between the vine and the bottle.
Tastings take place outside next to the tiny winery work shed. Mount Alto is a very much a working farm – no place for weddings or special events. They have no food options, but I believe you could bring your own. This may be what the garagistes were like when they started.
Tastings are by appointment only, so chances are that you will meet Robert and David and the rest of the Mount Alto team when you visit. The team includes Robert’s mother, Mary, who defiantly continues to work the vines in spite of her age, and Camila Burda, who lends an international wine perspective and experience. The whole team joined Kim and me for our wine tasting. Why shouldn’t they take every opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor? Robert did most of the talking in a bonhomous way with comments from David, Mary, and Camila. Robert is a bearded, sharp-eyed guy who seems to have taken to the land. David reminded me of Stephen Stills; he even keeps a guitar in the winery to pass the time. Mary took a break from plastering to talk with Kim about growing up with horses.
The Team: Camila, Robert, Mary, and David
Robert and David are disciples of Jim Law living the promise and challenge of terroir in Virginia. With their hands-on connection to small acreage, they can fine-tune when and where to apply their organic sprays, when and where to prune, when to pick, and which rows to pick. They have not been infested with the Spotted Lantern Fly in part because the Tree of Heaven, a city tree and favorite roost for the SLF, hasn’t made it to this isolated spot in Albermarle County.
They are learning as they go. For example, when they took over their own winemaking, they tried to rely on native yeasts to inoculate their juice to start fermentation. The winemaking building, however, was sealed with caustic plaster that kept yeasts from naturally propagating in that small space. After waiting for some time for fermentation to start, David learned that he had to kick-start the process with commercial yeast. He still does.
Mount Alto makes one wine a year, “Tributary,” as the best expression of what the land gives them. They plan to release a second wine from the 2025 vintage called “Maneto-Nasen,” which Robert said they release only for exceptional harvests. Something to anticipate. The wines are all from Mount Alto fruit except for Merlot grapes from Grace Estate Vineyard in Crozet.
Our sampling at Mount Alto was essentially a vertical tasting of three vintages of Tributary. Each Tributary bottle has the same label for cost savings with the vintage hand-written on the back.
2022 Tributary. The 2022 Tributary was the last vintage made and bottled at King Family using Matthieu Finot as the winemaker. It is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot plus Petit Verdot. I found the tannin structure unusual and fruit subdued. 13% ABV. I gave it a B.
2023 Tributary. It is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot. Harvested in stages around late season rains and a brush with Hurricane Lee, the 2023 vintage was initially fermented in stages then co-fermented for a couple of weeks and aged in barrels. Kim liked the 2023 Tributary rated it B+ and we bought a bottle. I felt it had some quieting down to do as the tannins were more strident than the 2022. Due to the rains, ABV in both the 2023 and 2024 vintages is limited to 12.5%.
2024 Tributary. I preferred the 2024 vintage of Tributary. It is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 8% Petit Verdot. Merlot grapes from Grace Estate soften the overall blend. Harvest again took place in stages, based on fruit maturity and factoring rain events, including two hurricanes. Some faint fruit sweetness and dried herbs that I think is part of Virginia terroir. Another B+ and we bought a bottle.
We really liked Robert and David’s inventiveness and initiative (“Why do we harvest all at once, anyway?”). In their future, Robert would like to expand the vineyard but feels he needs to retire first. Dave wants more oak barrels to play with. The whole team was open and welcoming to us, obviously enjoying this arduous life they were leading.
*Jim Law, The Backyard Vintner: An Enthusiast's Guide to Growing Grapes and Making Wine at Home, Quarry Books, 2005.
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