Sabin Wine Journeys - the Virginia Wine Journeys Blog

What’s Been Going On.   Well, 2025 is coming to an end, my friends.   Last year we despaired over the total absence of wine books on the shelves of our local bookstore’s “Wine Beer, Spirits” section.   This year there are a couple of wine books but, with the exception of Hugh Johnson’s annual wine guide, most were printed before the 2020’s.   Instead, the shelves were packed with gifts covering all manner of beers, selected hard spirits, and an abundance of cocktail books.   We began 2025 by checking-in with Annette Boyd for our fourth annual interview.   We hope we’ll have another conversation with her next year.   Over the course of 2025, we also interviewed AJ Greeley with the Virginia Vineyards Association, and George Hodson with the Virginia Wineries Association.   These were in addition to informal chats with at least 20 winery and vineyard owners or winemakers who unfailingly offered unique insights on their passion for growing and making...

Over the course of 2025, we posted on our visits to over 30 Virginia wineries and vineyards.     The clues below relate to some trait or feature about a winery or the owners or their wines.   It’s a testament to the uniqueness of Virginia’s wineries.  Match the winery or the person to the clue to WIN!.  For example, if the clue were "Clean Wine," the match would be Arterra Wines.   The person who gets the most correct matches to the clues by Saturday, January 10 th 2026 will get a congratulatory gift card worth the paper it’s printed on plus the stamp OR a wonderful email of appreciation.    You can post your answers to the POST A COMMENT, below: https://vawinejourneys.blogspot.com    OR If you don’t have your GOOGLE account and password handy, you can send your answers to me on FACEBOOK.   Be sure to identify yourself for the prize. Best of Luck to You All!    Here are the Clues   CLUE ...

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 ...

December 19, 2025.   While it’s not by design, we visited several old Virginia wineries this year that have embarked on new chapters in their lives.   Oakencroft outside of Charlottesville is under new management with new construction and re-purposed original infrastructure (April 2025).   There was Shenandoah Vineyards in Edinburg, which began in 1976 but whose future as a working vineyard under its current owner is uncertain (July 2025). Naked Mountain Winery and Vineyards is another old Virginia winery – operating handsomely in Markham, Fauquier County, since it opened in 1982.   Former owners Bob and Phoebe Harper first planted vines in 1976 and added acreage in 1980 and 1994.   In 2010, the Harper’s retired from the wine trade and sold Naked Mountain to Randy and Meagan Morgan.                                                    ...

November 15, 2025.   The area near Lovettsville around the crossroads of Taylorstown in northern Loudoun County is replete with stone farmhouses and stone barns whose walls and foundations contain the memories of plowing up endless rocks from this exhausting landscape so many years ago.   And tucked into one of those fields behind the derelict, mustard-colored Taylorstown general store, down a gravel driveway is Tedd Durden’s Creek’s Edge Winery.   Tedd and his family began planting grapes in 2009 with a plan to sell grapes to local wineries.   However, in fairly short order, they decided to make their own wine instead.     Tedd applied his background in the construction industry to build the three-storey wine production facility and tasting room and opened it for business in 2014.   We visited Creek’s Edge in 2016 and noted the wide field that slopes down to the edge of the Catoctin Creek.   The Furnace Mountains form a gentle horseshoe around th...