Sabin Wine Journeys

February 23, 2024.   Our first stop on this winter excursion to the Monticello AVA was a return trip to Flying Fox Vineyard and Winery in Afton.   You can’t miss the two-storey sign mounted beside a restored fiber mill.   Be prepared for a hard turn off of Route 250. Flying Fox was incorporated in 2000 but purchased in 2015 by three siblings, Chloe, Emily, and George Hodson.   Their parents had developed Veritas Vineyard nearby.   Sister Emily – now Emily Hodson Pelton – has been the winemaker at Veritas and Flying Fox and was awarded Winemaker of the Year in 2017.   Red wines come from the Flying Fox Vineyard five miles away but within the Monticello AVA.. White wines come from the Ridge Run Vineyard in the Shenandoah AVA.   Since our last visit, Flying Fox has moved to a new tasting room.   The new tasting room is large but unadorned and basic near the bar.   Even with lots of leather – sofas, even lampshades – the seating area has a low coziness quotient.   There is no fireplac

July 9, 2022.   On a recommendation from Jimmy at Pippin Hill, we changed our trip itinerary to visit Hazy Mountain Vineyard and Brewery in Afton.   According to Jimmy, Pippin Hill’s chief competitor in the Charlottesville wedding venue market is Hazy Mountain. We came to Hazy Mountain in a morning fog that announced a drizzly day in store.   Our first impression driving up the steep paved entry road was of ascending into a cloud surrounded on both sides by newly planted vines.   It is in fact a rise in elevation from 800 feet to 1140 feet in a short distance.   At the top of Turks Mountain, you find perhaps the largest parking lot in our experience for any Virginia winery, clean and newly lined.   Adjacent to the parking lot are two large event buildings: a 7,200 square foot three-story tasting room, and a separate 9,000 square foot events venue down the hill.   When we visited, the mountain was fogged over.   We couldn’t see the valley floor from the top.   I understand that behind

  Cardinal Point Winery.    July 6, 2021 We concluded the second day of our wine trip to the Monticello AVA with a visit to Cardinal Point Winery in Afton.   We drove from the Northern side of the AVA to the Southwestern side at the foot of the Blue Ridge.   This took longer than you might think.   The AVA is deceptively large.   Cardinal Point was formed in 2018 according to the Virginia corporate records.   It is a small operation with mostly outside seating under a tented patio.   The on-site employee did not want to serve in the tasting room which was small but acceptably appointed.   I can see that it could get crowded quickly in there.   We are thankful that she allowed us to sit in the air-conditioned barrel room and workspace as the temperatures that day were in the upper 90’s with humidity.   They have a nice balcony inside with sofas and bar tables overlooking the stainless steel tanks and barrels. Outside food is allowed.   Kim had the 2019 Hopped Chardonnay and gave i