Sabin Wine Journeys

September 4, 2025.   Interstate 64 runs the spine of the newest of Virginia’s   American Viticultural Areas (AVA), Virginia Peninsula.   A short distance from the Interstate, you can find several wineries to relieve the monotonous drive between Richmond and Newport News.   We have profiled all of these wineries before, with the exception of Gauthier Vineyard in Barhamsville, New Kent County.   Time to rectify that gap in coverage! We approached the winery passing a large barrel head boldly announcing the place.   Opposite this sign, three acres of Norton grapes sloped coyly under white gauze netting, installed to keep the birds away.   It was a sign that the harvest was close at hand.   A gravel drive takes you past a quiet lake and fountain, up a grade to the front of the tasting room. The tasting room building, built in 2012-13, has a wide wrap-around porch that you can follow around to a view across the lake and the vineyard.     In...

August 12, 2023.   Situated in downtown Leesburg, October One Vineyard is a departure from the normal Virginia farm winery.   The actual vineyard is located around 20 miles away from the tasting room.   There is no public access at the vineyard.   This reminded us of the tasting rooms separated from their vineyards that we saw in Woodinville, Washington State.   Out there this is commonplace; not so in Virginia. Bob and Loree Rupy formed October One in 2015 and for several years sold their wine at local farmer’s markets.   October One is the couple’s wedding anniversary.   Bob was the former co-owner of Bluemont Vineyard which still exists.   October One Vineyard is nearby in Bluemont .                                             ...

  Windridge Vineyards.   November 7, 2021.   The Manifesto for this Blog states that our travels are “mostly” in Virginia.   However, after reading an article in a recent Washington Post about wineries close to Washington, DC, Kim and I ventured across the river to Darnestown, Maryland, to visit Windridge Vineyards on a crisp Sunday morning. First, a note about Maryland wineries.   Although Maryland and Virginia share much in their historical development, they appear to have diverged in the 1980’s.   Virginia   took a path resulting in a more robust wine industry now than Maryland.   I believe that Maryland wine traces its start back to the 1640’s and followed a similar path as Virginia. In 1979, Maryland had seven operating wineries while Virginia, a state around four times larger, famously had only six wineries.   But in 1979-80, Virginia enacted its farm winery legislation allowing wine sales at the source (see, Bureaucracy page). ...