Sabin Wine Journeys

May 16, 2023.   Our last winery visit on this trip was to Michael Shaps Wineworks, around thirty minutes south of Charlottesville.   Wineworks is one of the most decorated wineries in the Commonwealth and is one of the only international brands in this sphere.   Michael Shaps learned his wine at school in Burgundy, France and moved to Virginia in 1995 to be winemaker at Jefferson Vineyards.   He managed six vintages there before going out on his own.   He was soon in a partnership with a winemaker in Meursault (Burgundy) France and with King Family Vineyards.   When we visited Wineworks in 2018, the tasting room was a small cramped cabin up a steep mountain road, the site of the old Montdomaine Winery.   He has continued to expand operations and influence since then.   He has shed his partners and since around 2014 I believe that his ventures have been sole proprietorships.   In 2018, Michael purchased Shenandoah Vineyards and continues to...

July 8, 2022.   We diverted from our itinerary to make a return visit to Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyard in North Garden.   This was actually our third visit – Kim visited solo in 2016, and we came together in 2018.   We noted then that the wine was only “ok.” Pippin Hill was formed in 2010 and its tasting room and events venue opened in 2017.   There are several interconnected barns covering some 15,000 square feet.   From an easy chair on the long porch, you look out over some five acres of grape vines and to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.   The focus for Pippin Hill and its owners, Dean and Lynn Easton Andrews, is to have an events venue for weddings (and other large events).   It is an events-oriented large operation and part of the Easton-Porter Group of hospitality properties   Wine and food are in service of those kind of events.    Pippin Hill grows its grapes, or acquires them from the Monticello Co-op, and then lea...