Sabin Wine Journeys - the Virginia Wine Journeys Blog

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.                                                    ...

October 27, 2025.   Four and a half years ago, Kim and I stopped by Pearmund Cellars in Broad Run, Fauquier County, and chanced into a discussion with Chris Pearmund, the hale owner and entrepreneur behind this and several other wineries in Northern Virginia.   (See our post from June 2021).   We had a great time on that visit, but they didn’t know we were coming.   Since then, we normally alert wineries that we plan to visit with them, which tends to deliver more in depth results for the blog and for your background information.   Chris was not available for us on this visit, but we had another great time speaking with servers Jamie and Jo-Jo – “the J Team” - and with executive winemaker, Mark Ward.                                                                           ...

September 23, 2025.   Imagine you are on a curvy country road.   Forest all around.   You are ascending.   You know you are ascending by the push of your body into the back of your seat, by the strain of the car engine on the hillside, and eventually by the pop in your ears from the altitude.   You are in west Fauquier County near the town of Linden.   Soon you emerge from the forest and immediately recognize the regimented rows of a vineyard.   You are at Fox Meadow Vineyard and Winery.   Park your car above the tasting room, and you may see all different shades of blue and mist as you look back across a range from the top of Blue Mountain.   There is teal in the foreground, azure for the far mountains, and haint blue for the sky. Fox Meadow began in 2003 with Dan and Cheryl Mortland as owners and Tom Payette as the esteemed consulting winemaker.   Fox Meadow had great success in the early 2010’s, winning best red wine at the 2011 V...

February 1, 2025.   Morais Vineyards and Winery is a surprising outpost of Portugal off Route 17 in Bealton, Fauquier County.   José Morais opened the winery and wedding venue in 2011 promoting traditional Portuguese wines and winemaking.   His daughter, Linda, is now CEO.   Their winemaker, Vitor Guimarãis, is from Portugal - born and educated - and has been with them since the beginning.   Drive through the newer part of the vineyard adjacent to the road, and for the moment, drive straight ahead past the round tasting room into the courtyard a typically stark-white Portuguese villa which serves as a large wedding venue.   The main building, – ballroom, bar- and smaller outbuildings buildings host over 100 weddings a year.   It’s like a little village.     Our focus, however, is on the wine and we came back to the tasting room, a round stand-alone building with a cone-shaped roof, reminiscent of the roofs in Algarve.     ...