Sabin Wine Journeys - the Virginia Wine Journeys Blog

October 26, 2025.   Brent Manor Vineyards is one quick turn from northbound Route 29 in Nelson County onto the winery driveway and up an abrupt hill to the tasting room.   From the ridge where the tasting room is situated, the view is southeasterly, encompassing a sweep of red and burnt orange mountain foliage and the town of Faber in the distance. Jorge and Tracie Raposo had been looking for property to build on for some time before Brent Manor came on the market in 2009.   Jorge emigrated to the United States from Portugal as a child in the 1980’s but tells me that Nelson County doesn’t remind him of his native land – he Tracie just love it on its own.   Jorge and Tracie built a career in insurance.   As if those jobs weren’t demanding enough, they built a tasting room and processing facility and opened for business in 2015.   They completed construction of a separate event building in 2023, but for the foreseeable future, says Jorge, that building will...

October 26, 2025.   Wine Philosophy Question #5 asks whether the grape chooses you.   We are all familiar with us choosing a wine or grape that we like – for instance choosing white over red wine, or more specifically choosing Chardonnay over Sauvignon Blanc, or even more particularly, a Chardonnay from Winery A over Chardonnay from Winery B.   Most of us are not familiar with a grape choosing us, but that is what happened to Bob Ramsey, the owner of Caihailian Vineyard in Roseland, Nelson County.   When Bob established Caihailian (pronounced “kay-Hay-lian” and named after his three children) in 2006, he took over a vineyard already planted with Vidal Blanc, the white hybrid which is the most planted hybrid in Virginia.+   Although initially disappointed that he did not have a Chardonnay vineyard, Bob has learned to love Vidal Blanc and has managed to make a surprisingly wide spectrum of wines using only that grape. He says that the grape chose him.   ...

April 12, 2025.   On our way back to Charlottesville, we decided to stop at Lovingston Winery south and west of the town of Lovingston off Route 29 in Nelson County.   Wes Roberts, his wife Tessa Riley and her parents, Bill and Shelley Riley, purchased Lovingston Winery from the Puckett Family in 2021 and with it a winery that originally opened to the public in 2003 and Josie’s Knoll Vineyard, named after Josie Stevens, whose family resided here back in the early 1900’s.   Lovingston Winery occupies a nice new barn amid the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge range.   You will drive past a barn and farmhouse area and then past the tasting room to parking in the rear.   The farmhouse used to be the tasting room when the Puckett’s owned the winery.   Now it can be rented for overnight stays and the barn is the tasting room.   Inside the new barn is one open room which would be dark if the sliding barn doors were closed.   A fireplace sits at o...

September 26, 2024.    We worked long and hard to arrange a short trip to the Charlottesville area so as to avoid the crush of football weekends at the University.   But we did not reckon on a persistent pattern of dampness or outright deluge.   When we arrived at Afton Mountain Vineyards in Nelson County, low gray clouds glowered close along the hillsides of the Blue Ridge.   I’m sure twisty Mountain Road is a pretty drive in decent weather. Afton Mountain has been in operation as a winery since 1978 when it was called “Bacchanal Vineyards.”   It is one of the oldest wineries in a region now full of them.   After several changes in ownership, the latest taking place in May of 2024, Afton Mountain finds itself with Brad and Yelena Dickerson in charge.   Brad was the CFO of Under Armour and Blue Apron among other businesses.   We understand that the Dickerson’s are not planning too many changes from the solid operation Tony and Elizabeth S...