Sabin Wine Journeys

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...