Sabin Wine Journeys

February 24, 2024.   Hello Readers and welcome our 101st blog post on Virginia wineries.   Looking at our first few efforts, we have come a long way.   We do hear from readers who ask for even more information, especially in tasting notes.   Going forward, I’ll try to provide some useful information without needlessly over-specifying. Let’s profile Nokesville Winery off of Route 28 in Nokesville, Prince William County, near Bristow and Manassas.   Your initial impression driving up to the winery is that this is a garage operation and you’d be correct.   But it resembles the garagistes in that the founder-owner-winemaker Dustin Miner, grows almost all of his grapes and produces all of his wine on-site.   That is a large garage where the unadorned tasting room and its seating coexist with stainless steel tanks in one large space.   Atmosphere is very casual.   No fireplaces.   There is a side patio for outside seating in warmer months....

June 11, 2022.  Despite forecasts of persistent rain, we ventured out to Effingham Manor Winery in Nokesville.   As we sat and had a tasting, and then a bottle or two, the sun peaked out timidly at first then gloriously full bore.   Effingham is a child of Pearmund Vineyards and Winery in Broad Run and a sister winery to Vint Hill.   Reportedly managing director Chris Pearmund wanted a property closer to the Washington DC market.   He and his investor group settled on the 16 acres that includes the 1767 Effingham Manor and outbuildings.   He formed Effingham Manor LLC in 2015 but had to overcome a lawsuit by neighboring homeowners in the Alexander Lakes subdivision.   They claimed that the use of the access road to the winery violated the homeowner’s association rules against commercial use.   In 2017, a Prince William County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of the winery and it opened. The two principal buildings on the estate are the 1767...