Sabin Wine Journeys

September 27, 2024.   The remnants of Hurricane Helene were still making the outdoors miserable when we visited Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery in North Garden.   We really wanted to visit because Loving Cup is the only certified organic winery in Virginia.   How do they accomplish this, and how is their wine? To get to the winery, we drove south from Charlottesville on Route 29 about 20 minutes and turned onto Sutherland Road.   We found parts of the gravel road carved with ruts from the heavy rain.   One section was washed away, and we had to negotiate around police tape that marked the hazard.   On such a lousy weather day, it was no surprise that we were the only visitors, but our good fortune to have the undivided attention of founder, Werner Hambsch, and could spend some time with his son, winemaker Karl Hambsch.   What follows is some of their story: Werner is a big, bespectacled, and balding rollie bear of man, who came to the United States ...

May 14, 2023.   With so many wineries to post about, we count as a mistake to visit a winery so soon after a posting.   We blogged about Wisdom Oak from our July 2022 visit to Charlottesville but erroneously found ourselves back on their doorstep in North Garden for this 2023 trip as well.   The July 2022 post is a fuller treatment. We were able to spend some time with owner, vineyard manager, and winemaker Jason Lavallee on this visit and picked up some additional details about this recent Governor’s Cup case winner.   Wisdom Oak continues to “box above their weight class.”   All wines are estate-grown on approximately 20 acres of vines.   They produce around 4,300 cases and distribute to Wegmans and other smaller outlets through the Virginia Winery Distribution Company.   All varietal wines are 100% of that grape.   Grapes are hand-picked.   Jason intervenes in the process as little as possible.   The family friendly atmosphere is a...

July 9, 2022.   Kim and I got some whiplash driving from Hazy Mountain to Wisdom Oak Winery in North Garden.   It wasn’t that we were driving especially fast – the road up to Wisdom Oak is a a narrow single-lane mixed dirt and asphalt path with stout trees closing in the sides.   It’s the kind of road where one car will have to back up if two meet on the road in a standoff. No, the whiplash was from following a 15,000-case winery (Hazy Mountain) immediately with a 3,600-case winery.   We put Wisdom Oak on our itinerary on the strength of is 2019 Nineteen wine, which made it into the 2020 Virginia Governor’s Cup Case – a high accolade for this small winery. Formed in 2015, James and Laura Lavallee have around 6 acres under vine at North Garden and a larger vineyard of 14 acres three miles away.   They produce small batches wines from Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.   Individual wines are usually produced at 200 ...

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...