Sabin Wine Journeys - the Virginia Wine Journeys Blog

April 17, 2026.   The bumblebees and wasps buzzed lazily around the porch of Sharp Rock Vineyards where it was 90 degrees in the shade.   It felt like summer except for the lack of good old Virginia humidity.   Yet on a day of clear skies at the tail end of a heat wave owner Jimm East could fear for his crops because not four days from that afternoon, weather was predicted to bring a strong frost against his vines.*   Such is the weather in Virginia. Jimm East, a native of Cleveland and an an athlete at Chapel Hill, opened Sharp Rock Vineyards, or Sharp Rock Vineyards and Cottages as it’s now called, in the western edge of Rappahannock Country near the town of Sperryville.   He and wife Kathy renovated the 1790’s farm house and the 1850’s carriage house for their residence and for the wine tasting room and production plant.   That was 1998.   Since then, children have been born and raised, and the next generation is here, but neither children nor gra...

April 11, 2025.   We met up with travelling companions Susan and Jane in the hollows of north west Madison County outside the crossroads of Etlan to sample the wines at DuCard Vineyards.   DuCard sits under the eastern slope of Old Rag Mountain whose tree line marks the boundary between the vineyards and Shenandoah National Park.   Hikers along the Whiteoak Canyon Trail can reach DuCard easily to let their tired muscles recover.    Owner Scott Elliff and wife Karen Yanello looked for years for a getaway from consulting and lawyering to find this site which was a derelict apple orchard.   After reworking the site around to a vineyard, Scott began to sell grapes to other wineries in 2000, along the way making “every mistake in the book.”   But after seeing his customers winning awards with his grapes, Scott decided to make the wine himself.   They opened to the public in 2010.    Around that time, Scott hired Julien Durantie as his vine...