Sabin Wine Journeys

July 10, 2025.   Our first stop on this year’s trip to Shenandoah Valley is to the winery that started it all back in 1976, the first winery in the Valley – Shenandoah Vineyards in Edinburg.   This is also the second oldest active winery in the Commonwealth.   Jim and Emma Randel started the winery after relocating from New Jersey to Emma’s family property in Shenandoah County in 1974 so that Jim could recuperate from a heart attack.   They began with seven and a half acres of vines in 1976.   They repurposed the ground floor of an old Civil War-era barn as their production plant; its stone foundation kept a stable coolness.   Upstairs they opened their tasting room to the public in 1979.   The barn is still in use today although the front staircase from the main parking area is, fittingly, densely overgrown in twined grape vines.  Jim Randel passed away in 1985 and left Emma to run the property on her own, which she did with great success. ...

July 9, 2022.   On a recommendation from Jimmy at Pippin Hill, we changed our trip itinerary to visit Hazy Mountain Vineyard and Brewery in Afton.   According to Jimmy, Pippin Hill’s chief competitor in the Charlottesville wedding venue market is Hazy Mountain. We came to Hazy Mountain in a morning fog that announced a drizzly day in store.   Our first impression driving up the steep paved entry road was of ascending into a cloud surrounded on both sides by newly planted vines.   It is in fact a rise in elevation from 800 feet to 1140 feet in a short distance.   At the top of Turks Mountain, you find perhaps the largest parking lot in our experience for any Virginia winery, clean and newly lined.   Adjacent to the parking lot are two large event buildings: a 7,200 square foot three-story tasting room, and a separate 9,000 square foot events venue down the hill.   When we visited, the mountain was fogged over.   We couldn’t see the valley floor f...