Sabin Wine Journeys - the Virginia Wine Journeys Blog

December 19, 2025.   Encountering Jason Murray – owner and winemaker at Arterra Wines – must be what it was like to meet a passionate disciple of a new faith.   The faith in question is “clean wine,” and his pursuit is in hostile territory, so goes the received wisdom.   All shall be explained. First, some preliminaries:   Arterra Wines is to be found between Interstate 66 and Route 17 (Winchester Road) in the northwestern part of Fauquier County.   It has a Delaplane address.*   Sandy and Jason Murray purchased the property from Bob and Phoebe Harper (of Naked Mountain) in 2014 making the Murray’s in a sense the second generation of Virginia winemakers.   At purchase, the land was completely wooded, and the Murray’s have since hacked out an 8-and-a-half-acre estate vineyard from the hilly forest.   The A-frame lodge that holds the winey and tasting room opened in 2015.   It seems to rise organically from the hillside while remaining largely ...

May 15, 2023.   We began the second day of our Charlottesville wine trip by visiting the Gabrielle Rausse Winery, on the Southeast side of Carters Mountain.   The winding Carters Mountain Road passes several wineries including the Trump Winery which announces itself unmistakably.   In contrast, you must be careful not to overshoot the entrance for Gabriele Rausse.   There is no sign on the road telling you where to turn.   Just know the number, 3247 , and look for the large black partially overgrown mailbox with white “3247” on the sides.   Turn in there. Maybe a hundred feet up the gravel driveway across Quarry Creek brings you to the small parking lot for the winery on the left.   The winery building itself reminded me of how glass might be used in the later Usonian homes – to convey a sense of lightness and integration of the building into the forest.   The walls that define the working space are low and accessible.     The dimens...

October 21, 2022.   Our last stop on this first blog trip into the Shenandoah AVA was Chester Gap Cellars, whose address is Front Royal, Rappahannock County.   Actually, by my reckoning, Chester Gap Cellars lies just outside of the Shenandoah AVA, like by a couple hundred feet.     But that is a very small point.   Come for the wine and please stay for the view. Even though you will be at only 1,000 feet elevation, it will feel like a mountaintop excursion.   Views from the winery go for thirty-five miles on a clear day.   The tasting room feels as if it is clutching the side of a mountain to keep from sliding down the hill.   Parking can be an issue.   Lots of interesting features: like the Adirondack chairs on the tasting room balcony were designed and built by the Rappahannock High School woodworking shop to be raised so the balcony railing does not block your killer view; like the availability of a hiking trail that includes the headw...