Sabin Wine Journeys

December 13, 2024.   On a cold winter’s day by the fireplace at Gadino Cellars, you can contemplate the old photographs of Bill Gadino’s grandparents who brought along their love of fresh local wines when they immigrated from Italy.   Gadino Cellars south of Washington in Rappahannock County carries on an Italian wine making tradition. To get to Gadino Cellars, turn from Route 211 onto School House Road as the winery is tucked away behind the elementary school.   We met Bill, a short older farmer with disheveled white hair under his Washington Redskins toque.   He was headed to work in the cellar, sporting a cane and his week-old surgical hip.   The work never stops for these owners.                                               ...

December 13, 2024.. We’ll start this post with a little mystery that we shall answer as we go.   The mystery has to do with Little Washington Winery and Brewery having three locations in and around the town of Washington, in Rappahannock County. The first location is on Clark Street which is poorly marked driveway directly off a four-lane divided highway next to the Shell station.   We tried to get there as soon after their posted opening time of 11 AM to get the best access to management and staff.   We climbed up a mountain to the top of the hill where sits an impressive mansion that reminded me of the hacienda in the old Falcon Crest TV show.     Unfortunately, the hacienda was closed, and we seemed to be the only ones not aware of this fact in advance.   Nevertheless, after failing to reach the winery by phone and after calling down imprecations, we amended our itinerary and continued on our adventures. The next day on a whim, we called Little Was...

December 12, 2024.   John Guevremont is a compact muscular older gentleman, bald on top with piercing eyes of the Marine Corps flyer he once was.   That he is now owner and winemaker at Quièvremont Vineyard and dairy farmer at Reality Farm may surprise you.   He is also more talkative than farmers or flyers tend to be.   We are happy to have spent an hour with him, and I think he was happy to have a respite between herding cows and doing administrative paperwork.                                                                                     John and Nick G...