Sabin Wine Journeys

  December 31, 2021. Our household has been dealing with COVID-19, quarantine, and self-isolation during the month of December.   The Holidays were awful for us this year and traveling to any wineries was out of the question for our own well-being and the health of others.   But as we are now coming out of the bad times, at least for now, and anticipating a better 2022, we are looking back over the year 2021 particularly reflecting on our experiences in wine.   Since we inaugurated the Sabin Wine Journeys blog in May, we have documented 19 separate winery visits, and blog-posted about the 87 wines we sampled.   I notice that Kim tends to sample less but buy more than I do.   Here are the wines we highlighted from our travels this year: Chardonnay . Old Farm Winery at Hartland 2020 Winery at Bull Run 2019 Grace Estates 2017 Captain John Petit Manseng . Winery at La Grange 2019 White Hall 2017 Pinot Grigio . Barboursville 2019 St...

  November 26, 2021.  A group of us tried out the newly-opened Old Farm Winery at Harland on a cold blustery day.   Old Farm opened on November 6th after several delays.   It is the second winery operation for Jon Hickok and the owners of Bull Run Winery.   The new winery is situated inside a new residential development called Hartland in the Brambleton section of Loudoun County near Aldie.   The property is one of the oldest farms in the county, dating back to the 1770’s with a farmhouse dating back to the 19 th century and a derelict barn.   Future plans for the farmhouse and barn are to renovate them for special events – like weddings.    Further, Old Farm plans to build a more substantial indoor tasting room and convert the current tasting bar to an outside venue only.    When we visited, part of the outdoor area was enclosed by a tent with heaters.   Fortunately, we reserved a table in the heated tasting area.   Al...

  Windridge Vineyards.   November 7, 2021.   The Manifesto for this Blog states that our travels are “mostly” in Virginia.   However, after reading an article in a recent Washington Post about wineries close to Washington, DC, Kim and I ventured across the river to Darnestown, Maryland, to visit Windridge Vineyards on a crisp Sunday morning. First, a note about Maryland wineries.   Although Maryland and Virginia share much in their historical development, they appear to have diverged in the 1980’s.   Virginia   took a path resulting in a more robust wine industry now than Maryland.   I believe that Maryland wine traces its start back to the 1640’s and followed a similar path as Virginia. In 1979, Maryland had seven operating wineries while Virginia, a state around four times larger, famously had only six wineries.   But in 1979-80, Virginia enacted its farm winery legislation allowing wine sales at the source (see, Bureaucracy page). ...