Sabin Wine Journeys

May 14, 2023.   With so many wineries to post about, we count as a mistake to visit a winery so soon after a posting.   We blogged about Wisdom Oak from our July 2022 visit to Charlottesville but erroneously found ourselves back on their doorstep in North Garden for this 2023 trip as well.   The July 2022 post is a fuller treatment. We were able to spend some time with owner, vineyard manager, and winemaker Jason Lavallee on this visit and picked up some additional details about this recent Governor’s Cup case winner.   Wisdom Oak continues to “box above their weight class.”   All wines are estate-grown on approximately 20 acres of vines.   They produce around 4,300 cases and distribute to Wegmans and other smaller outlets through the Virginia Winery Distribution Company.   All varietal wines are 100% of that grape.   Grapes are hand-picked.   Jason intervenes in the process as little as possible.   The family friendly atmosphere is a...

May 14, 2023.   It was time to get back on the road for our annual wine trip to Mr. Jefferson’s neighborhood.   We have traveled Route 29 South so many times over the years that we can tick-off the landmarks almost by memory:   the life-size statute of a white bull alone on a   hillside next to the American flag; Clark Brothers where men were celebrating Mother’s Day by emptying magazines of ammo into targets; Cowboy Church, Yowell’s Lake at Culpeper; the turn for Kelly’s Ford (site of a real- life Twilight Zone encounter); Bavarian Chef in Madison; Waffle House in Charlottesville, and on and on..   Our first destination on this year’s pilgrimage was Delfosse Vineyards and Winery in Faber, Nelson County, around a half-hour south of Charlottesville.   Rather than the mythical town in “Animal House;” Faber is a small community within the Monticello AVA.   And Delfosse Vineyards is the top winner of the 2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup.   Claude ...

April 21, 2023.   South of Warrenton off of Route 29 lies Molon Lave Vineyards, the younger sister to Mediterranean Cellars on the North side of town.   Molon Lave is managed by Louizos Papadopoulos, son of the founders at Mediterranean.   But this is a larger operation with 31 acres under vine of some 50 acres total.   It has fewer wines on its menu, more recent vintages, and less blended wines than Mediterranean.   Both wineries are 100% estate grown. Molon Lave takes its name from King Leonidas of Sparta who, when the Persians demanded they lay down their arms, replied “Molon Lave” or “Come and take them.”   The battle of Thermopylae is also commemorated by the winery’s 480 B.C. Farm Brewery, which opened in 2020.   (We won’t be reviewing 480 B.C. Brewery beyond noting that it features four beers including a Saison, a Belgian Golden, a Dopplebock, and an IPA style beer.) The tasting room and production facility is in a nondescript low-swung build...

April 21, 2023.   When we visited on an abnormally warm April morning, Mediterranean Cellars Winery was celebrating 62 years of winemaking.   While it opened its tasting room outside of Warrenton in Fauquier County in 2003, Mediterranean Cellars has a long lineage of winemaking through its owners, Louis and Katie Papadopoulos.   After an apprenticeship with his father and grandfather in Greece, Louis began winemaking on his own in 1961.   He came to the States in the mid-1960’s and eventually realized that similarities between the red soil around Warrenton and his native Greece showed the potential for wine.   He began planting vines in 1984. We were sorry to have missed Mr. Papadopoulos on our visit, but we had an engaging chat with long-term employee, Brigitta.   Thanks for her hospitality.   The winery sits on a small hill with the tasting room facing east across a patch of vineyard growing white wine grapes.   Looked like bud break was ...