Sabin Wine Journeys

October 25, 2023.   Throughout the year we often find ourselves saying how lovely a winery’s view must be during the Fall foliage season - there are so many places worth a revisit with killer overlooks or views across a gap in the mountains.   This year we tried to time a visit to the Monticello AVA to coincide with the peak of Fall Foliage.   The Blue Ridge at this time of year is much less of the muted blue you see in the summer, and more like being dappled in sand or ochre.   The summer of 2023 was brutally hot and took a toll on the vividness of the leaves this fall.   But even so, when you see the individual trees close along the by-ways as you drive, you see all shades of yellow – from butter to golden delicious, from gold to butternut.   Then trees running ochre to dull brown, and from scarlet to brick red to rust.   How much more startling is a bright red gum tree when it is framed by golden poplars.   Our first stop on this Autumn excur...

[On October 13, 2023, I had an extended conversation with Kirk Wiles at Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton.   I did not electronically record the conversation.   This post is a paraphrase of the conversation using my notes of the visit.   I have tried as much as possible to be faithful to what was said and the tone in which it was conveyed.   We are thankful to Kirk for his time and candor.] October 13, 2023.   It was a picture-perfect fall day for a conversation on the patio with Kirk Wiles.   Kirk is the CEO of Paradise Springs Winery which we profiled on this blog in December 2022.   The focus of our conversation today, however, is on Kirk’s work with the Virginia Wine Board (VWB) where he has served as a Board member since 2015 and served as chairman from 2018 to June 2023.   For your background, the Virginia Wine Board, originally formed in 1984 and reconstituted in 2004, is an arm of the Virginia government charged with managing and dist...

September 13, 2023.   Real estate agents will tell you that the keys to success are “Location, location, location.”   The same holds to a lesser extent with wineries.   We have visited some very good wineries that are in the boondocks and some wineries with average product in great locations with guaranteed foot traffic.   Williamsburg Winery is certainly in a prime location, just south of Colonial Williamsburg, and just west of Busch Gardens-Williamsburg in James City County.  Williamsburg Winery has benefited from this prime location to welcome visitors for nearly 35 years. Williamsburg Winery was a last minute add to our itinerary, and we did not contact anyone there in advance.   In one respect, our reception was a good example of what you would expect to encounter going there.   On the other hand, it may not show the winery to best example. First, some basic facts:   Patrick and Francoise Duffler first planted grapes in this part of the V...

September 9, 2023.   Mermaid Winery of Norfolk and Virginia Beach advertises itself as Virginia’s “first urban winery.”   Certainly, we have not encountered a downtown wine production facility that also offers such a great menu.   We have visited hole-in-the wall “winery” storefronts that beg the description of gourmet; and we have visited “wineries” that do nothing but sell stuff grown, produced and bottled by others with no value added.   Mermaid has both production and ambience. We met our nephew and his wife, K and S, at Mermaid for a Saturday night dinner.   K, a Naval officer, recently relocated to Norfolk with S.   We hoped a nice dinner would give them a break from opening moving boxes all day.   Mermaid has two locations.   The original “flagship” location in the Ghent neighborhood of downtown Norfolk opened in 2013.   We opted to visit the second location in the Chic’s Beach area of Virginia Beach on Shore Drive.   This open...

September 8, 2023.   We continued our day trip to wineries on the southside of the James River with a stop at SummerWind Vineyard in Isle of Wight County near Smithfield.   The approach to SummerWind is through the posh Days Point area and the property slopes down to a creek off of the Pagan River. SummerWind is owned and operated by the Pugh Family who began grape cultivation in 2005.   We were fortunate to catch owner Kim Pugh between chores in the vineyard and also to meet her daughter, Meghan, who manages the tasting room while managing her three-year old little, too.   Kim, with a bun of grey hair and sharp eyes, talked to us some about the operation.   We certainly appreciate her time and the team’s thoughtfulness. The tasting room is housed in an attractive frame house with a small indoor space and tasting bar.   (Know that SummerWind has no posted handicap parking, but you are welcome to let off your passengers at the end of the gravel circle at ...

September 8, 2023.   We took the day off from people watching at the beach and drove an hour and a half west and north from Norfolk on winding Route 10, over bridges and through tunnels to reach Hampton Roads Winery..   This is about midway between the towns of Surry and Dendron..   The address is Elberon, in Surry County, off the beaten path.   There we found a winery owned and operated by the Sheldon family – Dave, Diane, the winemaker, and son Rick, the vineyard manager.   Like so many owners, Dave and Diane are passionate about winemaking.   On an early Friday morning, we pulled both of them out of the vineyards to speak with us.   We greatly appreciate their taking time.                                                                              ...