Sabin Wine Journeys

June 21, 2024.   General’s Ridge Vineyard in Hague, Westmoreland County, was a welcome stop in the first real heatwave of 2024.   We were able to park the car in some forgiving shade even though the light breeze only moved the warmth around.   We quickly made our way into the “Somewhere in Time” tasting room which was blessed with air conditioning.   It was dead silent in there except for some construction going on intermittently.   I suppose conversations rose to be swallowed in the unfinished ceiling.   Also, you may have problems getting reliable cell service out here.  We met servers Laura and Glenn who provided us some details on the operation.   Rick Phillips, the owner, is a retired Marine Corps general and wife Linda was a music teacher.   They met when Rick was in training at Dahlgren and eventually moved to the Northern Neck from Alexandria in Northern Virginia.   They purchased almost 100 acres that included a rundown farmho...

June 21, 2024.   Our first stop in the Northern Neck on a blistering hot Friday was to Ingleside Vineyards in Oak Grove.   When you pass through the gates to the winery from the parking lot, you come into a tree-shaded courtyard with umbrella tables and a bubbling fountain.   The heat suddenly becomes more tolerable somehow.   The dark woods of the tasting room make it cool as well.   Air conditioning helps. We were able to visit with Doug Flemer, the founder of the winery who remains active in vineyard operations and wine production.   We also met Doug’s younger brother, Chris who is the marketing manager.   We thank the Flemer’s and their staff for spending time with us. The Flemer family has owned this property since 1890.   It has a history as a boy’s school, a Union garrison during the Civil War, and a courthouse.   In 1940’s, Carl Flemer, Jr., started a plant nursery and vineyard.   The property also served as a dairy farm. ...

June 21, 2024.   For the next several posts, we will be detailing our visits to wineries in the Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace American Viticultural Area (AVA).   The Virginia Wine Marketing Office groups the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula (between the Rappahannock and the York Rivers) as the “Chesapeake Bay Region.”   The wineries on the two peninsulas have organized themselves into the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail.   Go to their site at: https://chesapeakebaywinetrail.com/ to check out sample itineraries, wineries, discounts, and lodging.   We kept our trip focused on the wineries of the AVA itself, the 100-mile long, 10-to-20 mile-wide peninsula bounded by the Potomac River and Potomac Creek in the north, the Rappahannock River in the south and the Chesapeake Bay in the east.   The AVA ends at the Stafford County line in the west.  Check out the guide map for the Chesapeake Bay region at Virginiawine.org: https://virginia-win...

May 25, 2024.   For National Wine Day 2024, we continued our short drive crossing the county line into Warren County.   Next Stop: Capstone Vineyards, minutes away from the town of Linden and just a few yards away from Fauquier County, so close that Capstone is affiliated with “FauquierWine.”   From Crimson Lane, you ascend steeply through the vines onto an open hillside with the winery at the top.   First vines were planted on the site in 2013 under a previous owner.   Theo Smith, the winemaker, bought the pre-existing vineyard in December 2022 with two lawyer friends: Douglas McCarthy and Matthew Akers.   The vineyard is now at 12.5 acres of south-facing vines with elevation between 1,000 and 1,500 feet. And a mix of soil types   Theo plans to begin planting additional acreage, including Albariño and Grüner Veltliner, in 2025.   This small winery produces around 2,100 cases annually.   With one exception noted below, all Capstone wines...