Sabin Wine Journeys

September 28, 2024.   The odds were that the sun would eventually return.   We are happy to report that after two weeks of rain and overcast skies, on this Saturday, she did reappear with glory.   We were able to get back on the road and drive north from Charlottesville on beautiful Route 20.   The sun dappled the road strewn with tree debris and wetness rising from the pavement.   A few minutes south of the intersection with Route 33, we came to the driveway for Chestnut Oak Vineyard, Barboursville, Albemarle County. Chestnut Oak is a small winery facility surrounded by six acres of vines.   We were able to speak with the tasting room manager Sarah Leake.   Owner Jan Bolla was away at the time.   Jan and her husband are another couple who started a winery to keep busy in retirement.   I wonder if they are busier now than ever.   Most of Chestnut Oak’s wines are estate grown.   With the exception of their Chardonnay from Honah Lee Vineyard and the Sauvignon Blanc from the Shenandoah

September 27, 2024.   Our Hurricane Helene-soaked day continued as we made our way east into Fluvanna County to visit Cunningham Creek Winery (CCW) in Palmyra.   CCW is one of the few wineries we can recall that is compliant with the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA), which makes parking and entry to the winery easier.   We visited with owner Debby Deal, who manages the tasting room and the events calendar.    Husband Bruce does the winemaking.   Debby and Bruce relocated from Northern Virginia in 2012 and converted the former cattle and hay farm into a vineyard as a retirement project.   It’s become quite a bit more.   Their first planting was in 2013.   The beautiful tasting room opened in 2016 and the winery production area, which is adjacent to the tasting room, opened in 2017.   The tasting room is wide and spacious with a wood-burning fireplace at one end and plush sofas facing it.   Getting these seats is a first-come/first-served proposition, so get there early, especi

September 27, 2024.   The remnants of Hurricane Helene were still making the outdoors miserable when we visited Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery in North Garden.   We really wanted to visit because Loving Cup is the only certified organic winery in Virginia.   How do they accomplish this, and how is their wine? To get to the winery, we drove south from Charlottesville on Route 29 about 20 minutes and turned onto Sutherland Road.   We found parts of the gravel road carved with ruts from the heavy rain.   One section was washed away, and we had to negotiate around police tape that marked the hazard.   On such a lousy weather day, it was no surprise that we were the only visitors, but our good fortune to have the undivided attention of founder, Werner Hambsch, and could spend some time with his son, winemaker Karl Hambsch.   What follows is some of their story: Werner is a big, bespectacled, and balding rollie bear of man, who came to the United States from near Heidelberg, Germany as a

September 26, 2024.   By the time we arrived at Valley Road Vineyards, the constant drizzle had intensified to real rain.   The low grey clouds resolved to just pour down.   We can tell you that Valley Road is on the Albemarle County side of the line with Nelson County at the head of Rockfish Valley.   The winery is a turn off of State Route 151, also known as Critzer Shop Road, and a stone’s throw from the Critzer Farm itself.  The mailing address is Afton.     Valley Road began as a project between a group of friends, but is led by Stanley (“Stan”) Knight Joynes and his wife Barbara.   The tasting room is a barn-red building that sits below the Route 151 embankment at the end of a short driveway.   It opened in 2016 which is when they had their first plantings.     A clerestory of windows runs the length of a monitor roof, making the tasting room bright and cheery even on a drab and damp afternoon.   Since they opened, Valley Road has added outdoor seating on a patio at one en

September 26, 2024.    We worked long and hard to arrange a short trip to the Charlottesville area so as to avoid the crush of football weekends at the University.   But we did not reckon on a persistent pattern of dampness or outright deluge.   When we arrived at Afton Mountain Vineyards in Nelson County, low gray clouds glowered close along the hillsides of the Blue Ridge.   I’m sure twisty Mountain Road is a pretty drive in decent weather. Afton Mountain has been in operation as a winery since 1978 when it was called “Bacchanal Vineyards.”   It is one of the oldest wineries in a region now full of them.   After several changes in ownership, the latest taking place in May of 2024, Afton Mountain finds itself with Brad and Yelena Dickerson in charge.   Brad was the CFO of Under Armour and Blue Apron among other businesses.   We understand that the Dickerson’s are not planning too many changes from the solid operation Tony and Elizabeth Smith built.   They are keeping Damien Blanch