Sabin Wine Journeys

      Election week began with such high intentions, quickly turning to sadness for us, and now a foreboding sense is seeping into the air.   With this heaviness, you might ask why continue writing about such a frivolous thing as wine?   I would say wine is a joyful drink, extolled by poets throughout the ages as a social lubricant, which, God knows, we need right now.   Leave the fetid air of the caucus rooms, the hearing rooms, and board rooms of the East and come out to the Virginia countryside for the fresh air and newly vintaged wines.   Wine has no partisanship unless it is for sweet over dry, red over white, sparkling over still, or some other way of thinking.   I would also say that there are a large number of folks who depend on the grape for their livelihood.   The stories of their labors, their failures and successes should be told regardless of who holds power in Washington for the next four vintages.   After all, four vi...

October 23, 2024.   We chose a fine soft Fall day to drive west along State Route 50 on what is now called “Little River Turnpike” into Loudoun County to Chrysalis Vineyards in the Ag District.      First, let’s clarify that this is same Route 50 that was formerly called the John Mosby Highway and is not the Little River Turnpike that most long-time residents of Northern Virginia equate with Route 236.   It is Route 50 to be sure.   The vineyard entrance is directly on Route 50 just west of the town of Aldie.        Second, let’s address the rather awkward name “Chrysalis Vineyards in the Ag District.”   According to a 2023 government report, there are over 20 Agricultural and Forestal Districts (AFD’s) in Loudoun County.   “AFD’s are rural conservation areas reserved for the production of agricultural products, timber, and the maintenance of open space land as an important economic and environmental resource.”   A...