Sabin Wine Journeys

During 2024, we posted on our visits to over 40 Virginia wineries and vineyards.   The clues below relate to some trait or feature about a winery or the owners or their wines.   Link the clue to the right winery to WIN! The person who gets the most right answers by Saturday, January 4 th 2025 will get a congratulatory gift card worth the paper it’s printed on plus the stamp OR a wonderful email of appreciation.    For example, if the clue were “Fizzy Lizzie,” the answer would be “Rappahannock Cellars.”    You can post your answers to the ENTER COMMENT teb, below: https://vawinejourneys.blogspot.com    OR If you don’t have your GOOGLE account and password handy, you can send your answers to me on FACEBOOK.   Whichever way you choose, be sure to identify yourself for the prize. Best of Luck to You All!     Here are the Clues 1.   Great Mural: 2.   My Sharona : 3.   Italian: 4.   Indian: 5. ...

December 13, 2024.   We last visited Rappahannock Cellars in 2020 before we began this blog.   In the four years since, the Delmar Family has made many improvements to the facilities including adding a distillery.   Rappahannock Cellars is a short hop from Route 522 north of Flint Hill and west of the town of Huntly in Rappahannock County.   It is here that John Delmar and wife Marialisa relocated from California’s Santa Cruz Mountains in 1998 with a desire to raise their growing family on a farm.   They bought the 85-acre Glenway Farm (circa 1804) and started planting grapes in 1999.   The Delmar’s have had 12 children, many of whom remain involved in the winery business.   Two Delmar children, Kelly Knight and Teresa Delmar are managing the business now. We spoke with Isabel Barragan, our server and an up-and-coming artist.   On Kelly’s introduction, we also spoke with Steve Monson, the winemaker.   Here are some basic facts:   R...

December 13, 2024.   On a cold winter’s day by the fireplace at Gadino Cellars, you can contemplate the old photographs of Bill Gadino’s grandparents who brought along their love of fresh local wines when they immigrated from Italy.   Gadino Cellars south of Washington in Rappahannock County carries on an Italian wine making tradition. To get to Gadino Cellars, turn from Route 211 onto School House Road as the winery is tucked away behind the elementary school.   We met Bill, a short older farmer with disheveled white hair under his Washington Redskins toque.   He was headed to work in the cellar, sporting a cane and his week-old surgical hip.   The work never stops for these owners.                                               ...

December 13, 2024.. We’ll start this post with a little mystery that we shall answer as we go.   The mystery has to do with Little Washington Winery and Brewery having three locations in and around the town of Washington, in Rappahannock County. The first location is on Clark Street which is poorly marked driveway directly off a four-lane divided highway next to the Shell station.   We tried to get there as soon after their posted opening time of 11 AM to get the best access to management and staff.   We climbed up a mountain to the top of the hill where sits an impressive mansion that reminded me of the hacienda in the old Falcon Crest TV show.     Unfortunately, the hacienda was closed, and we seemed to be the only ones not aware of this fact in advance.   Nevertheless, after failing to reach the winery by phone and after calling down imprecations, we amended our itinerary and continued on our adventures. The next day on a whim, we called Little Was...