Land & Climate
A dynamic mosaic
Situated on the broad, rolling plateau and foothills of the Southwest Mountains in the Virginia Piedmont, running parallel with the Blue Ridge to the west, our 900 acres occupy ground of sedimentary rock of volcanic origin, and separate stratifications of sandstone and conglomerates, with sloping exposures of even greater variety. In the temperate mid-Atlantic weather of our growing region, this estate presents the viticulturist with a dynamic mosaic of growing conditions. Some years favor one planting site for a given varietal, such as Cabernet Franc, and other years favor another in the same varietal. The resulting engagement with the vines is exceptionally active and verifies the truism that the human hand, learned, seasoned, and schooled by many previous vintages, must be incorporated in any conception of “terroir.”
People
A collaboration of broad expertise
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The New Generation
The present generation of leadership of this estate is the seventh in a family tradition in viticulture dating back to 1821. In 2017, after 40 years and more in planting Barboursville Vineyards and establishing it in the world of wine, Gianni Zonin transferred executive duties to the three sons he raised in this life’s work. Domenico, Michele, and Francesco Zonin (L-R) are steeped in his dedication and fluency in winegrowing, commerce, and law. Most importantly, the family’s devotion to the land and the people who sustain the Estate of Wine has been extended with the same foresight and energy which have always guided these vineyards.
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Gianni Zonin
Our founding owner, oenologist Gianni Zonin of the Veneto, also produces wines in every primary growing region of Italy, in Piemonte, Friuli, Veneto, Lombardy, Puglia, Sicily, and at three estates in Tuscany.
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Luca Paschina
Barboursville's resident winemaker since 1990, Luca Paschina of Piemonte holds the most diverse and extensive record of honors among all his peers in Virginia.
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Fernando Franco
Viticulturist Fernando Franco is responsible for our many thousand vines and for the development of new vineyard sites. Raised and educated in El Salvador, he brings valuable experience from California and elsewhere in Virginia, to his 20 continuous years at Barboursville.
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Daniele Tessaro
In the winery, associate winemaker Daniele Tessaro contributes experience from the Collio region of northeast Italy, as predecessors have done from Friuli and as far away as the Margaret River in west Australia.
Culture of Wine
A message from Luca Paschina
Like this vineyard’s founding owner, Gianni Zonin, who assumed the leadership of his family’s long-established winemaking enterprise more than 50 years ago, I inherited a commitment to food and wine, and particularly to viticulture, as a family tradition as well as a cultural reality of everyday life in Piemonte, my home province in Italy. To grow up in the Nebbiolo and Barbera vineyards where my father consulted with many winegrowers, positioned not just my imagination and inspiration toward a career; it gave me a passionate respect for the majesty of what comes to us from the land. The estate of wine is a divine
gift without borders, linking humanity and our diverse cultural backgrounds to their most elemental and their most celebratory nourishment. I would not pursue any other employment. I was fortunate to be called by Dottore Gianni to Barboursville in 1990, where he had planted from scratch the first vineyards in Virginia in modern times, dedicated to the cultivation of European wine grapes, and where my task was to renew those vineyards and restore them to the path of producing the fine wines of great stature which Jefferson and he envisioned, on sight, within this “enchanted corner” in the Southwest Mountains of Piedmont Virginia. Ours is indeed an inspiring setting, for any knowledgeable viticulturist from northern Italy, and I found the transfer of my aspirations from Italy to Barboursville to be both natural and irreversible. Our perspective on the rôle of wine in life is drawn from a trust in the land and a humility in the exercise of our skills to elicit its finest fruits. Wine, we know, is grown in the vineyard because we are, too, and then shaped in those academies we call wineries to offer the most civilized expression of themselves. We embrace technical innovation with the least intervention in this process, consistent with developing the wine’s inherent varietal character and signature of place and time. Our taste, bred of centuries of European custom, is for wine of great companionability with food, of elegant expression throughout a meal and, ideally, of longevity in the cellar, with harmonious balance. 
Here we explore the deeper story of what our terroir, together with our winemaking techniques, reveal as unexpected or rarely expressed dimensions in several internationally esteemed wine varietals. Some of these developments, like Octagon, were decades in the making; some, like Paxxito, our passito wine, reflect centuries of tradition applied in our climate.
The differences among European growing regions and cultures, where these wines first established their profile, can be radical and have been thought to bar growing them in other settings, much less at any single estate. In growing them here, it has been a pleasure to present beautiful wines, but also to contribute a new understanding, and an enlargement to the world of wine.
Octagon
Octagon at the core
Octagon could have been a white wine. Named to celebrate the estate’s diverse connections with the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, symbolized in the central octagon drawing room in his design for Governor Barbour’s mansion, there was nothing in Jefferson’s confidence in Piedmont Virginia as a winegrowing region, to suggest that the ultimate wine of any vineyard would necessarily be red. This we were told by our own ground, even as we grow ever more pleased with our development of white varietals since the turn of the century.
Our pre-eminent wine therefore is red, because its consistent core varietals, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, happened to outshine all others in the qualities of a wine of such stature, sooner than everything else, and at a time - the earliest 1990s - when we were motivated to craft a small blend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the estate. Those qualities include, in no particular rank, a recognized compatibility for blending with each other, not as a correction but as an illumination of each other’s strengths; a capability for development in bottle toward greater elegance and nuance over a long cellar life; an inherently graceful opulence of body and duration of finish; a many-layered dynamic range of red fruit and non-fruit aromas and flavors; and textural suavity, color intensity, and allure of earth proclaiming not merely a passion for fine dining, but a gracious dialogue with the senses.
There is a clear regional analogy between Octagon and the wines of Pomerol, blending the same varietals, from comparable clay soils, seasonal conditions, and ripenings of sugars. However, our estate furnishes the ultimate shape of any Octagon edition, which will always be a blended wine, and restrictred to those years which give us superior lots of Merlot, and and almost always Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Merlot and Cabernet Franc have been planted at the estate since 1976, with Cabernet Franc being the first to prove itself here. By 1994 we were expanding Merlot into multiple vineyard sites, of carefully selected diversity in weather exposure. The great 1997 vintage repaid this Merlot planting program many times over, by giving technical guidance which has consistently yielded exceptional fruit characteristics, except only in the most difficult conditions. Subsequent large expansions of Merlot cultivation identified even finer parcels, improved the standard in the harvest over all, and enable more highly selective Octagon to be produced.
With this diversification in sites and in every season’s fruit, it is harder for a grape to get into Octagon, than any other wine in our region. The highly competitive selection process begins in the ground, in every growing season, and leads us to expect the unexpected in the variations each season will bring to these parcels. In this way the qualities of each site’s plantings are continuously re-evaluated, as a guide for future plantings and for selecting the Octagon of that vintage. No selection for the final blend is made without an extensive and repeated series of barrel tastings, from December through March, and that ultimate blend is then returned to barrel for aging into the following December. What is set aside, only by fortunate excess, will definitively shape the Reserve bottling in each of the varietals. In this way, Octagon may be a poacher of supply in these varietal Reserves, but the standard they achieve is always the highest possible.
Since our first vintage-dated bottling of Octagon in 2001, the wine has drawn positive comment from critical media in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was Michael Broadbent’s Tasting Note 308 for Decanter (02/2003), on the non-vintage Octagon Third Edition (1998), which gave the first widely circulated notice of what could be expected of this wine — “opaque core, impressive; ripe, full-bodied, and seriously good.” The wine’s experience in competitive blind tastings demonstrates this with a consistency acknowledged widely today, and has supported Vineyard & Winery Management magazine’s naming of winemaker Luca Paschina among the 20 Most Admired Winemakers in North America (Nov-Dec, 2014), his naming by the James Beard Foundation among the country’s 20 leading food and wine professionals in the same year, and his designation by the Italian Republic as a Commendatore in the Order of Merit in industry and culture.
2019
- 94 Points, James Suckling.com 08/2022 A perfumed nose of spiced cherry, sliced plum, cardamom, clove, and suede. Medium to full-bodied with silky tannins. Concentrated but not overdone, with an array of nicely ripened red fruit and berries washing over the palate.Subtle length here with the fruit lingering on the palate for a long time. Lovely spicy complexity. Drink orhold.
- Gold medal, Sommelier Challenge Inernational Wine Competition, 2022
- Gold medal, San Diego Wine & Spirits Challenge, 2023
2018
- 95 Points, James Suckling.com 12/2021 Overturned earth and dark fruit drive the nose, with fresh and dried herbs as well. Full-bodied with tight tannins. Very good depth and balance. Well-crafted acidity lets the fruit sing, lifting it up from its more brooding character and breathing life into the palate. Espresso and baking spice add charming complexity. Really impressive, given the tribulations of the 2018 vintage. Best after 2023.
2017
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2020
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2021
- 94 Points, James Suckling.com
- 96 Points, Platinum Medal, Best Bordeaux Blend, Sommelier Challenge IWC, 2021 Though the blend changes from year to year, this bottling always represents its region with class and style. This vintage is Merlot forward, with an elegant balance already showing itself. Blackberry, mild cassis, dried herbs and some rich earth notes remain distinctive from start to finish, and the structure bodes well for a long life. Built not as a showpiece, but rather as a complement to your finest dinner table occasions. Bravo!
2016
- 95 Points, Top 100 Wines in America 2018, James Suckling.com
- Double Gold Medal, 95 Points, San Francisco International Wine Competition, 2019
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2021
- Governor's Case selection, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition 2021
2015
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup WC 2018
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge IWC 2018
- Gold Medal & Best in Region, Texsom IWC 2018
- 93 Points, James Suckling.com
2014
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition 2018
- Gold Medal & Governor's Case, Virginia Governor's Cup competition 2020
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup competition, 2022
- Gold Medal, Finger Lakes IWC
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge IWC
- Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle IWC
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair
- Platinum Medal, Town Point WC, Norfolk VA
- 90 Points, Wine Spectator
- 96 Points, James Suckling.com
2013
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge IWC
- Gold Medal, Award of Excellence, Best in Region, Texsom IWC
- Gold Medal, 96 Points, Beverage Testing Institute
- Gold Medal, Atlantic Seaboard WC
- Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle IWC
- Critics Choice Award, Wine Spectator
2012
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor’s Cup competition 2015
- Gold Medal, VIrginia Governor's Cup competition 2018
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge IWC 2015
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge IWC 2014
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute 2014
- 91 Points, Wine Spectator
- 93 Points, Andrew Jefford, The World of Fine Wine
2011 No vintage
2010
- Platinum Medal, Best in Class Bordeaux Blend, 96 points, Critics Challenge IWC 2014
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup Competition
- Gold Medal, San Francisco IWC 2013
- Gold Medal, Winemaker Challenge IWC San Diego 2013
- Gold Medal, San Diego IWC, 2013
- Gold Medal, 92 points, Beverage Testing Institute 2013
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition 2014
- 91 Points, Wine Enthusiast 2013
- 90 Points, The Wine Advocate 2015
- 91 Points, Wine Spectator 2015
- 94 Points, James Suckling.com 2018
2010 Anniversary Edition
- Gold Medal, Texas Sommeliers Competition, 2015
2009
- Platinum Medal, Sommeliers Challenge IWC 2013
- Virginia Governor’s Cup Winner, 2013
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute 2012
- Gold Medal, Winemaker Challenge IWC 2012
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup competition 2012
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge IWC 2013
- 90 points, The Wine Advocate 2015
2008
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute 2012
- 88 points, The Wine Advocate 2015
2007
- Gold Medal, Best in Class Bordeaux Blend, Beverage Testing Institute 2011
- Gold Medal, Best in Class Bordeaux Blend, Atlantic Seaboard competition, 2011
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup competition, 2011
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge IWC, 2011
2006
- Monticello Cup Winner, Virginia 2009
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute 2009
- 91 points, The Wine Advocate 2015
2005
- 96 Points, James Suckling.com 12/2021 There is a lovely nuttiness to the dark fruit, chanterelles and toasted herbs on the nose. Full-bodied with tight, fine tannins. Tobacco and leather ground the ripe raspberry, strawberry and plum on the palate. Really charming and supple. You would think this was a right-bank Bordeaux the way it is aging, and it still has some years to go on it. Drink or hold.
- Double Gold Medal, International Eastern competition 2007
- Gold Medal, “Best Red Wine,” Beverage Testing Institute 2007
- Gold Medal, Tasters Guild 2007
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair 2007
- Presidential Inaugural Selection 2009
2004
- Monticello Cup Winner 2006
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge IWC 2006
2003 No vintage
2002
- Gold Medal, Atlantic Seaboard competition 2004
2001
- Double Gold Medal, International Eastern competition 2003
- Gold Medal, Best in Show, Atlantic Seaboard competition 2003
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair, 2003
- Gold Medal, Town Point (Norfolk) competition 2003
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup competition 2003
- Gold Medal, Tasters Guild 2003
Learn more and purchase from our Wine Shop.
Nascent
Our signature in white wine
Nascent is the estate’s defining statement in a blended white wine, which owes its inspiration to Octagon’s achievement in our reds, and its existence to the worthiness of varietals we’ve developed in our signature style, from winegrowing to fermentation to blending to aging. Like Octagon, Nascent draws on varietals of the most consistent success, confirmed in international competitions and criticism since the turn of the century, and solves the riddle, “Where can the finest wine go, when it’s seen Venice?” It can go back, in a different color - still as truthful, still as illuminating - where Venice is the full flash of brilliance to be extracted here.
Winegrowing is the first and defining challenge in wine blending. Recalling Octagon, Viognier stands as Nascent’s Merlot, Vermentino as its Cabernet Franc, and Falanghina lends the structural support of Petit Verdot or Cabernet Sauvignon. The first two varietals have showered us with more success than any several estates should expect in twice as many years. Next, Nascent’s development lies in the close comparison of vineyard parcels, to identify a stable foundation for selection. Visitors can overlook exactly the vine rows which yield us our Nascent, running parallel with the slope up Goodlow Mountain by the Church of the Brethren. There, in 5.5 acres of Viognier and 6.5 of Vermentino, plus 1 of Falanghina, are the vines of this wine and their own Reserve label, while Falanghina’s other appearance is in our Fiano. These few rows of vines benefit from pruning techniques designed to yield not just a fine Reserve, but even a Nascent.
After mastering the growing sites and the vine maintenance techniques, all winemaking hopes for Nascent required the diligent comparison of fermentation alternatives and blending ratios, and the designation of ideal barrels for its aging. The process took years, beginning in earnest as the success of Vermentino, introduced with the 2010 vintage, placed it smashingly on par with the Viognier, established a dozen years before. As much as Vermentino encouraged our expanding to other varietal islands of warm-climate grapes, Fiano and Falanghina, it transformed hope into the chart of navigation, for passage back to Venice in Nascent.
From harvest to the wine’s release in bottle is a voyage of 3 years. Fermentation for Nascent’s Viognier is not in stainless steel anymore, but takes place in 660-gallon casks of thick staves of very low-porous Austrian oak, minimally toasted. Here the principle of neutrality in our house style is lent the most advanced subtlety and suppleness in the result. For Vermentino and Falanghina, the neutrality of our Reserve white style in stainless steel is furnished instead by our classic 60-gallon barriques in French oak, used through 6 to 10 previous vintages, yet of greater porosity.
One year later, when extensive tastings have determined the ratios of the blend, the wines and their lees are racked and blended, into one stainless steel tank, and from there returned to barrels until the Fall, completing a full year in neutral wood. After that year, the wines are assembled in one stainless steel tank for 20 additional months of maturing. Throughout this gentle, extended development through 32 months, the lees are stirred at least monthly. Finally, the wine is filtered and bottled to rest for 4 months before release, with a full 36 months of aging. Nascent is and will be rare.
Palladio Chef Michael Clough collaborated with Winemaker Luca Paschina and Sommelier Alessandro Medici in designing a celebratory dish of Lobster, Sea Scallop, and Osetra Caviar for the launch of Nascent, September 2021 - the 200th anniversary of our ownership family's history in wine in Italy and 45th anniversary of their founding of this wine estate.
2018 Vintage
96 Points, Platinum Medal, Best White Wine in Show, Sommelier Challenge International Wine Competition 2021 This blend of Viognier, Vermentino and Falanghina is labeled “Tribute to Virginia” and if it’s a sign of where Virginia’s white wines are headed, it’s time to give the region another look. Crisp, bright and dry, it has a richness on the mid palate and in the finish that keeps the citrus and stone fruit flavors intact well down the road. One of the best whites tasted this year – from anywhere.
93 Points, James Suckling.com 12/2021 Floral nose with peach and grapefruit poking out as well. Medium-bodied with real structure and presence. The minerality here really keeps this steady through the long, stoney finish. Delightful. Drink or hold.
Paxxito
Passito Tradition in Extradition
Paxxito was introduced with the 2001 vintage. It is the product of winemaking practices dating back to the 5th century BC, and celebrated by the poet Virgil in Georgics, ca 40 BC. Among our wines, several share Paxxito’s universal acceptance at wine competitions and in the critical press (detailed below), but none with the obvious intensity of delight that underwrites its acclaim. We are never disappointed to hear it described as the most beautiful wine we make.
Paxxito belongs to that traditional European class of wines, before the discovery of Port, which presents the highest natural concentration of extracted fruit, including original acidity and sugar, with the most intense aromas and palate, of the longest life expectancy in bottle. Part of what makes Paxxito all the more appealing to us as winemakers, and gratifying to the taster, is the palpable simplicity of its method of production, relying on the least interference of technology and the highest allowance of time and manual care in its vinification. The passito style creates a dessert wine which is at least the equal in delicacy, suavity and power of those relying upon botrytis (“noble rot”) or freezing (eisswein or cryogenics). This is the natural style, for a growing region of unpredictable timing of late autumn frost or progress of rot, and with our Italian heritage it is also irresistibly embedded in the tradition of vin santo.
The grapes are harvested at optimum vitality, Moscato Ottonel and Vidal Blanc in roughly equal proportions. Moscato, for its famous, luscious aromas and flavors, and Vidal for its framing acidity, are left to dry on racks in their own dedicated farm shed at the estate, open to the air, for 2 to 3 months. In that extended period, the clusters are further hand-selected while the grapes raisinize, concentrating the sugars and acidity with which they were harvested, yielding four times less than their potential volume.
This extravagant inefficiency is rewarded at the grape press by the most extravagant opulence, of a gentle flow like honey lightly clouded, which is allowed to settle for a time in stainless steel tank, where fermentation will be triggered spontaneously by native yeasts with which the estate’s own bees have inoculated the berries.
The fermenting wine is racked into very neutral small oak barriques, dedicated to this wine alone for as many as 10 or more previous vintages. There, fermentation rises and falls, for more than two years, as the more capable yeasts take over from inert yeasts in time. This extended lees enrichment, taking place in multiple individual barrels of the vintage, contributes vital layers of complexity to the finished wine, so that the final act of bottling inevitably constitutes a blending as well. At this climactic phase, samples are taste-tested by the winemakers from each barrel, occasionally with small increments (less than 10 percent) from an older vintage, playing a finishing part. At long last, the wine is bottled with slight filtration, as a vibrant, deep gold, presenting unrivaled opulence and length.
Even a partial competition history for Paxxito affirms that what is true of Octagon, is true of this wine. If it made its way into bottle, it has already passed the strictest tests of the vintage, and it will age superbly for well over 10 years.
Winemaker Luca Paschina with Governor Tim Kaine, 2007 Governor’s Cup Gold for 2005 vintage.
2001 vintage
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair 2004
- 5 stars, Michael Broadbent’s Tasting Note 387, Decanter, 08/01/2009
2002
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition 2004
- Gold Medal, Virginia Winegrowers Association (Atlantic Seaboard) Wine Competition 2004
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup competition 2004
- Gold Medal, Los Angeles International Wine Competition 2004
- “Top-Scoring Wine out of 80 by 2 clear points,” The Financial Times, Andrew Jefford's report on London’s “Virginia Wine Experience,” 09/01/07
2003
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor’s Cup competition 2005
2004
- Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition 2007
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge Wine Competition 2006
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition 2006
2005
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor’s Cup competition, 2007
- 5 stars, Michael Broadbent’s Tasting Note 387, Decanter, 08/01/09
2006
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition 2011
- 90 points, The Wine Advocate, 06/29/15
2007
- Double Gold Medal & “Best in Class” over 99 wines, San Francisco International Wine Competition, 2012
- Gold Medal, 93 points, Beverage Testing Institute
2008
- Gold Medal & “Best Virginia Dessert Wine,” Beverage Testing Institute, 2013
- Gold Medal & Governor’s Case, Virginia Governor’s Cup, 2013
- Gold Medal & Best in Class, Atlantic Seaboard competition
- Gold Medal & Best of Show, San Francisco Chronicle competition, 2010
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge Wine Competition, 2013
- 93 points, The Wine Advocate, 06/29/15
2010
- Platinum Medal, 94 points, Sommeliers Challenge, 2014
- Gold Medal, Best Dessert Wine, Beverage Testing Institute 2015
- Gold Medal, Texas Sommeliers Wine Competition, 2015
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition, 2014
- 92 points, The Wine Advocate, 06/29/15
2012
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2016
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition 2016
- 90 Points, The Wine Advocate
2013
- Gold Medal and Governor's Case, Virginia Governor's Cup competition
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition 2017
- 92 Points, The Wine Advocate
2014
- Gold Medal, Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition 2018
- Platinum Medal, Savor Virginia Wine Competition 2018
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair 2018
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge International Wine Competition 2018
- 92 Points, James Suckling.com
2015
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition 2019
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge Wine Competion 2018
- Double Gold Medal, Best Passito, 97 Points, San Francisco International Wine Competition, 2019
- Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle IWC, 2020
- 93 Points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate online, June, 2020
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2021
- Winner, Virginia Governor's Cup, and named to Governor's Case, 2021
- 93 Points, JamesSuckling.com, 2022 "Sweet toffee aromas mix with complex dried-fruit notes on the nose. Medium-bodied and sweet. There is balance and structure here among the developed berry and fruit flavors with pleasant nuttiness and a hint of floral character. This can age for as long as you want it to, and will be better for it. Drink or hold."
2017
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2021
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle Competition, 2021
- Platinum Medal, 96 Points, Best in Show Dessert, Critics Challenge International, 2021
- Gold Medal, Best in Category, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition, 2021
- Platinum Medal, 95 Points, Best in Show Dessert, Sommelier Challenge International, 2021 A perennial competition award winner, this Vin Santo styled dessert wine is a blend of Muscat Ottonel and Vidal Blanc. This vintage is brighter than the last few in my memory, with a lighter viscosity and a livelier acidity that makes the honeyed fruit flavors pop. It has a finish that won’t quit, and it will make a fine dessert all by itself. If you want more, I would recommend mild to medium cheeses as a pairing partner.
2018
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition, 2022
- Platinum Medal, 94 Points, Best Dessert Wine in Show, Winemakers Challenge, 2022
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International competition 2022
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Sauvignon Blanc
Securing Sauvignon Blanc
We credit the fundamental beauty of this varietal for our persistence with its original plantings, dating from 1984, which nevertheless yielded very variable satisfaction from vintage to vintage. No winelover willingly contemplates a parting with Sauvignon Blanc, but as winegrowers, we are interested in cultivating varietals which portray the virtues of our terroir at their best.
By the 25th vintage we resolved to replace all of our original 5-acre plantings, if selections of greater adaptability to our land and climate could be discovered. Our viticulturist Fernando Franco and our consultant from the University of Bordeaux, Denis Dubourdieu, are to be credited with recommending a complete renovation in our Sauvignon Blanc plantings. Fernando was dispatched to New Zealand in 2009, to meet with leading growers in the Marlborough district, where weather patterns resemble our own, and where Sauvignon Blanc has been dramatically successful. We cannot point to a more productive exploration.
In Marlborough we identified 3 distinctive specimens of Sauvignon Blanc of high promise for our vineyards, and promptly planted 2.5 acres, with 5 more acres going into the ground in 2010. 2012 gave us our first, small vintage based entirely on the new plantings. At harvest we knew we had discovered the varietal character which had so tempted but eluded us, in the extraordinary complexity and concentration derived from these three superb selections. Again our preference for investigating multiple genetic profiles was rewarded by a weave of the most alluring aromatic layers of grapefruit, passion fruit and tart spice, fully validated on the palate. These investigations resulted in techniques which continue to rely on no exotic vinification methods, holding to our classic stainless steel fermentation, with cold pressing of one vineyard lot after 48 hours under refrigeration at 40º F to suppress oxidation. The lees are stirred every 10 days in tank, over approximately 6 months, and the wine is produced without blending.
2021
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition, 2022
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2023
2020
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition, 2022
- Gold Medal, Winemakers Challenge, 2022
2019
- Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition 2020
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2021
- Platinum Medal, 94 Points, Winemaker Challenge, San Diego, 2021
2017
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair 2019
2016
- 92 Points, James Suckling.com
2015
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, Finger Lakes International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, Town Point Virginia Wine Competition 2017
2014
- Gold Medal, Best White Wine, Virginia State Fair 2016
- Gold Medal, Best Virginia White Wine, Beverage Testing Institute 2016
- Gold Medal, Dan Berger International Wine Competition 2016
- Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition, 2022
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Nebbiolo
Travels in Nebbiolo
Skepticism toward New World cultivation of Nebbiolo has been shattered, and it is our pleasure to have played a part in this new objectivity. Two fundamental misimpressions, that Nebbiolo is a chauvinist for its original region of cultivation, and that it defies wine growing science, we have been happy to refute. The vine clearly thrives best on the Guyot trellising system adopted for it in Piemonte, and it demands patience in its evolution throughout the growing season, which is embedded in Piemontese tradition. In these characteristics Nebbiolo does benefit from a loyalty to its culture in our Piemontese winemaker, Luca Paschina, and in our founder from the Veneto, Gianni Zonin. It is only fair to say this grape flourishes here in material part because it is understood. But its molecular profile, not the place where it is grown, and our observance of sound technique, are what preserve the grape's signature.
It was not accident, then, which led our first vintage, the 1998 Nebbiolo Reserve, to win the only Gold Medal for this varietal at the San Francisco competition in 2002, as the 2005 vintage did again in 2009. Still, a skepticism persisted. Other wine competitions repeatedly awarded Gold Medals, but they were isolated events; and some courageous writers ventured to reverse their doubts in print, but in impermanent reviews. An important migration of the most esteemed grape in Italian viticulture continued to remain almost unperceived.
Finally, 2015 brought a confluence of acclaim for several of this estate's Nebbiolo vintages at once, portraying the very high consistency of the adaptability of our soils and our oenological techniques in producing Nebbiolo which is simply world class. It is unquestionably, dependably one of this estate's finest offerings.
Affirming the Chairman's Platinum Award for Nebbiolo Reserve 2012, at the Critics Challenge Wine Competition in 2015, critic Robert Whitley went beyond its 94 points to voice a generalization abundantly substantiated by prior history —
"America's finest Nebbiolo is made in Virginia. Indeed, the Barboursville Reserve Nebbiolo could give the finest Barolos a run for their money." (May 26, 2015)
In the next month (June 29, 2015), Robert Parker's famous online publication, The Wine Advocate, published for the first time in one place its own ratings of multiple vintages of the Nebbiolo Reserve, in this arresting sequence:
1998 - 91 points
2002 - 91 points
2008 - 91 points
2009 - 92 points
2010 - 89 points
Nearly 20 years off the vine, that first vintage withstands the most critical scrutiny, as a fine Nebbiolo is supposed to do. Indeed, what underwrote Robert Whitley's declaration on the 2012 vintage was precisely the same compliment — "This wine will benefit from additional cellar time, with peak maturity still five to eight years off."
Nebbiolo sets the standard of the continuum we hold in our sights for our very finest red wines, from Cabernet Franc to Cabernet Sauvignon to Petit Verdot to Merlot to Octagon. It sets a standard in patience and vigilance we extend to growing all our wines, but like all of them, it is not a success we did not expect. It is extraordinarily resilient in our growing conditions, as the sequence of its success over many vintages demonstrates. It is not a mystery grape, Piedmont Virginia is not a mystery growing region. Possibly our Nebbiolo Reserve has settled that.
1998 vintage
- Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competiton
- The Best Red Wine in Virginia, Bruce Schoenfeld, Travel & Leisure 2007
2004
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup
2005
- Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition
2008
- 95 Points James Suckling.com 12/2021 Inviting aromas of grilled mushroom, sliced fig and plum. Medium-to full-bodied with fine tannins. This is aging nicely, with the tannins only just beginning to integrate, making the palate refreshing and giving structure to the articulate red fruit. Earthy finish. Drink or hold.
2009
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition
2010
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition
- 91 Points, Wine Enthusiast
2014
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition
- 92 Points, Wine Enthusiast
2015
- Platinum Medal, 95 Points, Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition 2019
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup 2019
- 93 Points, James Suckling.com
- Gold Medal, 91 Points, San Francisco International Wine Competition, 2019
2017
- Gold Medal, 91 Points, Critics Challenge International, 2021
2018
- 93 Points James Suckling.com 12/2021 Red cherry, strawberry and red currant on the nose. Medium-boded with fine, taught tannins. This is really pretty and perfumed on the palate with good energy and zip. Herbaceous, with subtle spice, too. Hold.
2019
- 94 Points James Suckling.com 12/2021 A perfumed nose of sliced strawberry, mushroom and white pepper. Medium-bodied with fine, gripping tannins. So tight right now, but already showing charm and delicacy, with bright red fruit and woody spice. Some lovely tart fruit as well. Hold.
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup competition, 2022
- Gold Medal, Monticello Cup competition, 2022
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International competition, 2022
- Gold medal Sommelier International Wine Competition 2022
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Viognier
Discovering more in Viognier
Although Viognier is grown in limited volume in several disparate viticultural regions of the world, the prototype of everyone’s expectations for the wine is set in and around Condrieu, in the northern Rhône Valley, where it is customarily fermented in oak barrels, passed through malolactic fermentation, and aged for 6 to 24 months in oak. A warm growing region emphasizes the fruit’s inherent melon-like, floral, and viscous qualities, which are naturally enriched further with these winemaking techniques. This is the style we, ourselves, adopted in our original vintages, and with success if resemblance to Condrieu is accepted as a guide. Indeed, the judges at the 1999 Virginia Governor’s Cup competition remarked privately to us, if our 1997 Cabernet Franc had not carried the day, the 1998 Viognier would have done.
But after our first three vintages, we suspected we could discover more in our fruit than these methods allowed - more nuances in the aromatics, more refreshment on the palate - and with our restrained approach, we discovered several unexpected facets of this grape. This meant a shift to stainless steel, for fermentation; an avoidance of malolactic fermentation; and vitally important, a cool, 9-12 month aging and stirring on the lees in stainless steel.
This approach affords a wine which is a more elegant, more diversified asset in the hands of any culinary enthusiast, than has traditionally been expected of Viognier, and 10 years of vitality in finer vintages. Now our Viognier is listed in fine restaurants from Copenhagen and London to Miami and Chicago, as sommeliers appreciate its unmasked, natural complexity. Its food-partnering range is expanded, even as its own character is better articulated; and it is a leading exponent of the style of our house.
1998 vintage
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup
2010
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Winemakers Challenge International Competition 2012
2011
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute
2013
- Gold Medal, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition 2014
- Gold Medal, Riverside (CA) International Wine Competition 2014
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute
2014
- 91 Points, The Wine Advocate
2015
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers International Wine Competition 2017
- Gold Medal, International Eastern Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Town Point Virginia Wine Competition
2016
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2018
- Gold Medal, Winemakers Challenge International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition, 2017
- 92 Points, James Suckling.com
2017
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition 2018
- Gold Medal, Winemaker Challenge International Competition 2019
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition 2018
- Top 100 Wines of the World, 90 Points, Wine Enthusiast 2019
2018
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition, 90 Points, 2020
- Gold Medal, 91 Points, Critics Challenge IWC, 2020
- Gold Medal, 93 Points, American Fine Wines Competition, Miami, 2020
2020
- 93 Points James Suckling.com 12/2021 A lovely nose of ripe stone fruit, saffron and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied. Really refined and driving. The fruit is expressive and dynamic with some white pepper and nutmeg adding charming complexity. Well-balanced and flavorful wine. Drink or hold.
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition, 2022
2021
- 92 Points James Suckling.com 09/2022 Perfumed aromas of crushed herbs, fresh flowers, and white peach. Medium-bodied with a smooth texture. Charming and fresh. Notes of beeswax and wet minerals add complexity to the floral and stone fruit palate. Drink now.
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Vermentino
The flourishing adoption of Vermentino
In recent years, with the standout success of Viognier in our terroir, we have methodically searched for other candidates for adoption among the warm climate varietals of European viticulture. Consistent success with Vermentino, whose cultivation is concentrated in the Tyrrhenian Sea regions of Liguria, coastal Tuscany, and on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, has encouraged us to launch also the very successful limited production of Fiano, and of Falanghina, both widely grown along the coastline of Puglia on the Adriatic Sea.
Our Italian winemaker, Luca Paschina, frequently revisited the Ligurian Vermentino vineyards as he was growing up an hour away in Piemonte. There, the vines are planted on very warm, south-facing terraces. Producing large berries of thick skins, resistant to rain, in loose clusters offering natural ventilation, Vermentino ripens consistently, within a wide range of seasonal growing conditions. The Ligurian model proved very adaptable to our comparably warm Virginia Piedmont.
The grapes are fermented in stainless steel, avoiding malolactic fermentation, and the wine is aged in stainless steel only, with lees contact of no less than 7 to 8 months. Vermentino creates a wine of medium lightness of body, strategically poised between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, yet with the lively middle palate of Sancerre and length recalling Chablis. Pale yellow, with tints of silvery green, it is a wine of floral brightness and inherent minerality, with traces of Pinot Grigio’s subtle salinity.
We happily admit, the immediate success of this varietal corresponded with a natural preference for a brilliantly complex dry white wine for seafood of Italian derivation. An aromatic bouillabaisse, a bowl of mussels or clams steamed in their juices with garlic and a crust of fresh bread, partner truly euphorically with Vermentino. The critical embrace of this wine has been as exuberant as the wine itself, affirming a consistency in vintage performance approached only by the finest wines, anywhere.
2012 vintage
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2013
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge International WIne Competition 2013
2013
- Gold Medal, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition 2014
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2014
- Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition 2014
2014
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Dan Berger International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal and Governor's Case, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Winemakers Challenge International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, Texsom International Wine Competition
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition
2015
- Gold Medal, Winemakers Challenge International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition
2016
- Gold Medal, San Diego International Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, Savor Virginia Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Wine Competition, 2018
- Gold Medal, Town Point (Norfolk) Virginia Wine Competition
- Gold Medal, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition
- 92 Points, James Suckling.com
2017
- Platinum Medal, Best in Varietal, Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition 2019
- Gold Medal and Governor's Case, Virginia Governor's Cup Wine Competition 2019
- Platinum Medal, Best in Varietal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2019
- 91 Points, James Suckling 2019
2018
- Gold Medal, Best of Category, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition 2019
- Double Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle IWC 2020
- Gold Medal & Governor's Case, Virginia Governor's Cup 2020
- Gold Medal, American Fine Wines Competition, Miami 2020
2019
- Platinum Medal, 94 Points, San Diego International Wine & Spirits Challenge, 2021
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2021
- Governor's Case selection, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition. 2021
- Gold Medal, Texsom International Wine Awards, 2021
- 92 Points James Suckling.com 12/2021 Crisp and balanced aromas of grapefruit, white peach and fresh herbs. Medium-bodied. Rather refreshing with lean fruit expression and a steely, mineral finish. Nicely refined. Drink now.
2020
- Gold Medal, 91 Points, Sommelier Challenge IWC, 2021
- Gold Medal & Governor's Case Selection, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2022
2021
- Platinum Medal, Critics Challenge International competition, 2022
- 92 Points, James Suckling.com, 09/2022 Aromas of grapefruit, peach, thyme, and fresh mint. Medium-bodied. A note of wet stone drives the palate with bright acidity and a more fresh herbal finish. Tasty stuff. Drink now.
- Gold Medal Sommelier Challenge Wine Competition 2022
- Gold Medal and Governor's Case selection, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2023
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Cabernet Franc
Fathoming Cabernet Franc
Our success in gaining recognition of Cabernet Franc as a freestanding varietal for crafting fine wine, consistently shares a spotlight of distinction with our development of Octagon, the winery’s classic Bordeaux blend. If there were not an Octagon, and if Cabernet Franc were the only varietal grown at the estate, then a generalized distinction would come into much more clarifying relief: Cabernet Franc’s prestige as a red wine of suppleness, finesse, elegance and age-worthiness would be just that much more obvious, and this would be perceived to be a genuinely distinctive contribution of our terroir to the varietal’s reputation.
The estate took the lead in planting Cabernet Franc in Virginia in 1976, which revealed the varietal’s natural adaptability to our fluctuating climatic conditions, almost beyond comparison among red wine grapes. Nor was this adaptability unassisted by our famously temperate climate, for we found that certain vineyard blocks of Cabernet Franc will perform unpredictably better than others, in alternating growing seasons. Overall, moreover, we were discovering our weather patterns to be ideal for the balanced ripening of this varietal, raising it above its tendency in colder regions to exhibit green pepper as a signature of less ripeness, while avoiding the baked fruit effects of hotter regions.
In our first 16 vintages we, ourselves, adhered to custom in producing Cabernet Franc only as a grape for blending, primarily with Cabernet Sauvignon. With the excellent 1992 vintage we could no longer resist fermenting, aging, and bottling the wine by itself, and refocused our commitment to the grape.
From the earliest 1990s, we launched upon a systematic expansion of cultivation, diversified both in site selection and in plant materials, which dwarfs that of every other Virginia vineyard in scale, consistency, and critical success, and at 40 acres in vine represents an above-average estate of its own in this region. In 1993, we doubled our original 4 acres with new plant materials from Bordeaux selections, in an 8-acre expansion. Within the following decade, all of that new growth would be replanted on superior rootstock, with further diversification of selections. In 1994 we added 4.5 acres in another new site, and in 2000, 3 more, in 3 new selections from Bordeaux. In 2010, another 4 acres, in 2013, another 5. Repeatedly, our viticulturist Fernando Franco has traveled to California and to St. Émilion, investigating plant selections closely with growers in both regions, while Professor of Oenology Denis Dubourdieu has traveled from Bordeaux to consult with us on-site.
With the watershed award of the first Virginia Governor’s Cup for Cabernet Franc in 1999, for our 1997 vintage, the whole region began to pursue this varietal with almost unanimous concentration. But the result of our commitments is a capability, through our range of seasonal conditions, to produce Cabernet Franc under its own varietal name, which is conspicuously welcomed by sommeliers besieged by the more numerous Bordeaux blends. From London to Rome, to Chicago to San Francisco, the winery’s Cabernet Franc has found a niche for itself in restaurant lists of the highest discernment and respect for regional distinctiveness in wine. Fully a third of our friends cite “their” Cabernet Franc as their favorite among all our reds, and in competitions it is constantly vying only with Octagon for highest honors. There is no reason for this but the varietal’s inclination to be grown in our terroir, which we repay with the most assiduous and exuberant efforts of our own.
2001 vintage
- Gold Medal, Virginia State Fair 2005
- Gold Medal, Virginia Winegrowers ("ASWA") Wine Competition 2005
- "Top 10 American Wines," Food & Wine, 11.03.2005
2006
- 93 Points, James Suckling.com 09/2022 A rather attractive aged nose of porcini, leather, forest berries, and bark. Medium-bodied with subtle tannins guiding the way. While this shows very nice aged notes that reflect the nose, there remains a core of succulent and juicy red fruit that retains a hint of freshness. Lovely. Drink now.
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute 2014
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2008
- Gold Medal, Monticello Winegrowers Competition 2009
- Gold Medal, Town Point (Norfolk) Virginia Wine Competition 2009
2007
- 96 Pionts, James Suckling.com 12/2021 St.-Emillion nose! Mint, too. Totally delicious and has aged wonderfully. Medium-to full-bodied with gravelly mineral character backing up the dark fruit and spice. Drink now.
- Gold Medal, Beverage Testing Institute 2014
- Gold Medal, Monticello Winegrowers Competition 2009
2009
- Gold Medal and Best in Class, Winemakers Challenge International Wine Competition 2012
- Gold Medal, Virginia WInegrowers ("ASWA") Wine Competition 2012
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Wine Competition, 2012
2011
- Gold Medal, San Francisco International Wine Competition 2013
2014
- Gold Medal, Virginia Governor's Cup Competition 2017
- Gold Medal, Texsom International Wine Competition 2017
- Gold Medal, San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition 2017
- 91 Points, The Wine Advocate
2015
- Gold Medal, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition 2017
2016
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2018
- Gold Medal, Sommeliers Challenge International Wine Competition 2018
- 93 Points James Suckling.com
2017
- Gold Medal, Critics Challenge International Wine Competition 2019
- Gold Medal, 90 Points, San Francisco International Wine Competition 2019
- 92 Points James Suckling.com 2019
2019
- 92 Points (Cabernet Franc Reserve) James Suckling.com 12/2021 A pleasant nose of red currant, baking spice, red licorice and wild strawberry. Full-bodied with tight, well-structured tannins. Balanced, with subtle complexity and good length. Chocolate at the end. Best after 2022.
- 93 Points (Cabernet Franc Goodlow Mountain) James Suckling.com 12/2021 A nose of spice and tobacco with fresh herbs and elderberries as well. Toasted oak. Medium to full-bodied with very good depth and complexity. Structured. Cumin, nutmeg and allspice blend together with blackberry and melted chocolate on the palate. A little lean at the end and wood showing. Needs time to soften and come together. Try after 2025
2020
- 92 Points (Cabernet Franc Reserve) James Suckling.com 09/2022 Charming aromas of red cherry, baked strawberry, rosemary and a bit of hibiscus. Medium-bodied with soft tannins. Juicy and rather mineral that strikes a balance between complexity and approachability. Drink or hold.
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Fiano
At home from the start
Just as Vermentino came to our vineyards inspired by its popularity in sunny, coastal Liguria and Sardinia, its immediate success here raised hopes of achieving the same high standard with Fiano, the white wine grape which flourishes in southernmost Italy, from Puglia in the east to Campania, around Vesuvius, on the west coast. Fiano is thick-skinned in character as well as construction, tolerating both rainfall and hot sunshine as normal weather conditions. In 2013, our viticulturist Fernando Franco - who selected outstanding strains of Sauvignon Blanc for us, in New Zealand (see that wine, above) - visited our founder’s estate in Puglia, to study their fine results with Fiano. Thus, in the first year of Fiano vines’ availability in America (2014), we were ready and energized to pursue this next pioneering commitment. As we’d hoped, Fiano sprang to life in these vineyards as if needing no introduction.
In the winery, Fiano Reserve follows the techniques of stainless-steel fermentation and aging, avoiding any oak, which give us our Viognier and Vermentino Reserves, except that the Fiano is consistently blended with a second Italian staple, Falanghina, at 5 to 10 percent per vintage. From wine competitions to the critical press, this youngest of our white Reserve offerings immediately won and continues to hold the heights of enthusiasm, for its singular fusion of melon-like, citrusy, and floral aromatics and flavors, of a refreshing and notably mineral palate.
Fiano Reserve 2021
- 93 Points An alluring nose of wet stone, lily, lemongrass, and fresh peach. Medium-bodied with silky texture. Subtle but generous palate, with lots of fresh fruit and a cool character. Lovely depth and complexity here. Drink or hold. JamesSuckling.com (09/22)
- Double Gold Medal San Francisco International Wine Competition, 2022
- Gold Medal San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, 2023
- Gold Medal San Diego Wine & Spirits Challenge, 2023
- Gold Medal Virginia Governor's Cup Competition, 2023
Fiano Reserve 2017
- 94 Points A fantastic Fiano with dried lemon, peach, salt, and stone character. Aromatic and beautiful, setting up a deep and rich palate that remains intense and focused at the finish. Drink now. JamesSuckling.com (10/18)