Septenary Winery at Seven Oaks Farm and Blenheim Vineyard are two wineries that, at least at a glance, couldn’t seem more different.
Septenary’s tasting room is a historic manor house, giving it a boujee, Instagram-able vibe. They are still serving reds from the 2017 and 2019 vintage as they prefer to age their wines for an extended time.
By contrast, Blenheim’s tasting room is more casual than fancy, although I do enjoy the alpine-lodge view as you walk in. Their wines use screwcaps instead of corks since they are made to be enjoyed fairly young.
Both have different styles of winemaking, but they do have one thing in common – trailblazing female winemakers.
Kirsty Harmon has been Blenheim’s winemaker since 2008, making her one of the longest-tenured female winemakers in Virginia. She was once mentored by Gabriele Rausse (whose own winery is down the street) but has since become a mentor herself.
One of the many she’s mentored was a young harvest intern named Corry Craighill. You may have heard of her – she won the Virginia Governor’s Cup in 2026.
Corry’s main gig is at Septenary, where she’s made wine since 2020. Corry also makes wine for Wound Tight (her private label) and Valley Road.
Septenary Winery
Septenary’s full name is “Septenary Winery at Seven Oaks Farm”. They originally wanted to brand themselves “Seven Oaks” but that name was already taken. So they adopted “Septenary” as reference to the number “7”.
It’s definitely one of the prettiest wineries in the area. The farm is huge, although the size of the vineyard has fluctuated over time. They are currently replanting older blocks, with plans to go from 3 acres to 9 acres, exclusively focused on red varieties (they source white grapes locally, including Blenheim).
Last year I met Corry pouring her Wound Tight brand at an event at Walsh Family wine. I loved her “Root Chatter” (one of the few Saparavis made in Virginia) and “Little Light” (a sauv blanc with some kick), but I had to ask – when are the reds she made at Septenary coming out?
Turns out, not for a while. But she was willing to give me a sneak peek.
Fast forward a year, and Corry kindly organized a small tasting for a small group of friends.
She poured three 2021 vintage red blends and a 2022 cabernet franc. One of these is currently for sale, while the others won’t hit the tasting room until 2027.
I initially thought the delay in introducing these wines was because of a backlog in their wine inventory. Not so, Corry clarified.
It turns out the owners prefer to age their wines for an extended time (16-18 months in barrel, plus 2 years in the bottle). Besides that, they had no fruit in 2020, so 2021 was actually the first time Corry was able to make wine at Septenary.
When you do that math, it makes sense that only now is Septenary introducing their 2021 reds blends, all named from parts of the property.
And I’m here to tell you – they are worth the wait. All of them were good to exceptional, leaning towards a lighter style.
- 2022 Cabernet Franc: A little bit herbaceous with a spice note. Red pepper but no bell pepper. A lighter expression of cab franc, and very yummy.
- 2021 Cloverplains (61% Merlot/23% PV/15% Cab Franc): Approachable, but still Old World in style (actually, this can be said for many of her wines). Sweet/confectionary note on the nose. The kind of wine you bring to an event and everyone will enjoy it. It turned out to be very food friendly as well (thank you Greenwood Grocer).
- 2021 Carriage House (50/50 Merlot and PV): Flashier than the Cloverplains but still graceful, silky. Slightly more oak treatment than previous wine.
- 2021 Deacon (58% Tannat/42% PV): Notes of purple flower on the nose, and plum on the palate. This was a ‘big’ wine, although not quite as heavy as some other PV/Tannat blends (which is meant as a compliment).
Blenheim Vineyards
Next up was Blenheim.
Kenny Bumbaco had won a group tasting from the We the Wine People auction and graciously invited a group of other friends to join him, myself included. It turned out that Kirsty was guiding our tasting herself.
Kristy has been working in Charlottesville for a while, although she’s also spent time in New Zealand. Her time there inspired her to adopted screwcaps for her wines.
Screwcaps get a bad rap from wine snobs. While the technology behind using them has advanced considerably, they still are primarily used for wines not designed to age.
That said, they make sense for Blenheim, since most of their wines are meant to be enjoyed young. This also allows them to make some of the most affordable Virginia-made wines out there.
Kristy’s extended tasting also showed us that at least some of these wines have aging potential, at least from better vintages.
I don’t have extensive notes on everything, so I’ll summarize what we had instead
- 2023 “Blanc de Blenheim”: 100% Chardonnay, aged 1 year on the lees. Nice brioche nose despite the relatively short aging time.
- 2024 Sauv Blanc: This was a dead ringer for a NZ sauv blanc, a style that I find rare in Virginia. Super aromatic.
- 2024 Chardonnay (made in steel): Bright and crisp. Lots of orchard fruit notes
- 2023 Chardonnay (oak and steel): More weight, a little creamy
- 2022 Blenheim Farm Chardonnay (oak and steel): Nutty; my favorite of the 3.
- 2021 Painted White (blend of Chardonnay/Vio/Sauv Blanc): Very aromatic and a little viscous
- 2023 Painted White (Chardonnay/Roussanne/Viognier/Sauv Blanc): Complex, but can be enjoyed on its own
- Dry Rose’: Grenache and some other grapes I didn’t catch. Loved the orange/salmon color. Savory
- 2021 Farm Red: Juicy! Jolly rancher notes. A good candidate for a chill-able red. Funny story; Kristy originally named this “Table Red” but ‘a chef’ recommended she change that name. That chef was Jose’ Andreas.
- 2025 Merlot: Fresh and fruity, with lots of acidity. Made in steel.
- 2024 Painted Red: Too many grapes in here to name. Very crushable
- 2012 Painted Red: The surprise of the day. Kristy brought this out as a special treat. Still good, despite everything I said earlier about screwcap-topped wines not being age-able.
