I like to host my birthday parties in style. So what better way to celebrate than to do a vertical of my favorite winery – Linden Vineyards. Even better, I was assisted by a group of friends with expert-level palates.

I started with a plan for a 9-vintage comparison of their Hardscrabble red blend. That expanded to 11 vintages. Since I was obviously committed, I decided to add a mini vertical of Hardscrabble Chardonnay.

If you’ve read my blog before, you are likely aware I’m a Linden Vineyards fanboy. But for first-time readers, here is a brief background of the winery and the man behind it, Jim Law.

Jim founded Linden in 1983 on an old apple orchard. Their estate vineyard is named Hardscrabble, which has 20 acres of vines planted between 1,100-1,400’. While Linden’s other (much smaller) vineyards – Avenius and Boisseau – have their own advantages, it’s fair to say Hardscrabble is what Linden is best known for.

Tasting 11 vintages is quite an experience. Virginia wine is renowned for its vintage variation, and that variation was on full display. Each vintage had varying levels of ripeness and acidity, as well as (sometimes dramatically) different blends.

But it was more than vintage variation. While Jim may lean “Old World” in style, he’s not afraid to fine-tune his winemaking approach to whatever the vintage requires.

Linden’s Hardscrabble Blog was of great assistance in this writeup. It provides an incredibly detailed record of every wine Linden has ever produced, down to seasonal growing conditions, individual winemaking notes, and recommended food pairings.

Hardscrabble Chardonnay Vertical (2015-2021)

If you ask Jim what his ‘flagship’ wine is, he’d probably say “Chardonnay”. It remains his first love, and arguably the variety Linden is best known for.

We had 4 vintages – 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021. All were 100% Chardonnay from the estate Hardscrabble vineyard.

What stood out is how these wines are meant to age. Some were a little reductive, but that was a winemaking decision to ensure they had staying power.

2015 Hardscrabble Chardonnay: Wine Advocate would tell you this is a 95-point wine (the highest-rated Virginia wine at the time of the score). My group would say it was “Yummy!”

During various visits I remember Jim praising this wine, which is memorable since Jim is not a man known for being effusive regarding his own work.

The 2015 HS Chardonnay was extremely well integrated, with notes of hazelnut, baked apple, and maybe a bit of brioche. I also heard vanilla and cream.

It was full bodied, with the nutty characteristics I associate with older Chardonnays. It did have a ‘matchstick’ quality initially when we opened, but that dissipated quickly.

Last we spoke, Jim professed he didn’t think this wine would improve with more age. But having just tasted it, it easily has several more years before I’d be worried about a decline.

2017 Hardscrabble Chardonnay: Also outstanding, in a different way. Fresher than the 2015, more aggressive, with more obvious ripeness in the fruit.

Group tasting notes mentioned hay, white flower, lemon peel, and a yeasty/brioche nose.

2019 Hardscrabble Chardonnay: My group notes focus on strong tropical notes, including pineapple and papaya, as well as green apple. Another participant mentioned cream.

It had good acidity, although it had a shorter finish compared to the earlier vintages. Those tropical notes were the first to drop off.

2021 Hardscrabble Chardonnay: I thought 2019 was tropical…until I had a whiff of this one. The nose completely jumped out of the glass.

This was more botanical on the palate, with more fruit than structure. It was relatively straightforward compared to the earlier wines. I hate calling it ‘easy drinking’ because that underscores its quality. But comparatively speaking, it was the easiest drinking of the four.

Hardscrabble Red Vertical (2012-2023)

For the reds, I decanted the 2021 and 2022 bottles for 3 hours each, and the 2023 for 4 hours. This was crucial since I was worried these younger wines wouldn’t show well, particularly the 2023.

In retrospect I wish I had decanted the 2017 and 2019 bottles as well. A late decanting of the 2017 helped it evolve, but by then our ‘favorites’ were mostly selected.

Most of these wines had Cabernet Sauvignon as their dominant grape, although sometimes not by much (only in the 2015 and 2020 vintages was Cabernet equaled by another grape).

Note: there is no 2018 Hardscabble red, so this is 11 vintages over a 12 year spread.

2012 Hardscrabble Red: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Aged in new (30%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 21 months. 14.4% alc.

This was one of the best wines of the day, with several participants selecting it as their #1 wine. Rereading Jim’s Hardscrabble blog I can see he was very conservative in his description, listing it as “Drink now till 2021”.

We found the 2012 Hardscrabble red to be surprisingly bright and fresh, with years left on it. It was tannic but not overly so.

Despite being 14 years old it was still showing primary and secondary characteristics. Tasting profile notes list black fruit on the palate that was just starting to evolve into dried fruit. Other descriptors include notes of black raspberry and violets.

The only downside was this wine’s best characteristics faded not long after we sampled it. If you open one – don’t let it sit for long.

2013 Hardscrabble Red: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, and 11% Cabernet Franc. Aged in new (30%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 21 months. 13.7% alc.

Important note here; this was our only 375ml bottle of the day, which impacted the wine’s tasting profile. The smaller format likely caused this wine to taste ‘older’ than it should have (although admittedly it was from a relatively weaker vintage than, say, the 2012).

We felt this wine had lots of tertiary notes, with an emphasis on tannin and structure. But we struggled to find the fruit, so it wasn’t as highly rated as the others. Jim projected a ‘drink through 2023’ date, although that’s hard for me to independently verify given my smaller-format bottle.

2014 Hardscrabble Red: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot. Aged in new (50%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 21 months. 12.5% alc.

This wine was somewhat divisive. If you love ‘funky’ Bordeaux-like Old World wines, you’d like this one.

While we found some brett, it wasn’t present at a level we considered a fault (mostly on the nose, rather than the palate).

Group notes mentioned black cherry, and somewhat tart and astringent. It had high acidity but surprisingly it was only 12.5% alcohol. Someone mentioned ‘dainty cherry’ on the nose.

2015 Hardscrabble Red: 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 19% Cabernet Franc. Aged in new (50%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 21 months. 13.4% alc.

Ranking the favorites afterwards, this was our #3 wine of the day. The 2015 Hardscrabble blog notes Jim was very happy with this year.

The group had plenty of notes; so many it was hard to capture them all.

On the nose someone mentioned a candied quality, maybe violet. Someone else mentioned notes of iron or sanguine. On the palate it had fruit tannin, leaning towards a sweet fruit with a licorice finish.

That finish was something we talked about. It was a surprising “New World” style wine.

2016 Hardscrabble Red: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Aged in new (60%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 21 months. 13.8% alc.

This was another hit. I’d go so far as to say this wine was the surprise of the day (at least for me).

2016 doesn’t exactly strike me as one of the more memorable years in VA wine history, either for positive or negative qualities. Jim notes it was an uncommonly dry September that produced ripe grapes and mature tannins.

This was one of the softer wines of the lineup. I’m tempted to say this has a ‘drink now’ quality, but keep in mind it’s a 10-year bottle that was showing extremely well. It wasn’t showing any evidence of decline, but the consensus seems to be it won’t get any better.

We thought it had very ripe fruit and soft tannins. I wasn’t able to capture any fruit notes from the group (my excuse is I’m too busy writing things down) but we enjoyed this immensely.

2017 Hardscrabble Red: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Merlot. Aged in new (70%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 22 months. 13.7% alc.

“Smoldering” was my favorite descriptor for this wine. I very much regret not decanting it because it went from good to even better over time. Linden’s Hardscrabble blog notes Jim was very happy with this vintage.

This wine has structure and power, with a long finish. Good acidity and ripe fruit were mentioned. Group notes include blackberry, pomegranate, big tannins and a big finish, with the nose becoming even more expressive as it opened.

Pair this with steak (and invite me).

2019 Hardscrabble Red: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc and 16% Merlot. Aged in new (70%) and slightly used French oak barrels for 22 months. 13.1% alc.

This wine was ‘showy’, possibly because it was the product of an especially hot year so it just had that ‘come look at me’ vibe (when compared to the smoldering glances of the 2017).

Overall opinions were fairly divided. It had big fruit tannins, wasn’t as integrated as we would have liked. Chewy. Notes of raspberry, black raspberry, and plum.

This was another wine I wish I had decanted. We didn’t love this wine as much as the rest of the lineup, but I suspect that opinion would change if we gave it a few more years and some aeration. The Hardscrabble blog projects drink now till 2030, and that’s more than fair.

2020 Hardscrabble: 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot. Aged for 12 months in used French oak barrels for Merlot and Cabernet Franc and new oak for the Cabernet Sauvignon. 13.3% alc.

This was possibly the biggest change in terms of style in the entire lineup because it was 45% Cab Franc; the largest percentage ever in this wine.

This year isn’t a favorite for much of Virginia because of the frost that devastated many vineyards. The year was characterized by fairly mild heat, so ripening was an issue. This was a vintage that favored Cab Franc, so Jim used it appropriately.

I didn’t get many tasting notes; mostly raspberry and an emphasis on it being floral. Perfectly nice wine with dinner, but not the show-stopper of several others in the lineup.

2021 Hardscrabble Red: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Aged for 12 months in used and new French oak barrels. 12.9% alc.

Off the bat we were wowed by this nose. It wasn’t as structured as the other Hardscrabble wines of the day but made up for it by being elegant, hedonistic and delicious.

Tasting notes included flavors of stewed strawberry, blackberry, and cherry. I also heard black raspberry and vanilla.

We had differing opinions on its age-ability. I’d say it was more “New World” in style. If I was going to party and needed a wine everyone would like, I’d bring this.

2022 Hardscrabble Red: 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Merlot. Aged for 12 months in used and new French oak barrels. 13.3% alc.

Another very expressive wine, although some noted it was edging towards being green. I heard differing opinions on its ripeness. The Hardscrabble blog put 2026 as the early window for opening this bottle, although it would benefit from another year of aging.

Tasting notes include a flavor of espresso; first on the nose then the palate. Smoked fruit on the palate, even jalapeno. I didn’t see it initially, but upon a re-taste two days later I understood what Jim meant by how this wine had exceptionally ‘fine’ tannins.

Based on our scoring, this wine wasn’t enjoyed as much as some others. But given it’s one of the youngest, I think that opinion will change over time.

2023 Hardscrabble Red: 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, and 15% Merlot. 14.3% alc.

It. Was. Just. Gorgeous.

This wine had structure yet plenty of ripeness. Powerful and complex. I heard someone mention notes of Black Forest cake; while another said cherry liqueur. Notes of violet were mentioned.

This was everything you want in a wine right now, yet it’s still going to get better. I admit…I opened a 2^nd bottle on the spot to share more.

Important note: for much of 2026 this wine wasn’t for sale to the general public, so I joined Linden’s “Winegrowers Selection” club specifically to access it. It went for sale right after my event, and now I need more.

Overall Favorites

Hardscrabble Chardonnay: By a narrow margin, 4 participants favored the 2017 Hardscrabble Chardonnay, while 3 preferred 2015. No votes favored either 2019 or 2021.

I do have to say; 2015 vs 2017 was close. I started on Team 2017, but after re-tasting 2015 two days later I regretted my earlier vote.

Hardscrabble Red: It was a showdown between 2012 and 2023 for top wines of the evening, with 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 competing for 3^rd favorite.

For the 2012 vs 2023 comparison, which was favored often depended on when you tried it.

If you went by ‘first taste’ out the gate, then 2012 may have had an edge. But several hours later it faded while 2023 was still going strong.

That said, the 2023 Hardscrabble red was (more-or-less) the top wine of the night.

The 2023 was the only red that all 7 voters selected as one of their “Top 3” wines of the day. That’s remarkable given it was also the youngest wine of my lineup and will only get better with age.

As much as I loved these two wines, I also need to give credit to the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Hardscrabble reds (although if you like Old World funk, you’d go for the 2014).

I know Jim admires the 2015 vintage, so having a 2015 red in our lineup of favorites wasn’t surprising. My understanding is this was a slightly cooler vintage but dry and warm enough for good ripening. Great choice for 3^rd overall favorite.

The 2017 Hardscrabble red also had several supporters. It leaned “Old World” in style, to the point that at a separate blind tasting event, my guest from Bordeaux threw down the “I’m from Bordeaux, I can recognize Bordeaux!” line only to be surprised to learn she was wrong.

That said, the 2016 Hardscrabble red was absolutely peaking. Given it was from an otherwise ‘normal’ vintage, this was a shockingly strong showing.

Final Observations

A few, but I’ll keep them brief.

First, Linden wines emphasize restraint over power. Even the ‘biggest’, most powerful vintages were unmistakably Linden-esque. It was easy to see Jim prefers “Old World” finesse vs “New World” showy-ness.

Second, Linden’s wines are also especially ageable. This was something I knew going in, yet it was another thing to sample it first-hand. That a 2012 Hardscrabble red and a 2015 Hardscrabble Chardonnay could be so delicious despite being over a decade old was a remarkable achievement.

Third, the 2023 vintage might be one of his best yet. I’ve known for a while that 2023 wines are going to break records for overall quality. The 2023 Hardscrabble red proved it (and at $65 it’s an absolute steal).

Lastly, sleeper vintages were some of our favorites. Linden allows each wine to be an expression of its vintage, so variation was expected. But the reality is that some vintages simply have weather favoring them in a way other years don’t. That led me to privately bet in advance that 2017 and 2023 (two stereotypically ‘good’ vintages) would end up as the night’s favorites.

So you can imagine my surprise at how well received both 2015 and 2016 were. Maybe it was the luck of tasting it at exactly the right moment, but those reds were hitting just right.

It’s not difficult for Virginia wine lovers to find a headline that reads, ‘Winery for sale’. Between slowing wine sales internationally, climate change creating difficult conditions for viticulture, and invasive insects which damage vineyards, saying ‘these are tough times for the wine industry’ may undersell the challenges local wineries face.

The momentum that propelled the industry for decades is indeed shifting. The Virginia wine industry has grown non-stop since the 1980s. Between 2005 and 2025 alone, the number of local tasting rooms grew from 100 to nearly 300.

This growth stalled in 2025. For the first time in the history of the modern Virginia wine industry, there were more winery closings (10) than openings (3).

It would be easy to blame these shifts on the wine industry’s wider downturn. Between tariffs and extreme weather events, local owners may be more inclined than ever to look for an exit plan.

The overall picture is far more complicated.

A Rebalancing in the Virginia Wine Industry

For starters, there is a generational shift in winery ownership.

Owners have traditionally preferred sales to be kept private until the last moment to avoid alarming their regular clientele. The increasingly public nature of recent transactions may indicate there is less of a stigma over having a ‘for sale’ sign than in the past.

While there is very real economic pressure on the wine industry, the number of wineries for sale has increased only modestly in recent years, according to Janine Aquino, a Virginia-based real estate agent specializing in winery acquisitions.

“5 years ago, there were maybe 30 wineries for sale. Today, there are around 40, mainly from legacy owners wanting to retire. It’s a shifting of the guard, not the doomsday that everyone makes this out to be,” Aquino explained via email.

Aquino points to another trend. Many of today’s wineries have been in business for more than a decade, often under owners who retired from a previous career or continue to run another business.

This suggests the perceived surge in winery sales is at least as much about legacy owners wanting to move to the next chapter of their lives as it is about financial stress. The issue can be particularly acute for owners who do not have children willing to take over the family business.

Even wineries that are at the top of their game are looking to sell or close.

Warrenton’s Granite Heights Winery is among them. Owners Toni and Luke Kilyk’s 2024 Humility earned a Top-12 spot in the 2026 Virginia Governor’s Cup wine competition. Yet soon afterward, the couple announced they were closing the winery.

“Luke and I started this business 18 years ago from the ground up,” Toni explained. “For a mom and pop winery to have been in the Governor’s case twice in 10 years implies we are doing something right.

Though we still have our other jobs, we decided to retire from the wine business to have more free time to travel and visit with friends and relatives.”

The Kilyks are hardly alone. Many of Virginia’s most famous brands are not just changing hands; their new owners are also looking for opportunities to expand.

In 2024, RdV Vineyards was purchased by Château Montrose, a high-end winery in Bordeaux. Two years later, both Barboursville and Veritas Vineyards went under new ownership.

At Barboursville, the new ownership group has pledged to continue investing in the property’s wine, hospitality, and historic grounds. Veritas’ new owners are likewise expanding their overnight lodging program, which Aquino described as a critical component of the winery’s future success.

Even the 2025 reversal may be a blip. In Northern Virginia alone, 2026 has already seen the opening of Silver Dog Vineyards and Ovoka Farm. Wildkind Estate, OH Vineyard, and others are not far behind.

Ownership Isn’t the Only Thing Changing

This generational change is affecting Virginia wine in other ways. New owners are increasingly choosing to rely on contract winemakers for production. Other wine brands are opting to forego a physical tasting room altogether.

The rise of ‘wine incubators’ such as Common Wealth Crush, The Virginia Wine Collective, and Walsh Family Wine demonstrates this trend.

These incubators fill a crucial role by giving new wine brands access to space, equipment, and winemaking expertise without the expense of building a winery of their own. This has been especially beneficial for communities that have traditionally had limited representation in the wine world.

Incubators have also helped fuel the rise of ‘micro-brands.’ These ultra-small production brands primarily sell their wine through pop-up events and retail rather than through a traditional tasting room.

There are benefits to keeping a wine brand small. Unlike larger brick-and-mortar wineries, these micro-brands don’t have the expenses associated with a physical tasting room. Limited inventory also reduces their exposure to the financial risks of an industry awash in unsold wine.

Perhaps most importantly, the small-batch nature of their model means these owners can take stylistic risks that larger brands may shy away from. Wines made through Common Wealth Crush, for example, have focused on lighter, more approachable styles (many using hybrid grapes) that have resonated with younger drinkers.

Change is nothing new for Virginia wine. The pioneers who helped establish the modern industry in the 1970s largely started with mom-and-pop wineries that relied heavily on hybrid grapes. Over time, the industry learned that vinifera grapes capable of producing fine wine could thrive in Virginia. More recently, wineries have pivoted toward event-based models and added non-alcoholic options to meet changing consumer demands.

This latest generational change is not just inevitable; it may be healthy for the industry. Business models that worked 20 years ago may be increasingly out of sync with the demands of today’s wine market, particularly as the industry’s traditional clientele gets older.

So raise a glass to what this latest generation of winery owners will bring.

Lucie Morton and DuCard Vineyards are one heck of a combo. An event with either would interest me. Combining them is enough to make me giddy.

This past weekend Lucie gave a presentation that ranged from how she got into ampelography, her research proving Norton and Cynthiana are different grapes, to her upcoming documentary Immigrant Grapes: The Odyssey of Forbidden Wines which documents the diaspora of American hybrid grapes, and Cunningham in particular, in the late 19th century.

If that’s not enough, I was able to get a sample of DuCard’s 2023 Norton and his sparkling Norton/Vio blend, Dorothy’s Slippers (although my favorite of the day was the excellent 2023 Triskele red blend).

I don’t recall this event being named, but I’d like to think of it as “hybrid-palooza”. And BTW -this was the latest in long list of great events hosted by DuCard.

For wine lovers who’ve never been – you’re missing out on a place that’s one of my Top-10 wineries in the state. Not only do I love the wine, DuCard has hosted everything from guest speakers like Lucie, “Dark Sky” astronomy viewings, and chocolate pairings with a Master Chocolatier who works with Lindt.

But I digress. Let’s talk about Lucie.

Lucie gave an informal lecture to a packed room, starting with a recap of her career as an ampelographer; a specialist who studies and identifies grapevines. So rare is this field only a few people are recognized as practicing it, and Lucie is perhaps the most famous ampelographer in the world.

Her accomplishments are too numerous to mention them all, so I’ll just list some highlights:

• It was Lucie who first translated Précis d’Ampélographie Pratique (A Practical Ampelography: Grapevine Identification), a seminal work on the subject

• She helped prove California nurseries were inadvertently selling plant material that was already infected with undiscovered diseases, thus saving vineyards down the line from planting diseased vines

• Lucie also helped popularize the practice of planting vineyard rows tightly together. She understood early on that such dense plantings reduced the water available to the vines, forcing them to struggle. Since struggling vines produce better fruit, that resulted in better wine.

But you know what accomplishment she’s most thrilled to discuss? That she got to name one of the diseases she discovered. 

And best of all, she named it “Black Goo”.

So yeah – she’s pretty much the most down-to-earth person you could meet.

After her introduction, we did a deep dive on one of her favorite subjects – hybrid grapes. 

Norton and Cynthiana – Not the Same Grape!

She set the tone with one of my favorite quotes of the day: “Immigrant grapes were discriminated against, as all immigrants are”.

Hybrid grapes are almost by definition immigrants, as they have both American and European DNA. This combo makes themvery weather and disease resistant, traits that winemakers love.

Unfortunately, wine snobs have traditionally looked down on such grapes, making them less commercially appealing. This is despite her insistence that “young consumers don’t want snobby vinifera”.

Lucie doesn’t have any tolerance for wine snobbery. She quoted one winemaker who said “There are no bad grape varieties. Only bad winemakers,” which summarizes her views on the subject.

Norton is one such ‘immigrant grape,’ although to this day its exact DNA ancestry isn’t clear. But it’s not just the ancestry of Norton that’s confusing, its identifying what grapes are *actually* Norton.

Norton often referred to by another name – Cynthiana. Many places use the names Cynthiana and Norton interchangeably.

But some years ago, Lucie realized something – Norton and Cynthiana are in fact two different grapes that were mistakenly mixed together. And she’s been fighting to get this fact recognized for years.

From what I’ve gathered so far, Norton juice is somewhat darker and more rustic, while Cynthiana is a little more graceful. Unfortunately, plantings of the two are now so mixed together around the state it’s almost impossible to separate them.

Lucie is so good at her job she can tell the two apart just by examining their leaves:

• Norton: According to her, Norton leaves are ‘shaped like a bat’. It also has a rougher underside

• Cynthiana: Has a smoother underside, and no ‘bat wings’

• While I originally thought these two varieties might be cousins, apparently, they are more distantly related than I originally thought. Maybe not cousins at all, in fact.

She even did a little show-and-tell. Not sure if you can tell in the photos, but the leaf on the left is Norton, while the right one is Cynthiana.

Immigrant Grapes: The Odyssey of Forbidden Wines

Our chat about Norton was a natural segue about hybrid grapes in general, including an upcoming documentary called The Odyssey of Forbidden Wines.

The documentary is spiritual successor of another film she participated in; Vitis Prohibita. But whereas the former was specifically about French American hybrid grapes that are ‘forbidden’ in France, Odyssey is specifically about the Cunningham grape, and broadly about the journey of largely forgotten American grapes that found their way overseas.

It turns out that Cunningham is something of a ‘spirit grape’ for Lucie in particular. You might say it’s part of her family history.

Her ancestors are Huguenots (French Protestants) who she can trace back to the 16th century, from the Champagne region of France.

Religious oppression forced them to flee their homeland. And their means of escape?

To hide in wine barrels during their crossing from France into Holland. Because of course that’s how a relative of Lucie Morton would escape to freedom.

She has another connection to this grape. Lucie believes these same ancestors took with them seeds of a French cultivar named Meslier Petit, which today is a minor white grape still used in Champagne.

Those ancestors eventually immigrated to Virginia, where she believes they planted Meslier Petit. Those French vines in turn pollinated an unknown American grape, leading to the creation of a red grape known as Bland.

Bland in turn is the parent for the source of Lucie’s current fascination: Cunningham. This grape originated in 1812 in Prince Edward County (also home to Lucie’s family farm) and was a popular varietal in 19th century American winemaking.

This timing is important. The worldwide spread of phylloxera devastated European vineyards, forcing winemakers to rely upon American grapes (including Cunningham) for several decades before the widespread use of grafting. Once grafting took off, those grapes dropped in popularity.

Dropped – but didn’t disappear. While France eventually banned the planting of American hybrids, some rural farmers hid their hybrid grapes and continued to make them in secret (I can’t recommend Vitis Prohibita enough to learn more).

It’s fortunate these farmers secretly kept their vines, because Cunningham disappeared when Prohibition forced US farmers to tear out their vineyards.

That backstory led to Lucie’s most recent mission – to bring back Cunningham to the USA. 

I won’t narrate the entire film, but the short version is not only did she find Cunningham in France, but she also found it on the Portuguese island of Madeira. 

It turns out that Cunningham’s leaves are so distinctive she recognized them immediately shortly after arriving on the island. Lucie even knocked on a stranger’s door to ask if she could inspect a vine she saw in his yard (she has a running joke she can recognize grapes from the passenger side of a car going 30 miles an hour).

You’d think Madeira is an odd choice for Cunningham, but there is a logic to local farmers continuing to use it even after other options became available. Cunningham is a high-sugar grape, which Lucie noted makes it especially useful in making fortified wine (Isabella is another grape she discovered on the island). 

Suffice to say Cunningham’s journey back to the US has been arduous – but ultimately successful. Lucie finally got her vines and planted them at her family farm, Morland, along the bank of the Potomac.

Immigrant Grapes: The Odyssey of Forbidden Wines is still being shopped around at film festivals and awaiting a distributor. But I’m really looking forward to it, and DuCard owner Scott Elliff suggested he might host a viewing party.

Go see it. And pair the viewing with a 2023 Norton…or Triskele.

I visited Silver Dog Vineyards when it opened for a sneak-peak in late July. I emphasize ‘sneak peak’ because the interior of the tasting room is still under construction, but the wine and patio are ready for guests.

Anyone who’s been wine tasting near Linden has likely heard of Silver Dog, given its vineyard is visible from Fiery Run Road. In fact, I’d say Silver Dog is arguably in the best ‘winery neighborhood’ in Virginia, given Linden Vineyards, Capstone, Crimson Lane, and Accord (former Fox Meadow) are each under 10 minutes away.

This isn’t by accident. I asked owner Eric Gronning how he found this site, and he was up front that he wanted to be in the same neighborhood as Jim Law, one of his inspirations for Virginia wine.

Eric purchased this 18-acres hilltop farm in 2018 from a local attorney. Not only does the farm have steep slopes and elevation, but it already had an acre of vines.

The backstory of the name is Eric made a deal with his wife Lori that if they purchased the vineyard then she got to name it. The logical choice was to name it after their dog Silver, because ‘he was the best.’

The two planted the vines long before the tasting room started construction, so they opened with their own wine. Silver Dog currently has 9 acres of vines, mostly Bordeaux reds plus Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, and Barbera.

All of these, plus Sagrantino, a high-tannin, medium acidity Italian grape indigenous to Central Italy. This may be Virginia’s first commercial planting of this varietal.

Wait – what?

I needed to know more, so I asked Eric and winemaker Shai Van Gelder for more details.

Eric explained he picked Sagrantino because it’s one of his favorite varietals from Italy, having been to Umbria many times. Shai had high praise for this grape, although its tannic nature (on par or greater than Tannat) can make it rather aggressive. Linden Vineyards also has a trial block, so maybe this grape will find a home here.

Silver Dog is aiming for around 1,200 cases/year, all estate fruit. While their current lineup has 4 wines, there are several more (including a reserve red blend, a full Sagrantino, and Barbera) that aren’t on the tasting menu yet.

Granted Silver Dog’s tasting room isn’t finished but given Eric’s architectural background I’m expecting it to be stunning when completed. It helps that they already have an amazing view.

When they reopen in September they will do so with a full kitchen, since food service will be an integral part of the experience.

What we tried:

• 2023 Chardonnay, made in new oak and stainless-steel tanks. I thought it was tart but could sense the fruit. Shai said he was originally aiming for it to be more Burgundian but ended more along a Chablis.
• 2024 Petit Manseng: This wine had texture but not to the degree that I’m accustomed from most PMs. Dry with tropical notes, including lemon and diluted pineapple. Shai said he pressed the fruit super light to avoid phenolics.
• 2024 Rosé: 70/30 blend of Cab Sauv and Barbera, made using the saignée (bleed off) method for a richer profile. Notes of sour cherry and cranberry.
• 2023 Rock Island (red blend using Barbera, Cab S., Petit Verdot, and Sagrantino): It had some tannin but I mostly remember its long finish. Plenty of fruit notes (especially black fruit), and maybe a little tart. It was fruity enough that we could drink it outside, despite it being a warm day (it also can pair with spicy food)

I enjoyed all the wines, but felt the Rock Island was the star of the show (and I got a bottle). Shai insisted that while Rock Island is designed to be soulful and fruity, his upcoming red blend will be even better.

Silver Dog is reservations only, and only open in July and August 2026 before temporarily closing again.

I nerd out over two subjects: wine and history. So you can imagine how captivated I was by the story of Woburn Winery, widely believed to be America’s first Black-owned winery.

I’ll get to the full history of Woburn in a moment. But first, I want to explain why I was so eager to learn more about this topic.

I first heard of Woburn around 2021, during a time when the American wine community was openly grappling with its lack of inclusivity. One often-cited figure was published by SevenFifty Daily, which pointed out that only 2% of the 3,100 wine industry professionals it surveyed identified as Black.

This lack of diversity is largely due to structural barriers faced by Black wine lovers, according to articles by Dorothy Gaiter and Julia Coney. These challenges include wine terminology so Eurocentric it’s exclusionary to a non-white audience, a lack of networking opportunities, and outright discrimination in the tasting room (please don’t assume Black wine patrons automatically want sweet wine).

A decade ago, the Virginia wine industry closely reflected many of these disparities. At the time, there was only one Black-owned winery in the state (now-closed Preston Ridge), and nearly every winemaker was white (and largely male, although that’s another topic).

Fast forward to 2026 and the landscape is starting to change. “Wine incubators” including Common Wealth Crush and The Virginia Wine Collective have lowered the cost for joining the wine business, leading to a surge in Black-owned brands. The “Oenoverse” initiative, founded in 2022, also promotes wine education for underrepresented communities.

This backdrop heightened my curiosity about those who pioneered diversity in American wine. Inevitably, Woburn’s story caught my attention.

While reading about Woburn I discovered its physical address; a farm in Clarkesville not far from Virginia’s border with North Carolina. I also learned that Woburn’s founder, John June Lewis Sr., has grandchildren living in North Carolina.

Needless to say, I set about contacting the Lewis family the way I normally reach out to strangers – by sliding into their DMs. When that didn’t work, I changed tactics and mailed a letter to the old Woburn Winery address. A week later, it returned to me with “undeliverable” stamped on it.

It seemed like my efforts to learn more about Woburn from Lewis’s living relatives were not in the cards. It also meant my idea of doing a photoshoot of Black-owned wines at America’s first Black-owned winery was unlikely to come to fruition.

The History of Woburn Winery

I was surprised how little has been publicized about Woburn Winery. I was fortunate to find a webpage maintained by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which is a treasure trove of information on Lewis and his family farm.

These records reveal that John June Lewis Sr. (1894-1974) was the mixed-race child of Anna Lewis and Armistead Burwell. Anna is listed in census records as a Black female, while Armistead was a Confederate veteran and former slave owner. John June was taught home winemaking from his father, but wasn’t exposed to fine wine until he was stationed in Europe with the US Army during the aftermath of WW I.

Even so, it was years before he could start a winery. Prohibition destroyed the wine industry, and it wasn’t until its end in 1933 that Lewis could pursue wine as a profession.

The ink announcing Prohibition’s end was barely dry when Lewis planted 10 acres of hybrid and native vines on the former Burwell farm. In 1940, this property became Woburn Winery.

Lewis was a trailblazer in other ways as well. During a time when most wineries used California grapes, Woburn made wine from their own vines. The Lewis family also sourced fruit locally, including some from North Carolina.

Woburn stayed in business for over 30 years, closing shortly after Lewis’s death in 1974.

The Visit Finally Happens!

In late 2025, I discovered the Instagram account of June Lewis III, grandson of Woburn’s founder. A few months later, June replied to one of my messages; his family was having a ‘soft launch’ of the Woburn brand, and I was invited.

It turned out this launch was less of an opening and more of a family reunion at the old Woburn vineyard. While the winery was long closed, the property remained the home of his father John June “Ducky” Lewis, Jr., until his passing in 2022.

While giving tours of his father’s house, June and his wife, Ayana, floated several ideas for restarting the Woburn brand. June said he planned to restore the home and convert it into an event center, but nothing was set in stone. I gave my best sales pitch as to why he should keep the winemaking in Virginia, but I suspect such plans are years away.

Fortunately, June gave me a brief tour of the property before the rest of the guests arrived. June professed he wished he paid closer attention to his father’s stories, but was now committed to reviving the Woburn legacy.

The vineyard is long gone, but the former wine production building is somewhat intact. I peered through the window, trying to imagine John June Lewis Sr. at work. June did pose for a photo, as did his son (also named June).

(From left to right: John June Lewis, Sr, John June “Ducky” Lewis, Jr., John June III and his wife Ayana Lewis, John June)

One relic that survived is the original “Woburn Winery” sign. I propped it up on a chair and surrounded it with bottles from every local Black-owned winery I could acquire. We later popped open several for his guests to enjoy, and I gifted him the rest.

While I didn’t leave with firm details regarding Woburn’s potential reopening, I achieved my original goal. I spent an hour snapping photos of an array of Black-owned wine brands in front of America’s first Black-owned winery.

Seeing these bottles in front of Woburn Winery felt like history coming full circle.

(Featured wines: Commonwealth Crush Love Echo, Novella Wine, Commonwealth Crush Grandassa, Philosophy Winery, Fifty Leven, The Parallax Project, Vibin With Val,  Zora Chloe)