Northern Virginia winery combines historical roots with modern luxury

You solely need to get so far as the house web page of the web site to see for your self what awaits at Boxwood Winery in Middleburg, Loudoun County.

The northern Virginia producer welcomes guests to its website with a drone video that begins on the street and sweeps throughout one of many vineyards and over the panorama towards the vineyard and tasting room, the place the visible journey continues into the manufacturing space.

Among the finest-known wineries in one of many East Coast’s best-known states for high quality wine, immediately’s actuality was not more than a dream 20 years in the past when John Kent Cooke, the longtime president of the NFL’s Washington franchise and the son of its proprietor, and his spouse Rita bought historic Boxwood Farm with the plan to determine a winery and vineyard.

The primary vines have been planted in 2004 and the vineyard was accomplished in 2005. Its goal is to yearly produce premium purple wines within the Bordeaux custom with their very own distinctive Virginia expression. Manufacturing is restricted to round 6,000 circumstances.

Since that point, Boxwood’s winery has expanded from 16 to 26 acres of French licensed vines to supply 5 purple wines from the unique three, and in 2015 a Sauvignon Blanc mix. In 2006, Boxwood began the six-year course of to type the Middleburg Virginia Viticultural Area (AVA), which now consists of greater than 30 Virginia wineries and vineyards, according to its website.

Its 2015 Reserve was chosen to the 2019 Governor’s Case in that state’s annual competitors, at all times a testomony to excellence.

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For me, personally, it’s a vineyard possessing a number of acquainted names, beginning with viticulturist Lucie Morton, who designed the winery. Joyce Rigby now manages that winery after a profession that has included the same function in North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the place she additionally was an integral a part of the enology and viticulture program that HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, ran for seven years. Her husband Stephen is the winemaker. Amongst his stops throughout a 40-year profession was a stint of a few years because the winemaker at then Hauser Estate Winery in Adams County. For many who observe the trade, Stéphane Derenoncourt is in his sixteenth yr because the winemaking advisor there.

Boxwood is a Nationwide Historic Landmark, one which sits in the midst of a area wealthy in American colonial and Civil Struggle historical past. Initially settled within the eighteenth century, it turned a widely known horse farm, the home of General Billy Mitchell, a pioneer of military aviation.

Positioned at 2042 Burrland Lane, the vineyard is open Thursdays by Sundays, 11 a.m. to six p.m., year-round.

Under is the most recent within the “6 Questions” collection of interviews with winemakers and homeowners of East Coast wineries, which appears behind at what has been a turbulent yr and, with optimism, appears forward. Due to Sean Martin, the vineyard vp, for taking these on.

Q, For these unfamiliar with the vineyard, what’s the expertise that awaits them?

A, Boxwood Property Vineyard is within the Middleburg Virginia AVA. It’s the achievement of a long-held dream by proprietor John Kent Cooke, former proprietor and president of the NFL Washington Redskins. An admirer and collector of French wines, significantly nice Bordeaux, Cooke and his staff at Boxwood are dedicated to creating premium purple and white wines within the Bordeaux custom, however with their very own distinct Virginia expression. Boxwood Vineyard is situated in an space steeped in Revolutionary and Civil Struggle historical past and famend for world-famous horse farms. At the moment the world is often known as a wine area.

Boxwood boasts a sustainable winery occupying 26.5 acres of the historic landmark farm and are planted with conventional Bordeaux varietals, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, all ENTAV licensed. Boxwood produces high-quality dry white, rose and purple wines for enjoyment by the property. Take a look at our web site for the obtainable experiences. The vineyard, designed by Hugh Jacobsen, stands out with its fashionable design in a rustic setting. It’s a state-of-the-art winemaking facility.

We even have a full menu of items on the website that we provide, and it’s all great things that pairs properly with the wines we make.

I’d suggest reservations on the weekends. We do settle for walk-ins. You possibly can come and not using a reservation. However having a reservation on the weekend does assure you that spot. Now we have quite a lot of totally different experiences that we provide, which you can find on our website.

Q, How a lot have issues modified there because you opened?

Once we first opened we made two wines. The vineyards have been younger and the volumes have been low, and so we opened a wine bar in Middleburg. And we had a bunch of French Bordeaux wines and our wines. We needed to point out the general public that we may produce wines on equal scale and likewise priced aggressive. We needed to point out we may produce some high-quality merchandise.

5 years later, we opened up for public consumption and retail buy on the vineyard. Since then, we’ve added fairly quite a lot of tables in our courtyard. 4 years later, we added a pavilion in our winery. and now you’ll be able to seat nearly 100 within the winery, which is kind of an expertise. It’s additionally on a hilltop and the view is kind of superb.

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Now we have expanded over time and we’ve elevated our quantity and yields out of our vineyards as we received higher at managing it. So we’re as much as 5,700 circumstances this spring, and it appears like it will likely be the identical subsequent yr. That’s what we did final yr, too.

[Bottom line], Boxwood Property Vineyard is constant in its method to ever-increasing customer support and [the quality of the] product. We try to be the perfect.

Q, The place does your vineyard draw from?

A, We get lots of people from Pennsylvania, Maryland, lots of people from the District, North Carolina. Middleburg is a resort vacation spot. Salamander Resort & Spa is the hook so far as a luxurious resort, and Middleburg is a luxurious place. It’s a luxurious model, and so we do cater to that.

However we additionally get loads of locals and day-trippers which might be coming. We get lots of people from Philly and the suburbs, so we do make sure that we’re promoting and advertising and marketing just about to a 50- to 100-mile radius out. We additionally ship to 10 states so our on-line presence has grown.

We’re a boutique vineyard. We’re concentrating on making 500 to 1,000 circumstances [of a wine] yearly, and we’ve got a number of development and income streams, and so we clearly retail on the vineyard. Now we have a 1,000-member membership. … We distribute by D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Along with that, we’re in 75 Virginia ABC shops and we’re additionally all through the Virginia space in eating places and retail. That’s actually our focus.

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At one time, earlier, we have been doing wine bars, We had three or 4 or wine bars at one time, branding ourselves and exhibiting how we compete in opposition to non-Virginia wines. However we’ve scaled that again. The final bar we closed final April at National Harbor. We mainly really feel these wine bars ran their course. Principally, they helped model us, put us on the map possibly faster than we in any other case would have. That was our aim.

Q, This previous yr what has it been like for you and the vineyard? Are there any adjustments you carried out that you simply’ll proceed this yr?

A, I believe like all companies we did extra with much less. We always pivoted as the foundations modified throughout COVID, and tailored. We added extra unique intimate experiences and switched from tastings to flights. I believe these are nonetheless helpful immediately and more than likely we are going to hold.

Q, Your winery is at 26 acres now? Are you taking a look at any new plantings, at possibly planting any grapes you haven’t grown there earlier than? How has the Sauv Blanc finished there?

A, On the primary query, not presently. Boxwood Property Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc has been a house run! Rated 89 factors by Wine Advocate and the 2019 classic 90 factors by James Suckling.

Q, Inform me a bit bit about your wine membership. Are there occasions constructed round pick-up days?

A, We did our first pickup occasion [recently] for the reason that fall of 2019. Now we have a cave, and we often have our occasions for our membership members within the cave. We name it a spring social. For the membership members, they not solely style what they get of their package deal, we additionally style the futures. So we style the reds that can be within the fall and we style the barrel samples from the final harvest. We do this twice a yr. We’ll do the opposite one in harvest. So we do the spring social and the harvest celebration.

We do produce other occasions all year long however not fairly like that. Now we have a chocolate expertise [June 12] developing, a Father’s Day BBQ [June 20], and all of the membership members get reductions on all of the occasions we do on a month-to-month foundation.

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