3/15/13 - Our 4th season has gotten off to a great start! March came in fairly quietly, but then slammed us with about 2 feet of snow. The next few days were a breath of spring with temperatures in the upper 50s/lower 60s and melted it all away! But for a few days we had the best of both worlds - pretty snow and warm temperatures - enough to sit outside and enjoy the wine!
2/26/13 - We had a great time at the Virginia Wine Expo in Richmond. It's always a fun weekend and a great way to get ready to open for the season. We had help from some of our Wine Club Members, Julie & Rob, and our Friends of Wisteria, Brad & Amanda - thanks, guys, we couldn't do it without you! Sunday is usually much quieter than Saturday, giving us more of a chance to chat with folks like Moussa and Brad are doing.
2/15/13 - We are gearing up for our 4th season! To expand our tasting room, we have added a tent to the back deck which is open for Valentine's Day and the holiday weekend. Works really nice, and between the heaters and the afternoon sun, it's nice and toasty when it's cold outside! Next weekend we are in Richmond for the Wine Expo and then we open for our regular hours on March 1! We'll look forward to seeing you!
12/7/12 - Getting ready for the holidays! Remember - wine makes a great gift for you AND your friends! We had a great turnout for our Wine Club Holiday Open House last weekend and hope everyone can join us for our Christmas Open House December 21 - 23, which is just before we close for the season! See you then!
10/8/12 - Our final harvest was last weekend when we harvested the Norton. Once again Mother Nature graciously provided us with a beautiful weekend and we were able to harvest before the rains came. Overall, Moussa has been very pleased with the grape quality and we should get some great wines from this year's harvest. The amount of grapes harvested was down from last year due to the early start from a warm winter, then spring freezes and a summer drought. Our volunteers have been a great help - thanks guys!
9/14/12 - Harvest season is upon us and we are BUSY! The 5th Annual Pick 'em & Stomp 'em on Labor Day weekend was great - again, more volunteers showed up to help with both the picking and the stomping! This year we had it catered by a local BBQ chef and it worked out well, allowing us to concentrate on the harvest with Sydney taking care of the tasting room.
A little morning rain didn't stop our volunteers! Modeling the latest in plastic raincoats are Nina, Paul, and John!
The stomping, as usual, is full of fun and cameras working overtime! Check out our scrapbook for more great pictures.
9/8/12 - Our 3rd Annual SPCA Benefit. Although rain was predicted, we had a rain-free event and a lovely evening. The turn-out was good, despite the forecast!
8/28/12 - Here we are breaking down the "cake", which is the residue left after pressing the grapes. That will go to our compost pile and be used at our Spring Planting!
7/30/12 - During the months of June and July we have been busy bottling, with still more to come! We've released our 2011 Vintage whites, as well as the next vintage of Viognier, as sweet as the previous one was. We've got some blends coming as well - Adonis, a semi-sweet red blend, and his Phoenician sweetheart, Ashtaroot, which is a semi-sweet white blend (remember, Moussa is from Lebanon, known as Phoenicia in the old days!).
And, as you can see from the picture, our table grapes are now ready to eat! Soooo sweet!
7/1/12 - Friday we bottled the 2011 Oak Chardonnay. It will be ready for release on the 7th. Over the next couple of weeks we will be bottling our 2009 Viognier, and our 2011 Traminette. The weather has been HOT! Lots of storm damage from a bad thunderstorm on Friday, but the music went on Saturday with Blue Note Duo.
The terrible news is that Daisy died unexpectedly Friday morning. Anyone who has been to our tasting room met her as she loved to keep us company there and meet all our guests (and get belly rubs from them!). She leaves a very big hole.
6/5/12 - We had our "Roll your Own" Wine Club Social with everyone learning how to roll and stuff grape leaves (from our vineyard, of course!). A great time was had by all; while waiting on the stuffed grape leaves to cook, we sampled the 2011 whites which will be released during this month. This shot is where everyone is enjoying the fruits of their labor - more pictures in the scrapbook!
5/3/12 - We've gone from February to July! It's a good thing we sheared the sheep last weekend. We had a nice group come out to see how the shearing is done and to see what happens after you get all that wool off the sheep. It was a lot of fun and the weather held out for us with no rain until later in the day. This is the group that was helping with the "skirting" of the fleece. Basically, you go around the edges and tear off the dirty parts of the fleece.
The next step is to roll the fleece up and store it until you get a chance to process it - wash it, card it, and then spin it into yarn!
4/23/12 - I think this month has been colder than all winter! There are 4 inches of snow up on Skyline Drive and the mountains are all white on the top half, green on the bottom half! We just finished our Spring Planting of the Vines with help from our volunteers on Saturday. The weather was great and the rain and cold held off until we finished planting. On Friday we had two new additions to our farm - they are sooo cute!
DIRECTIONS
We are located in the Shenandoah Valley off of U.S. 340 Business between Luray and Elkton just outside of the town of Stanley.
From Luray, VA: Use 340S Business through the town towards Stanley. Approximately 6 miles south of Luray, turn left on 624 (Hawksbill Dr), then left on 689 (Marksville Rd).
From Charlottesville, VA: Take 29N to Ruckersville, then 33W to Elkton. In Elkton, take 340N approximately 13 miles, then take 340N Business to Stanley. Shortly after crossing the RR tracks, turn right on 689 (Chapel Rd) which turns into Marksville Rd.
From Harrisonburg, VA: Take 33E to Elkton. In Elkton, take 340N approximately 13 miles, then take 340N Business to Stanley. Shortly after crossing the RR tracks, turn right on 689 (Chapel Rd) which turns into Marksville Rd.
We are on the right in the middle of the curve after passing Pine Grove Rd, in the white Victorian with the light purple shutters. The tasting room is in the back! Custom Directions.
3/15/13 - Our 4th season has gotten off to a great start! March came in fairly quietly, but then slammed us with about 2 feet of snow. The next few days were a breath of spring with temperatures in the upper 50s/lower 60s and melted it all away! But for a few days we had the best of both worlds - pretty snow and warm temperatures - enough to sit outside and enjoy the wine! 
2/26/13 - We had a great time at the Virginia Wine Expo in Richmond. It's always a fun weekend and a great way to get ready to open for the season. We had help from some of our Wine Club Members, Julie & Rob, and our Friends of Wisteria, Brad & Amanda - thanks, guys, we couldn't do it without you! Sunday is usually much quieter than Saturday, giving us more of a chance to chat with folks like Moussa and Brad are doing. 
2/15/13 - We are gearing up for our 4th season! To expand our tasting room, we have added a tent to the back deck which is open for Valentine's Day and the holiday weekend. Works really nice, and between the heaters and the afternoon sun, it's nice and toasty when it's cold outside! Next weekend we are in Richmond for the Wine Expo and then we open for our regular hours on March 1! We'll look forward to seeing you! 
12/7/12 - Getting ready for the holidays! Remember - wine makes a great gift for you AND your friends! We had a great turnout for our Wine Club Holiday Open House last weekend and hope everyone can join us for our Christmas Open House December 21 - 23, which is just before we close for the season! See you then! 
10/8/12 - Our final harvest was last weekend when we harvested the Norton. Once again Mother Nature graciously provided us with a beautiful weekend and we were able to harvest before the rains came. Overall, Moussa has been very pleased with the grape quality and we should get some great wines from this year's harvest. The amount of grapes harvested was down from last year due to the early start from a warm winter, then spring freezes and a summer drought. Our volunteers have been a great help - thanks guys!
A little morning rain didn't stop our volunteers! Modeling the latest in plastic raincoats are Nina, Paul, and John!
The stomping, as usual, is full of fun and cameras working overtime! Check out our scrapbook for more great pictures.
9/8/12 - Our 3rd Annual SPCA Benefit. Although rain was predicted, we had a rain-free event and a lovely evening. The turn-out was good, despite the forecast!
8/28/12 - Here we are breaking down the "cake", which is the residue left after pressing the grapes. That will go to our compost pile and be used at our Spring Planting! 
7/30/12 - During the months of June and July we have been busy bottling, with still more to come! We've released our 2011 Vintage whites, as well as the next vintage of Viognier, as sweet as the previous one was. We've got some blends coming as well - Adonis, a semi-sweet red blend, and his Phoenician sweetheart, Ashtaroot, which is a semi-sweet white blend (remember, Moussa is from Lebanon, known as Phoenicia in the old days!).
The terrible news is that Daisy died unexpectedly Friday morning. Anyone who has been to our tasting room met her as she loved to keep us company there and meet all our guests (and get belly rubs from them!). She leaves a very big hole.
6/5/12 - We had our "Roll your Own" Wine Club Social with everyone learning how to roll and stuff grape leaves (from our vineyard, of course!). A great time was had by all; while waiting on the stuffed grape leaves to cook, we sampled the 2011 whites which will be released during this month. This shot is where everyone is enjoying the fruits of their labor - more pictures in the scrapbook! 
5/3/12 - We've gone from February to July! It's a good thing we sheared the sheep last weekend. We had a nice group come out to see how the shearing is done and to see what happens after you get all that wool off the sheep. It was a lot of fun and the weather held out for us with no rain until later in the day. This is the group that was helping with the "skirting" of the fleece. Basically, you go around the edges and tear off the dirty parts of the fleece.
The next step is to roll the fleece up and store it until you get a chance to process it - wash it, card it, and then spin it into yarn!
4/23/12 - I think this month has been colder than all winter! There are 4 inches of snow up on Skyline Drive and the mountains are all white on the top half, green on the bottom half! We just finished our Spring Planting of the Vines with help from our volunteers on Saturday. The weather was great and the rain and cold held off until we finished planting. On Friday we had two new additions to our farm - they are sooo cute!
