Delaplane Cellars
Located on Lost Mountain, in the township of Delaplane in Fauquier County, between I-66 and US Route 50. Winemaker Jim Dolphin was making wines at home for a decade before purchasing this winery in 2007. The winery was sold in September 2019 for $5m to Arlingtonians Daniel and Katie Gomez, who have retained winemaker Rick Tagg. It is now one of a few minority-owned wineries in the state, with the Gomezes being Hispanic and their partners African-American.
Wine: Among the Top 100 wineries in Virginia, and among the Top 30 wineries in Northern Virginia. Delaplane’s 2022 Piedmont Station was awarded a gold medal at the 2025 state-wide Virginia Governor’s Cup wine competition, while at the same event three more wines received silver medals (for the 2020 Chardonnay and the 2022 Tannat and Petit Verdot), and two received bronze medals (the Blanc de Blancs and the Rose). The 2020 Rusticity was awarded a gold medal at the 2024 Governor’s Cup event, while the Delaplane 2022 Petit Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc, 2020 Sparkling Rose, and 2021 Piedmont Station received silver medals.
Setting: Two stars. Delaplane is a beautiful place. The Cellars’ wraparound balcony offers excellent views over the vines, the valley of Crooked Run and the ridge of the Shenandoah Mountains. The winery faces west, so sunset is an especially beautiful time to be tasting. Sky Meadows State Park – a great place for short hikes — is across the road, and the Appalachian Trail cuts across the top of the Park. It’s also a great place to try multiple wineries in a small area, as the Delaplane zip code claims to have more wineries than any single zip code in America! Generally locally-sourced farm-to-table light food selections available with the tastings. No kids and no groups here.
Stories: Infrastructure gets militarized. On July 19, 1861 Stonewall Jackson’s brigade of General Joseph E. Johnston’s corps marched to this station from Winchester. They crowded into freight and cattle cars and travelled to the 1st Battle of Manassas. This marked the first time a railroad had been used to move troops into battle. The use of a railroad to carry more than ten thousand troops to the Manassas battlefield gave striking demonstration of the arrival of a new era in military transport and contributed significantly to the Confederate victory there.